Toka Leya - The Camp

A few pictures to show you what it is like to stay in one of these camps. I took these the morning we left. As you can see we had a rain shower that night that continued into the morning. Fortunately, it cleared up for our plane ride and the view of Victoria Falls. As we sit on the veranda overlooking the river or the fields and the food and drink at your leisure, it is sure easy to understand why Europeans would decide to stay here.

Our 'tent' - notice the solar water heater.

Breakfast buffet and cooked to order eggs.

The lounging area looking towards the river.

Lounge with a view to the dining area and bar in the background.

The bar is always open.

We have yet to try a pool, but they are always available.

Tea was served here when the skies allowed.

Our yacht. Six chairs all swiveled allowing 360 degree views.

The wire elephant greets us daily.

This hippo decided to make an appearance as we left.

Toka Leya From the Water

We did enjoy the river cruises, especially in the morning as the sun came up with its beautiful color.

This wire-winged swallow hitched a ride with us after snatching a spider from its web on the boat.

The Giant Kingfisher is the largest of the kingfishers. Africa's kingfishers are much more colorful than ours. Look closely and you can see the orange breast on this one.

Egyptian Geese are almost as prevalent here as Canadian Geese at home.

The Grey Go-Away Bird got is name because its call sounds like, "Go away" if you use your imagination. It does serve as a warning to the animals in the area that a predator is near.

Reed Cormarant

African Fin Foot. We followed this one for several minutes as it worked its way among the reeds by the shore.

We also saw animals and flowers.

This is not a yawn. This big boy is telling us that we are too close and it is time to move away. We did.

This young male elephant entertained us one morning eating and bathing.

Water lilies

The evening cruise ends with a sunset and another G & T.

Toka Leya Land Safari

We stayed at Toka Leya for three nights. During that time we did one land safari and three on the river. We especially enjoyed the time on the water where we could approach the animals and birds quietly and with peace. Somehow, driving a big land rover doesn't evoke quite the same feeling.

We did get to walk to see three of the eight white rhinos on the property. Because of the huge increase in poaching over the last two years, these rhinos have a 24-7 guard. 24 rangers are employed to make sure these rhinos survive. They also help us by leading us to get some good views in their habitat.

The guns are AK-47s, not capable of taking down a rhino. We learned this afterwards although Linda had it figured out from the beginning.

Rhinos in their habitat. We did not get much closer as they were working their way towards a watering hole.

We did get close enough for this picture.

After we got back to the vehicle we drove around the park and saw some other animals.

The giraffes here were lighter in color than those we saw in South Africa. Same species, just a paler coloring.

Warthogs in South Africa never let us get this close or stay long enough for a picture.

Waterbucks look to me like they have a target painted on their rump.

The ground hornbill is one of the heaviest birds. They do fly, but generally just short distances without much height.

A few zebras. They pronouce it with a short vowel sound, not zeeebra like we do.

A beautiful sunset to end the day as we sipped our G & T.