The Return to Hwange

I recently had the opportunity to return to the beyond wonderful Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe.

(How can you not love a place whose sunsets look like this?!)

I returned to The Hide, a wonderful safari lodge, tucked away in the middle of Zimbabwe and was treated to this sunset the following night.

Oh, be still my heart, how I love sunsets.

I was traveling with someone who was experiencing his first safari.  The moment of seeing something like these giraffes never grows old,
whether it's his first safari or mine, the number of which I've lost count.

Our safaris were marked with these beautiful female kudus, so gracefully when they run.

Hwange has these stunning zebras and it's easy to be lost in the memorizing nature of their stripes.

Love this Zebra's head markings.

What is it about giraffes drinking that is always so comical?! 

An elephant's skull--this thing was huge and a little creepy.

We had a full moon, visible even before the sun set!

Which boded well since we were also visiting Victoria Falls and I hoped we'd be able to experience the rare lunar rainbow!!

Remember this sign?  I laughed seeing it again--it brought back so many good memories
of my very first safari experience in the company of a wonderful friend.

(Oh! What luck I have to have such wonderful people with whom to experience this world!)

The Road Less Traveled

Embarking on another adventure across Zimbabwe, this time we headed west, attempting to find a specific safari lodge. 

 The hand-drawn map we had wasn't helpful and didn't include landmarks like this very old Shell gas station. 

 Which naturally was the first landmark we saw for many kilometers.

Thinking maybe we have the right road, we flew through across the beautiful landscape, 

hoping that after eight hours of driving from Harare, that we were on the right dirt road.

Apparently we aren't the first to wonder if we were remotely on the right path as we stumbled upon this sign, wishing us good luck. 

 It may have resulted in many minutes of hysterical laughter (and then a silent prayer that hopefully luck wasn't needed.)

And then! Voila! A landmark actually on our map: a water tower and train tracks. We had officially entered into Hwange National Park.

And immediately were relieved to see a sign marking our safari lodge: The Hide. 

 There was hope we weren't lost in the middle of---literally---no where Zimbabwe after nine hours of driving.

Even if we were lost (and yes our road was this flooded)

how can you not pause and think: Zimbabwe is breathtaking. 

And I was about to go on my first safari. Life is good.