Zimbabwe Vacation #2

Day 2

Today, April 16th we were met by our long haired, younger then expected white African tour guide at 7:45 am. (He was actually only 20 years old, but very capable and experienced for his age). His name is Stephen. He came with a nice big van, so there was plenty of room for all of our stuff, especially since we had already packed so light. Also there was seat belts in the middle seats, so we could actually use are car seats the conventional way and not just for a high chair at mealtime. Our guide was charged with taking our 2 families hundreds of miles(1950 kilometers round trip to be exact) through Zimbabwe, guiding us through various game parks, cooking and cleaning most of our meals, and handling police roadblocks, and any vehicle malfunctions that could occur. Seemed like a huge challenge for most, especially at 20. Fortunately, he had already guided many mission trips into the majority of countries in Africa. So he was very experienced. Both of his parents passed away by the time he was 9. So he and his sister who was 9 older became quite self-sufficient at very young ages. Needless to say, he seemed to be up for the task, and we were all just excited for a change of scenery and a chance to “hit the open road”. Today we only had to drive 4 hours from Harare to Antelope Park.

The drive went rather smooth....thankfully. The kids did well, aside from a few small outbursts. But nothing that Elmo and Brother Bear and a laptop with a DVD player couldn't fix (Not to mention some nice “biscuits” or as I like to call them cookies).

We arrived at our 1st destination shortly after lunch was served.......and what a feast it was! The view was phenomenal as we had green manicured grass all around, that crawled right up to the edge of lush river, teaming with wildlife. It was the paradise we had hoped for, and we were all thrilled. We stayed in river tents. They were actually large canvas structures with an enclosed brick bathroom attached, overlooking a small marsh that was adjacent to the river. We each had large balconies that overlooked the water, and was perfect for viewing birds, fish, and other wildlife that wondered around behind us. It is really very luxurious, and peaceful. A wonderful place for all of us to recharge our batteries.

All the meals here are provided by the cooks here at Antelope Park. The meals today were simply amazing! We had a large selection of meats and sides with cool crisp ice cream for desert. The best part of the meal was that we were not responsible for any dishes. Paul and I joked about the dishes as we went back for seconds and thirds and casually left our used plates behind. Overall it was a wonderful 2nd day. We praise God that we made it safely, and are already enjoying the rest!