Elephants, Sunsets, and Bees

Our first week in Zimbabwe a few people said that we needed to talk to Rob Davy when we mentioned going to a game park. It was a few weeks later when we finally met Rob and have since become friends with him and his wife, Stephanie (Pemberton). The men I meet here are all men who have received extra testosterone or some steroid infusion. Rob fits the bill. While heading into the game park, Rob is teaching me what to do in certain circumstances, "When the lion charges, you have to stand your ground unafraid." Okay. "If an elephant or buffalo charge, try and put something between you and them . . . the bigger the object, the better." As I look about, there are a few small trees because they have been broken off by passing elephants. Elephant dung looks like a round three layer cake with brown frosting. Hungry? Honey from the ironwood tree blossom is poisonous with severe hallucinogen type effects (I added severe because I know some of you are thinking you would like it).

Rob and Steph both grew up here. Rob is pastor of benevolence at Chiredzi Christian Church, and besides being very manly, he is devoted to God. I have enjoyed talking to Rob and Mark (church pastor) about life with God. Steph and Rob spend much of their time together and are studying to become guides here. The guide test is very detailed. You have to know plant and animal species, so as we drove around the park they were able to identify most everything we saw.
We saw elephant, eland, emu, impala, jackal, baboon, kudu, monkey, buffalo, wildebeest, water buck, bush buck, crocodile, fish eagle, vulture, and wart hog. Several more different birds that I don't remember the name. Baboons stole the rolls from our lunch while we were lured away from the cooler by an elephant in the river. We also heard a lion roar after our dinner one evening (it was awesome, and importantly, across the river). I had hoped to see the giant cats. Bees arrived at our camp while we were on a game drive. They found something they liked and stuck around. The problem was they acted like flies—landing on you and crawling around. Eventually one of us got stung so we packed up snacks and beverages to seek shelter until the sun went down. They were gone when we got back, but returned the next morning bright and early. We packed up camp in a rush.

Rob, Stephanie, Cephas, Karen, Ellie and I had a great time over the three days besides the bees.

A little like Planet of the Apes, . . . but they are babboons

Us at Rumbi View (GC588T2)

Sunrise at our camp