The original plan for today was to sleep until I woke up and spend the day at my leisure walking around the falls on both sides. I was going to walk across the Victoria Falls Bridge and watch some people bungee jump and see the falls from the bottom, even though it's the dry season. I did part of that. I slept until I woke up and I spent the day at my leisure. Both feet were throbbing and no amount of physical therapy techniques or additional meds were going to do anything about it. I didn't want to spend the day in the AirBNB, though. So, I decided there was a beautiful pool at the Rainbow Hotel, and I had been invited to come swim in the pool anytime I wanted. That sounded like a plan. I put on my bathing suit and got ready for a day at the pool. I WhatsApped the taxi guy, who had a good laugh, but did come pick me up to drive me the 400 meters (a quarter of a mile) to the hotel. I mean, if I'm going to be miserable, I might as well enjoy myself! So, I spent the day poolside or swimming in the pool. Being in the water actually helped the pain, so I did spend significant time actually being wet. I had downloaded some shows on Netflix and a couple of books on my phone, so I had plenty of entertainment. The pool wasn't a very busy place during the day. I pretty much had it to myself. Most people were out sightseeing.
I had grilled warthog for lunch. It was delicious, and the BBQ sauce wasn't bad. And a touch of Cheeky Chili's peri peri sauce added a bit of zing to it!
There are so many more things I wanted to do while here. There is a meerkat safari where the meerkats are habituated to humans. (It would have given me the interaction with Timon, leaving only Rafiki on the Lion King characters!) There's a speedboat that goes under the falls, similar to the boat I had in Argentina on Gran Aventura. There were more animal parks in Victoria Falls that I wanted to explore, mainly with walking safaris with "hides" where you could sit and wait for animals that would normally be shy around people. And of course, there is the falls themselves. I had planned to do all of those things, most of it being arranged when I got here. But, I guess I'll just have to come back! I mean, I do still need to get the wildebeest migration to round out the Ugly 5! And, it's not fair to compare Victoria Falls in the dry season to Iguazu Falls with record rainfall, so there's that, too. The guys at the Rainbow Hotel tell me that April is a really good time to see the falls with full water and the temperature is still warm enough to enjoy them (though you may not want to do the infinity pools that time of year). But, I had a pleasant day and grabbed a taxi back to my AirBNB, still less than a quarter of a mile away.
When I got up the next morning, my feet were feeling better, though the right one was still difficult to bear weight, so I was still limping. Great. Today was walking with cheetahs. That's going to be interesting. They brought out two juvenile, not-quite-adult cheetahs - Zuma in a black harness and Niki in a pink harness. As the cheetahs were walking us, (Yes, the cheetahs chose where to go. I just held the leash and petted them.) the handlers explained a lot about the animals to us.
Cheetahs are highly endangered, especially in Zimbabwe where fewer than 200 remain in the wild. This breeding program has been going on for some time, and when the animals reach adulthood and are deemed likely to survive in the wild, they are just released into the park. Until they reach adulthood, they are kept inside or on a leash because they are so vulnerable to attack. Cheetahs are the world's fastest land animal, but that is their only means of defense from their multiple predators. Their claws are not retractable, so they are usually worn down and dull, useless in a fight. Because of that, they are vulnerable to most of the carnivorous predators, such as lions, leopards, and hyenas. Sometimes even a warthog will take a cheetah cub, though they usually only take smaller mammals when they go for meat. The cubs don't even begin to start running until they're around six months of age, though, and then they have to learn to build their speed. Niki and Zuma are learning that in a controlled environment. They are also learning to hunt and are not put in situations where they associate people with food, only with walks. Cheetahs are the only large cats that purr, and my how loud that motor runs! Just listen to him go! He's loving his rubs!
Cheetahs and leopards look very similar, but there are some key differences. Cheetahs are taller and sleeker than leopards. Cheetahs have rings on their tails instead of spots. And cheetahs have lines on their cheeks that leopards don't have. The spot patterns on both, however, are unique and have been compared to fingerprints on humans.
Eventually, they and I got comfortable around each other!
Niki liked to sit up and have her ears scratched. She would really lean into it! I was terrified I was going to step on her tail because sometimes she leaned so much she pushed me off balance!
They are shedding their baby fur right now as they're growing into adulthood. I asked if I could keep it, and the heandlers thought I was joking!! Imagine! Me joking about keeping cheetah fur!! Just so you know, it is now safely ensconsed behind the glass in my shadow box, right under my echidna quills from Sydney and above my bison fur from North Dakota (both of which came off of the animal without any assistance by me, unlike my cheetah fur)! There are rumors that this place releases animals into hunting lodges. However, it is illegal to hunt cheetahs in Zimbabwe and they release their cheetahs into the park that borders them. The rumors may or may not be true with their other animals, but it definitely is not with the cheetahs. Personally, if trophy hunting is going to be allowed, I would rather there be farmed animals for hunting instead of depleting the wild population. Farming was a major contributor in saving the American Alligator and it could help some of these other majestic creatures that are being hunted into extinction.
After spending time with the Niki and Zuma, I went back to my AirBNB, rested, and got ready to head home. I already had made arrangements for the same taxi that picked me up from the airport to take me back. The difference was that this time, I could barely walk. When I checked in, the airport staff didn't try to tell me I couldn't take my medical equipment. Instead, when I told them I could not do stairs, they made me prove I could walk to the bathroom on the plane on my own. For the most part, I had a pleasant set of flights home, even though they had to bring the truck to retrieve me from the plane in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia because I couldn't walk down the stairs to the tarmac bus. Chrissy retrieved me from the airport in Seattle, took me to dinner, and deposited me and my stuff in my condo. She brought me my walker and a nightgown, and I don't really remember her leaving, because I was already out by then! It was an amazing trip, and I am finally recouperating and preparing for the next adventure!
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