Gifts from the Broken Jar: Lions, Tigers, and Bears! Oh, My! (well, maybe not bears)

My poor boys. They are walking encyclopedias when it comes to animal facts. They know all about the African Big Five.

You can imagine that their mother was a tremendous disappointment when she returned from the land of their dreams only to report on chickens, goats, cows and pigs. And a spider or two.

I did get some credit for bringing home this picture of a tiger snake. Keith, the proprietor of the Lake View Lodge, where we were staying was busy identifying it one evening when we got home. He said that it struck his arm and latched on. When he finished his research he tossed it back out in the bushes.

And there were monkeys around the Sinazongwe ADP office. I never saw any, but don't tell my boys. Thanks to my teammates, I have a few pictures. (or maybe they were just on their cameras from a recent zoo trip)

So, where were the animals of Africa? This article in wikipedia outlines a variety of the themes I heard while I was there.

When we arrived in Lusaka we stayed at the Southern Sun Hotel. The pond at the center of the hotel had crocodiles from a croc farm. When they got to a certain age they were returned to the farm and replaced with babies.

In terms of Croc reality, however, while we were staying at Lake View Lodge along Lake Kariba, we were strictly warned to stay away from the water.

The crocs in the water were a very real and deadly threat.

Speaking of Lake Kariba, commercial fishing is profitable and this was a common sight:

Though this particular picture is the precursor to an unfortunate mooring that stranded the fisherman one morning. Apparently August is one of the Lake's windy months. Dramatic winds came up in the evening and blew fiercely through the night. The waves pounded on the shore, not unlike the Oregon coast. The locals told us that despite all appearances, it would NOT rain. And it never did.

The Kapenta of Lake Kariba.....