April 18

We went on a 2 hour nature walk today along the Zambezi River. There are many dangerous animals there so we brought along a guard to protect us from the elephants, lions and hippos in the area.

Our first view of the area after getting off of the boat is of many baboons running across the field.

Our guide spent some time showing us how to identify footprints.

He taught us to identify the following footprints:

Kudu

Lion

Zebra (center)

Hippo

Hippo

Elephant “Ellie”

Baboon sitting on a termite mound

Termite mound

The termites are white and the direct sun will harm them so they live inside the mounds. They come out at night to forage for food. When they find a wood branch they will build an underground tunnel to it and then cover it with mud tunnels as in the photos above. These tunnels can extend 200 to 300’ away from the mound. The termites can now work day and night to bring cellulose to the growing fungi in the bottom of the mound. The fungi provide food for the termites so they can feed their queen which can lay 10,000 eggs each day.

This walk ended in a snack and a coffee break eaten near a grass field along a channel of the Zambezi River. This was the best way to get the African experience- to walk through it.

Next: Zambia Safari