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.

Victoria Falls

Wow!!

I thought we were coming to an interesting site when I said I wanted to extend our visit to South Africa with something more. I had no idea the power and spectacle we would be enjoying. The locals call it Mosi O Tunya, meaning thunder and smoke. Our guide said that they did not even approach it out of fear of what the noise would lead to.

From Upstream

That is neither fire or fog. It's Victoria Falls boiling up.

Unlike the other major waterfalls in the world, Victoria Falls cascades into a narrow gorge and is then forced through a gap only 110 meters wide. The entire falls is over 1700 meters wide. Since the water has no place to flow after falling the 100 meters, much of it boils back up into the air creating a rainstorm on the opposite side. It also makes it possible to approach within a few meters of the falls themselves - provided you don't mind getting very wet. Of course, pictures are nearly impossible under these conditions unless you have a waterproof camera, something Linda suggested to our guide for future visitors.

Even with the raincoat, I was soaked

We walked on the bridge you can barely see through the mist.

The pictures we did get are from the side of the Falls before we walked into the rainstorm and from the air as we flew out of Livingston on our way to Chobe Chilwero, our next resort overlooking the Chobe River, one of the Zambezi's major tributaries.

The Fog Obscures the View

You can almost see the other side

Upper right corner shows the small gap for the river.

Look at the waterfalls on the opposite side of the real falls. The water on the trail was running over 1" deep in places.

We walked the trail opposite the falls. You can see the small bridge we crossed. Throughout, we were soaked. There was so much rain and wind, we had trouble seeing anything at times. All this comes from the falls itself, not the outside weather.

Upstream View

Almost straight down, there is nothing to see except the rain cloud coming at you.

Toka Leya

We came to Zambia primarily to see Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We are staying at a Toka Leya camp on the river in Mosi O Tunya National Park, so we have more to do than just view the falls. After a 15 minute drive from the airport, we got on a boat for a 2 minute ride to the camp, passing a group of three hippos on the way. After settling in, we walked down to the lodge for tea at 3:30 ready for a boat cruise on the Zambezi River.

Shyly Taking to the Water

The Malevolent Eye

We stopped first to look at a couple of huge crocodiles between 4 and 5 meters in length. The female betrayed her shyness by quickly sliding into the water. The male just continued to lay on the sand and keep his eye on things. A little later we saw one only about 1.5 meters long. Probably about a few months old, he is now on his own in the world. He seemed as unconcerned about us as the older ones.

Hippo Avoiding the Sun

We saw several hippos resting in the water. They avoid the sun by staying submerged. Their skin is highly susceptible to burning and drying out. They are also highly territorial and dangerous causing more deaths by animal in Africa than any other beast. We sped away from two of them because they were with youngsters and had no desire to get involved with that.

We had a decent look at a Cape Buffalo. This is one of the Big Five or the most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa.

African Mourning Doves - Slightly Larger than Ours

White-fronted Bee-eaters Hanging Out at Home

The highlight of the evening was the birds. We saw 25 different birds, 14 of them new to us. Enjoy the pictures.

Note the Holes in the River Bank

Beautiful Little Birds Who Eat Bees and Other Insects

African Openbill - The bill edges are sharp enough to crack mussel shells.

Spur-winged Goose

Water Thickknee - They do have thick knees.

Malachite Kingfisher - One of several species of kingfisher in Southern Africa