Up again at 6:30 AM, breakfast at 7 AM and departure at 7:30 AM. Today we visit the local village to meet the kids and the adults for another learning and discovery experience. At many stops along the way, Vitalis distributed photos of the local people taken by earlier travellers.
We stopped where one of the local men was busy making bricks from water and clay. Talk about spoiling the man's pleasant solitude - poor thing had 14 crazy Americans photographing him nonstop.
Making clay bricks.
Next stop was at a water pumping station where local women, many with babies less than a year old strapped to their backs, were busily pumping water to fill what looked like 5-gallon paint buckets. I took quite a few photographs of the moms and babies because they were definitely a Kodak moment.
The ladies work together to pump water.
Many of them worked with their babies swaddled
and wrapped to their backs.
This little one was pretty snugged in.
5-gallon bucket balanced perfectly on head and babies tied on.
How do they do that???
When we arrived at the school, the 6th graders came pouring out of their classroom to welcome us with beautiful singing and dancing. Then each of them took our hands and began to ask us all kinds of cute questions about our favorite pet, whether we were married, whether we had children, etc. You can imagine how disappointed my little girl was to hear my answers to all these questions (ha ha). You should have seen the look on her face when I said I wasn't married and had no children. She was clearly baffled. The kids did some dancing and singing inside the classroom for us, and then, just as unfortunately as in camp, it was our turn. (OK, screwing up in front of adults, in the dark, after several drinks is one thing, but performing in front of the kids, in the daylight, sober???? You've got to be kidding). So we went to the old standby, The Hokey Pokey, and I do believe they enjoyed it. We were smart enough NOT to try anything else after that one.
Such a great, energetic group!
Our escorts gather to take us to the classroom.
The singing and dancing was so enjoyable.
This was my personal escort, Rosemary.
Next up was the visit to the village of Mr. and Mrs. Ncube. We were welcomed to the main room of the village where cooking was done and family gathered. There we had a very interesting discussion with the 3 ladies who were sisters. The older one, actually a widowed sister-in-law named Noli, was hilarious, especially when she asked us if we had black people where we lived. When we replied that we did, she asked why they never saw any of them come through with the tour groups. We all cracked up laughing at that amazingly insightful observation. After our discussion ended, we walked with the ladies to their little market, where we bought some souvenirs.
Audrey washes Vitalis' hands before we share some beans
with the sisters.
Noli, Mrs. Ncube and Audrey.
Noli lends me one of her skirts to try on for size.
Mom and very unhappy little one.
During our cocktail break I tried Bohlinger's lager - pretty good. (Have now tried all Zimbabwe beers available in camps - ready for the next challenge).
Back in the jeep to return to camp, laughing and chatting about our most excellent day. (Little did we know we were about to witness a most incredible sight that not many people on the face of the earth would ever see in their lifetime). So many things occurred instantaneously within the next minute that it would be difficult to set any chronology. We saw a large bull elephant acting aggressively, looking like he was about to charge us; Mafuka, our guide, told us to be quiet; another large elephant headed toward us as well; and Mafuka said he thought he saw something drop from a third female elephant standing about halfway between the other two. "I think that female just delivered a baby!" he told us excitedly. We whipped the jeep into an excellent viewing position and began shooting photos of the newborn, still partially enclosed in the sac, like there was no tomorrow. (You know it's an incredible event when even your guide starts using his camera). Oh my God, it was truly amazing! I shot about 130 photos as the baby elephant tried to rise to its feet, steady itself and take its first steps. It looked to be very furry, the eyes were reddish, the ears appeared to be pinned back initially, and it moved like a drunken sailor. Mafuka
The mother has just had the baby (see the trunk between her front legs).
She is just starting to pass the afterbirth (which you can see between her rear legs).
If you zoom in, you can see the tears from all the stress of childbirth.
The newborn, still pink and covered with blood,
with flat ears and lots of wrinkles.
Struggling to get upright. (Look at all the fur!)
Eyes are wide open already.
Mom uses her legs to steady junior.
"Look ma, I did it!"
"OK, I may have spoken too soon. Still a little shaky on all fours."
45 minutes from birth to taking a few steps - amazing!
Mom and dad share a congratulatory hug
while junior still hones his walking skills.
Back to camp to share our excitement with the camp staff. Unfortunately, this being the last night in this particular camp, it was time for another competition. Since this particular staff is predominantly male, they brought out all their drums and taught us how to play them before they crushed us in that area. One more dance competition (turns out we are much better at dancing than we are singing). I think we held our own in that one thanks to some great dancers like Iris and Pamela, and some hidden talents like Don and Georgia. We ended with the men beautifully singing the Zimbabwe national anthem, and us (nowhere near as nicely) singing our national anthem. Then an amazing barbecue, lots of wine, much laughter and a very late night.
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