It’s the beginning of the rainy season here and that means babies! From rhinos, to elephants, to warthogs, to impala, to lions I’ve spotted many babies over the last couple weeks. Here are a sample of photos.

After a little over 2 weeks of chasing wildlife and, much less fun, self-driving through Namibia, a driver took me from Kutima Mutillo (Namibia), through Botswana, to Livingstone Zambia where I stayed at the Royal Livingstone for 3 nights.

They Royal Livingstone is one of two hotels inside the National Park on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. It’s a luxury hotel which was built in the early 2000s but designed to look like it was built nearly 100 years earlier. All of the rooms are in walk-up two story riverfront buildings, with either patios or balconies (depending on whether you are on the 1st or 2nd floor) facing the river.

The main building, has a 24 hour bar, a restaurant (serving breakfast, lunch and dinner), reception, a gift shop and a sundries shop. There is also a sundowner bar, which is open right around sunset (and for a few hours afterwards) serving beverages and light bites.

Service is as one would expect from a 5* hotel. It begins with a bellhop whisking your bags from you immediately upon arrival while a choir (about 8-10 people) serenades you. A manager then takes you to the bar where you are served a welcome drink while the manager checks you in and explains the features of the hotel. Another staff member then accompanies you to your room to explain how everything works (which, maybe I’m just a guy with 3* taste…but I really don’t need someone to show me how to work a hotel room).

Food in the restaurant is amazing for all 3 meals. Due to worries about Covid I did not take a taxi into town (about a 15 minute ride) to try local options – even though pre-Covid this was one of my favorite activities while traveling. The pool, overlooking the river, was amazing as well, with bar service and a pool attendant making sure you had nothing to do but lounge around.

But, the real highlight of staying here? Being in the National Park, you had wildlife right in the hotel. There’s nothing like enjoying lunch while watching Zebras saunter past to drink from the fountains. Or to be late for your dinner reservation because Zebras were on the path from the rooms and you had to wait for them to move. (I bet I’ll never get to use that excuse again: Sorry that I’m late for dinner, but there was a Zebra jam. 🙂 ) Coming back from swimming in Devil’s pool there was a traffic jam just before reception because a Giraffe was enjoying a snack…and was standing in the driveway. As one does. And don’t get me started on the Impalas or the Baboons. All part of the experience. And, yes, you pay more than staying in town. But between the easy access to the Falls and the experience of staying around all of these animals, it was worth the $.

We’ve all participated in trust exercises. You know, where an overpaid consultant tells you to trust everyone you work with…well…because you work with them and everyone is happier and more productive with mutual trust. Some entities go further than interactive lectures and even add in ropes courses, or other activities…such as the whole blindfolded fall backwards and someone catches you exercise. (Of course, they may only be catching you because they don’t want to get fired…but whatever.)

At Victoria Falls, I participated in the most exhilarating experience of my life…which doubles as a trust exercise (this one is Colonel Kahn (I’m a Kentucky Colonel) approved 15/10 definitely recommend). I swam in Devil’s Pool! Devil’s Pool is a natural infinity pool at the edge of Victoria Falls. To get there, you take a short boat ride down the Zambezi river to Livingstone Island after which you take a brief walk across the island (it’s called a “tour” of the island but it is really just a walk from the boat landing to the falls) to the edge of the Falls.

From there you meet your guide, and then swim through the current to another small rocky outcropping where you enter Devil’s Pool. The trust exercise part? This guide, who you’ve just met not 10 minutes ago, holds your ankles – while treading water against the current – while you hang over the edge of the falls! Now this is blind trust!

I can’t even describe how amazing the whole experience is. Once in the pool, just a few feet to the right (not that right, your other right) would put you in the strong current right over the falls. But, in the pool itself you can swim, and post up at the edge under the watchful eye of your guide.

I also had an awesome time enjoying a “Victoria Falls Massage” where you sit in the middle of a rapid – using all your strength to hold yourself in place – and feel the force of the river before letting go and heading left back into Devil’s Pool. (Heading right would end badly.)

After about 15 minutes, it’s back into the river to swim back to Livingstone Island for some adult beverages and snacks before heading back to the hotel.

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Sadly all of the Seal photos are on a real camera and I can’t download them without reliable power and wifi, but here is a sample of views from the lodge taken and posted from my cell (which has service).

I wish I had booked this for more than one day. It’s amazing how beautiful and yet how empty and desolate this place is (except for seabirds and ~60,000 seals.

Last night was insane. The winds picked up and were buffeting the room to the point where I wondered if I’d fly away were I to go outside. The waves were so relaxing as they crashed to shore not 50 feet from the room.

Today, it is into the bush. A 5 hour drive followed by a 2 hour 4×4 transfer to a mountain tent camp. Sat phone is charged, hopefully I won’t need it. Change in route too. Between the misty rain and the wind the salt road along the coast may be slick like black ice. So instead of driving the coast for a couple hours and then overland, I’ll backtrack south and then head overland through some of the tallest mountains in Namibia. Game on!

Here I am. Cape Cross. There is no one here. Almost literally. One bar on the phone. No wifi. There are more seals and seabirds than humans here. My lodging has 20 rooms. 3 are booked tonight.

Beautiful though is the landscape. It’s in some ways other-worldly. One one side of me the ocean. Blue as the Carribean. Waves as high as Hawaii. On the other side of me, salt pans and rocky mountains the color of rust.

Went to the Cape Cross seal colony today. It was out of this world amazing. Tens of thousands of seals. As it is pup season – a ton of small pups. Seals lounging on rock outcroppings, fighting, swimming. Maybe 3 other cars here.

The drive was 2 hours from Walvis. Busy until Swakopmund – a tourist beach town if there ever was one (which is why I stayed in Walvis Bay – an actual working port town). But north of Swako and especially Henties Bay as the road turned to packed salt there were very long stretches where I saw no other cars.

Salt pan’s on the left. Rocky desert on the right. Driving on the left with blind rises, steep drop offs on the side and more roadside memorials to the dead than I care to think about.

It’s amazing being in a place with no TV, no phones, no wireless and 1.5 hours from the next city of any size.

Time to think. To contemplate ones existence. To write.

Turns out I won’t have any real access to cell/wifi until I reach Vic Falls – almost two weeks from now. Until then, I’ll be writing in my journal – ready to share here when the time comes. I’ll be taking photos. And, I’ll be enjoying everything that travelling in this part of the world throws my way.

Spent a couple days on the Atlantic Ocean. So Many Seals, Penguins, Flamingos galore. Seabirds.

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I know, I’m running behind. I haven’t even talked about my flights and here I am with a picture from a rooftop bar from my first night in Namibia! It was an awesome bar, FWIW. Not only were the drinks good, but the views over downtown and to the mountains beyond were spectacular!

But, I’m ahead of myself! I’ll get back to my flights in the next post – but I had to skip to Doha. Why? Because this is, hands down, the most ostentatious airport in the World. Bar none. If you think differently, you’ve never been here. Fight me. I’ve been to some crazy fancy airports before (think new Istanbul, Singapore, Bangkok). I’ve been to efficient airports before (think Narita), and I’ve been to painfully inefficient airports (Heathrow, Atlanta). I’ve also been to some horribly outdated airports (I see you Dulles C/D concourse and Cairo). But, I’ve never been to an airport like this.

Start with getting off the plane for transfer and getting to the central atrium. The atrium was filled with every possible luxury brand you’ve ever heard of. And, an US18.5 million dollar bear.

But, it gets even more crazy. Meet the “Gold” store. It’s called GOLD. It sells gold and only gold.

And then there is the Saffron and Caviar store…which only sells Caviar and Saffron…in case you were wondering.

After somehow making it through the atrium without changing out my life savings to gold bars and sturgeon eggs, I made it to Qatar Airline’s Business Class Lounge, Al Mourjan. It is the largest airport lounge in the World, with nearly 3 acres of floor space over two floors. The first floor has quiet rooms, showers, tons of seating, multiple drink stations, a business center with state of the art Apple Computers, a Deli (24 hours a day with sandwiches/fruit/salads), and an infinity fountain.

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And, just in case there wasn’t enough to keep you entertained on the first floor, there’s a full restaurant upstairs. Really a two-in-one where you can choose from a buffet or an Al la Carte menu. All free to business class passengers on Qatar.

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The dinner selection was insane with everything you could think of – even sushi made to order with fish flown in from Tokyo. I went with an Indian chicken dish, with a fantastic glass of Bordeaux. I followed that with a slice of Apple Cinnamon pie. I promise you I totally thought about having a salad. A fleeting thought, but a thought none the less. The next morning for breakfast, I had fresh squeezed orange juice (oranges flown in from Brazil), coffee, still water, yoghurt, fresh fruit and eggs benedict.

Now, if you’ve read this far, you’ve realized I had dinner and breakfast in the lounge. This is because I had a 14 hour layover. And, though the lounge is amazing, it would have been hard to spend 14 straight hours overnight in there. Fortunately, Doha airport has a hotel (the Oryx) inside the atrium. Literally. About 100 rooms + spa + pool. Inside the atrium. Unfortunately, the hotel was completely booked when I tried to book a room in advance. But, (pro-tip coming), I never trust a fully booked hotel at an airport. After all, people miss their connections, flights get cancelled. So after dinner I headed to the hotel – they had 2 rooms left. The cheapest was $375 a night and I took it (when you’re the only game in town you charge whatever you want).

The room was very comfortable, if utilitarian. Two really comfortable twin beds. Tv with nearly 100 channels from all over the world. Desk. Well-equipped bathroom. A very nice place to get my body-clock straightened out and free myself from my KN95 for a good 10 hours.

Until next post.

October 27. Must get to D.C. With 5 dogs. One suitcase. One camera bag. One backpack. Enter my 2020 Subaru Outback. I bought an Outback simply because of the Subaru commercials. Subarus are made for dogs. I have 5 dogs. Therefore, I needed a Subaru. And, indeed the Subaru Outback worked out quite well. Everyone fit comfortably in the car for the drive to DC where the dogs would spend the next 30 days.

You may be asking yourself why I chose to drive to DC with the dogs rather than board them close to home. For me, it was an easy decision. My dogs are my family. I was not going to leave them for 35 days without leaving them with someone I trusted absolutely with their care.

So at 3am on October 27th we were all loaded up for the 10 hour drive (before stops) north. Everyone went to sleep except Spike (pictured above) who could not handle being in the back with the other pups. He continually tried to climb into the front seats, so eventually, I moved him to the front seat and he immediately settled. With the exception of some rush hour traffic in Charlotte, the drive was uneventful (except for wrangling 5 very excited dogs at rest stops for their bathroom breaks).

That said, all of my pups definitely have their own car personalities once they were awake. Scout (top left), slept the entire way – at one point I lost sight of her in the rearview and she was not responding to her name, but I yelled “treat” and up she popped like a prairie dog, to get her treat and go right back to sleep! Shep (middle top) tried to attack every 18 wheeler that passed. Spike – right top – (slept in the passenger seat unless I got out to get gas or go to the bathroom, then he moved to the drivers seat and stared out the windshield until I returned. Barney (lower left), tried to climb up the doors to get a better view and wiped his face (and drool) all over the windows. Penny, stared out the back window and occasionally let me know that she was not happy with this whole road trip idea.

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Next it was off to the Dulles Airport Westin, my home for the night. I got a room with 14 days parking included. At way.com (Pro-tip: great for off-airport parking btw, I booked the rest of the parking I needed for just $4.00 a day -about half what the hotel would have charged directly). As a Marriott Ambassador member (yep, that’s right, I’m Marriott royalty 🙂 thanks to an extended stay during the height of Covid last year), I was welcomed as a Platinum member (2 levels below where I actually am 🙂 and the agent proudly let me know I had been upgraded to an Executive Room from the base room I had booked. At this hotel an executive room is exactly the same as a normal room….except….wait for it…it’s on the top 2 floors of the hotel. I was also given a “lake view” room (actually a drainage pond) as opposed to a street view or a parking garage view. And, I’m glad I had so much amazing scenery to greet me when I woke up the next morning. 🙂

Next: The trip truly begins with Qatar Airways IAD-DOH-JNB. Also known as the start of why y’all are reading this thing anyway.

I’ve never enjoyed tests. I mean, thanks to my being a mediocre student my performance on the SAT and then the LSAT allowed me to get into better schools than on grades alone, but it’s not like I enjoyed taking them. And, I definitely did not enjoy the feeling of waiting for the results for weeks after.

And let’s not even get started on the Bar Exam (I passed on the first try thankfully), or my Liver Biopsy (turns out nothing was wrong, whoop!). But you know what test came in third place for the most anxiety inducing? The pre-travel PCR test for international travel. I mean, 1 Q-tip tickling my brain stood in between me and Africa. Get a negative result and I get to enjoy the trip of a lifetime. Positive result and a slink back to work after a 14 day quarantine. (Actually given we’re still not back in the office, guess I go straight to work!)

So on October 26, 2021 I find myself at an Urgent Care affiliated with a major hospital. 8am appointment for a rapid PCR test. By lunch, I’d know if I was vacation bound. For some weird reason the Urgent Care required me to have a consult with the provider on duty (I wasn’t really paying attention as this was just a total waste of time) before a nurse came in and made sure she got DNA by poking my brain just enough to see whether I had a nervous system response. $195US later…I was out the door and the anxious wait began.

Got home. Joined MyChart for the Urgent Care. Hit refresh on Test Results every 5 minutes for the next 2 hours. And it appeared. I had a result! Did I dare click on it? What if I had tested positive? 2.5 years of anticipation came down to this one moment. I didn’t want to know. But I needed to know. So I clicked. And I was Covid negative.

I was off to Africa.