Eli's first week....Christmas Trip. Lots of photos.

Wednesday we headed early to Livingstone with the first stop being Immigration. 

With no problems Cory and I received our new temporary work permits.

But as we had suspected Fritz's ended up being a different story....in the end we were granted a two day visa stamp and appointment to return on Friday to pay for his 3 month visa as the clerk was not present to accept the payment.

We grabbed a fast food lunch and ate by the river before heading to see Victoria Falls. 

Due to very loud thunder / close lightening strikes we sat in the car for a few minutes until the storm passed and then headed to see the Falls.

Having seen them in March it was interesting for us to now see them at the beginning of rainy season when you can see so many more rocks that were covered by water during our spring visit.

We were able to hike down to the 'boiling pot' this time and later after handing in our passports we walked across the Victoria Falls Bridge, built in 1905, to the Zimbabwe side.

Eli saw his first mongoose and baboons. 

We checked into a hostel and then walked across the street for some very good pizza at Olga's. 

Early to bed as we were picked up for our day-trip at 6:30.

We crossed into Botswana to visit Chobe national park..even before entering the actual park we saw monkeys, baboons, warthogs, a herd of Sable antelope and a spotted hyena. 

Interesting to see by the road signs warning about wildlife because the park is not fenced.

Covering 4,500 sq. miles the park was formed in 1967 and is estimated to be home to 50,000 elephants!  

By the end of the day we'd see a large number of elephants of all ages! 

Both from the safari truck and a small boat. They look even bigger from a boat!

Swimming, eating, rolling in the mud, dust baths, teaching the young ones where the soft grass is, and trumpeting! 

While we've seen them before we had not heard them. 

Impressive!

In addition: hippos, giraffe, kudu,  impala, puku, banded mongoose, Cape buffalo, bushbuck, waterbuck, crocodile, lechwe.

Birds included: Burchell's starling, fish
eagle, yellow-billed kite, Egyptian goose, herons-including the Goliath, marabou stork, Egrets including the great white, African spoonbill, African sacred ibis, white-breasted & Reed cormorant, African darter, spotted thick-kneed, yellow-billed stork, ox-peckers, African wattled lapwing, Blacksmith lapwing, spur-winged goose, African jacana...and more. 

We had a wonderful Christmas trip! Returned tired and amazed at the great variety of animals, birds, trees that the Lord created.

Friday we did some shopping [suvenieers, trees, plants, food, stuff....] and received Fritz's next visa stamp. 

Heavy rains slowed our return travel some and we were very thankful to make it home and to our own beds.

Today we did a few things around the yard; Eli's educating us on a bit of video game skills, some laundry done, Fritz had his hair cut; cooking; and best of all FAMILY TIME. 

Missing Anna but thankful that she traveled to Michigan and already has enjoyed time with all 4 grandparents.