Astonishing Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa

The Drakensberg (derived from the Afrikaans name Drakensberge meaning "Dragon Mountains") is the name given to the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest altitude in this region (2000 – 3000 m). From below, this part of the escarpment has the appearance of a range of mountains, hence its name, “Dragon Mountains” in Afrikaans.

A map of South Africa showing the central plateau edged by the Great Escarpment and its relationship to the Highveld and Lesotho Highlands. The portion of the Great Escarpment shown in red is known as the Drakensberg, although most South Africans think of the Drakensberg as only that portion of the Escarpment which forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Lesotho. Here the Escarpment rises to its greatest height of over 3000 m.

The Drakensberg escarpment stretches for over 1000 km from the Eastern Cape Province in the south, then successively forming, in order from south to north, the border between Lesotho and the Eastern Cape, and the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal Province. Thereafter it forms the border between KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, followed by the border between KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga Province. It then courses through Mpumalanga to end near Tzaneen in Limpopo Province.

Livingstone Museum, Zambia

The Livingstone Museum is located in the heart of the city of Livingstone.  Established in 1934, the Livingstone Museum is the oldest and largest of the four national museums in the country.  The museum holds a vast archaeological collection among which is evidence from the biggest trade market in central Africa and excavated finding of prehistoric Broken Hill man.  It also holds the largest collection of the biodiversity of Zambia as well as a rich ethnographic collection dating back to the early 20th century.  The museum also holds a vast collection of David Livingstone memorabilia, has one of the oldest libraries in the country and an extensive archive.

 The present Museum building was first opened in November 1950, although extensions have been added over the years. In 2003 the building underwent structural renovations and the public exhibitions were given a complete overhaul, bringing them up to date and enhancing them with modern and artistic ideas to make them more attractive to the visitor.

Collections:
The Museum holds the national collections in Archaeology, Ethnography, Art, History and various branches of Natural History. These collections comprise Zambia's largest collection of cultural artefacts and natural history specimens.  Among these is a large collection of artefacts relating to Dr. David Livingstone, from whom it got its name.
 Ethnography Section
The section contains the largest collection of cultural artefacts in Zambia, making up a total of over 12,000 collections.  These include basketry, blacksmith items, pottery and woodwork products.  It also holds a sizeable number of witchcraft objects and photographs on various aspects of local life from as far back as the 1920s.
 History Section
The section is the custodian of materials related to the traditional culture and the history of the people of Zambia. The section has in its collection, which numbers over 12,000 historical objects, rare historical documents, relics and obsolete firearms. The section's highly prized collections include Government publications of both the United Kingdom and the British South Africa Company (BSA Co.), North-eastern and North-western Rhodesia reports, Northern Rhodesian Government records, records related to the struggle for independence, Independence Day celebrations, economic, social and political activities in Zambia since independence in 1964 to the present. Others include historical manuscripts, photographs, newspapers (dating back to 1905), cheques, money and postal orders, stamps, historical maps, books, paintings and memorabilia related to Dr David Livingstone, including his hand written letters, some of which are on exhibition.

 Archaeology Section
The section holds about 10,000 site collections with over 350,000 archaeological artefacts from stone age to the iron age periods from all over Zambia.  Important collections include artefacts from Kalambo Falls, Mumbwa Caves and Ingombe Ilede.

Biking Through Zambia

Cycle Tours - Thorn Tree Safaris 

Thorn Tree Safaris has been creating unique, tailor made Zambian safaris since 2005.  With guides fluent in the local language,they offer safe, varied and exciting ways to travel and see the beauty of Africa, its wildlife and people at first hand. Their mobile safaris, cycle tours and fishing expeditions all offer you the opportunity to interact with local communities - often proving a life changing experience.

Cycle Tours & Challenges
Thorn Tree Safaris can offer you a standard cycle tour or a route tailor-made to your specific requirements.  You can cycle across Zambia, Malawi or Tanzania knowing that our experienced team is there to back you up all the way, and feed and water you at the end of every day!

ZAMBIA, WET AND WILD  LUSAKA TO LIVINGSTONE  CYCLE CHALLENGE

This challenge takes place in south-eastern Zambia finishing at the Victoria Falls.
Day 1
Overnight travel to Lusaka, Zambia
Day 2
Transfer to hotel,  picnic lunch, bike fitting and a briefing on the challenge to come.
Relax in the bush surroundings, swim, try out your bike, and enjoy the curious giraffe and zebra who meander amongst the chalets
Day 3
Road transfer to starting point and set off to Mazabuka, home to Zambia's sugar plantations.
Terrain is a mix of tar & good dirt roads. Cycle through local villages, baobab trees and  sugar plantations.
Day 4
Continue south towards Monze - a challenging but fantastic day. Today route is a more adventurous off road one! Roads vary from good dirt to slightly sandy taking you through real rural Africa! Winding tracks through villages where you can meet the friendly Zambian people.
At the end of the day’s cycling transfer to Choma for our overnight.
Day 5 
A circular day today as we cycle down to Lake Kariba for 88kms. After reaching the shores of the lake, return by vehicle to Choma  overnight.
Day 6
Another challenging day as tackling 70kms of off-road! Dirt roads are in good condition with  a few sandy sections. Pass countless small villages, seeing rural Africa at its best, as yet untouched by tourism.
Day 7
The final push into Livingstone, the ultimate destination! Although this last ride is on tarred road there are potholes to negotiate - cycle straight through town and end at the Victoria Falls. A spectacular end to the week!
Special meal held in an African restaurant in Livingstone to celebrate success!
Day 8
Enjoy a free day to take part in one of the many local activities & challenges available in Livingstone.
Day 9
Transfer to Livingstone airport for you International flight back home.
Day 10
Arrive at home wondering if it has all been a fantastic dream !!

Amazing Waterfalls in Africa

                                               Victoria falls

 

 Augrabies Falls

 Epupa Falls

Lisbon Falls

Lumangwe Falls

For More info: info@namibiaresrvations.com

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Victoria Falls Bridge

The Victoria Falls Bridge crosses the Zambezi River just below the Victoria Falls and is built over the Second Gorge of the falls. As the river is the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the bridge links the two countries and has border posts on the approaches to both ends, at the towns of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia.

 

History of the Victoria Falls Bridge:

The bridge was the brainchild of Cecil Rhodes, part of his grand and unfulfilled Cape to Cairo railway scheme, even though he never visited the falls and died before construction of the bridge began. Rhodes is recorded as instructing the engineers to "build the bridge across the Zambezi where the trains, as they pass, will catch the spray of the Falls". It was designed by George Anthony Hobson of consultants Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, not as is often stated, Sir Ralph Freeman, the same engineer who contributed to the design of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. At the time of the design of the Victoria Falls Bridge, Freeman was an assistant in the firm who, in those pre-computer days, was calculating stresses.

The bridge was constructed in England by the Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company, before being shipped to the Mozambique port of Beira and then transported on the newly constructed railway to the Victoria Falls. It took just 14 months to construct and was completed in 1905.

The bridge was officially opened by Professor George Darwin, son of Charles Darwin and President of the British Association (now the Royal Society) on 12 September 1905. The American Society of Civil Engineers lists the bridge as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

Constructed from steel, the bridge is 198 metres (650 ft)long, with a main arch spanning 156.50 metres (513.5 ft), at a height of 128 metres (420 ft) above the lower water mark of the river in the gorge below. It carries a road, railway and footway. The bridge is the only rail link between Zambia and Zimbabwe and one of only three road links between the two countries.

The Victoria Falls Bridge did not bring the first train or the first railway to Zambia. To push on with construction of the railway north as fast as possible, Cecil Rhodes insisted that the Livingstone to Kalomo line be laid before the bridge was finished. Then a locomotive was conveyed in pieces across the gorge by the temporary electronic cableway used for the transportation of the bridge materials and nicknamed the 'Blondin' by the construction engineers. The locomotive was re-assembled and entered service months before the bridge was complete.

For more than 50 years the bridge was crossed regularly by passenger trains as part of the principal route between the then Northern Rhodesia, southern Africa and Europe. Freight trains carried mainly copper ore (later, copper ingots) and timber out of Zambia, and coal into the country.

The age of the bridge and maintenance problems have led to traffic restrictions at times. Trains cross at less than walking pace and trucks were limited to 30 t, necessitating heavier trucks to make a long diversion via the Kazungula Ferry or Chirundu Bridge. The limit was raised after repairs in 2006, but more fundamental rehabilitation or construction of a new bridge has been aired.

During the Rhodesian UDI crisis and Bush War the bridge was frequently closed (and regular passenger services have not resumed successfully). In 1975, the bridge was the site of unsuccessful peace talks when the parties met in a train carriage poised above the gorge for nine and a half hours. In 1980 freight and road services resumed and have continued without interruption except for maintenance.

Today one of the Victoria Falls Bridge's main attraction are historical guided tours focusing on the construction of the bridge and which include a walking tour under the main deck. On the Zambian side there is a small museum about the bridge which is free to enter and contains cafe selling refreshments. Also located on the bridge is the Shearwater 111 metres (364 ft) bungee jump including a bungee swing and zip-line. Concerns about safety of the attraction were raised in late 2011 after the bungee's cord snapped and a young Australian woman fell 24 metres (79 ft) into the fast flowing river with many crocodiles.

The bridge was originally referred to as the Great Zambesi or Zambezi bridge, later becoming known as the Victoria Falls Bridge.

Be Amazed by Giraffes in South Africa

Giraffes are found in most of South Africa’s game reserves outside of the relatively treeless Karoo. They’re not rare or endangered but they are fascinating, and not only because of their height. They have no hierarchy, they have inordinately long tongues and their babies drop two metres when born.
The giraffe stands head and shoulders higher than any animal on Earth. A tall specimen can measure 5.5 metres from hoof to head. But that’s not the only distinguishing characteristic of this distinctively African mammal.
Giraffes also have an unusually loose and non-hierarchical approach to social lives. Giraffes are very seldom seen alone because they clearly enjoy one another’s company, but there’s also no leader. They don’t co-ordinate their movements and no single giraffe calls the shots.
They’re sometimes spread out over a large area – their height allows them to see each other – and other times eight or more will cluster around one particular tree.
Giraffes have a clear love affair with acacias, winding their long dark tongues to pick out the nutritious
leaves from among the fierce thorns.
They’ll eat up to 34kg of leaves in a day.With all those thorns, the love affair is clearly not reciprocated from the acacia’s side. Yet giraffes are thought to help with pollination and the seeds seem to grow better after having gone through their digestive tract.
These tall vegetarians may seem like softies, but they’re tough in unexpected ways. A newborn baby drops nearly two metres to the ground from the birth canal. This kickstart into life might explain why they can walk and run within hours of being born.

Giraffes have also been known to kill lions by kicking them. Their hooves are the size of soup-plates. And there are few creatures as protective as a mother giraffe.
The males have a peculiar way of sorting out their differences and issues of dominance. In a low-intensity wrestling match, they lean against one another to test weight and twine their necks – often while gazing peacefully into the distance. Then all of a sudden they’ll swing their heads away and back again, connecting with a thud. It’s very seldom a deadly fight, but some males have been known to lose consciousness.
They’re among the quietest animals in the bush, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make any sounds. Calves will sometimes bleat or make a mewing sound and cows that have lost their calves will bellow. They’ve also been heard to snort, moan, snore, hiss and make a high, strange fluting sound.
You can tell a male from a female giraffe by looking at the tops of their horns – females' horns will have tufts of hair growing from them, while males' horns are bald.
Their conservation status is classified as ‘least concern’ on the IUCN Red Data List, but giraffe numbers have sunk down in the last few decades. Still, they’re fairly easy to see in most South African game reserves and conservation areas outside of the Karoo.

The Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage...

The Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage in central Zambia is a non-profit refuge that cares for a wide variety of sick, wounded or unwanted animals -- but the primary residents are over 100 orphaned chimpanzees.

 Chimfunshi was founded in 1983 when a game ranger brought a badly wounded infant chimpanzee to the cattle ranch of David and Sheila Siddle, a British couple who had lived in along the Zambian copperbelt since the 1950s. The Siddles nursed that chimp – nicknamed "Pal" – back to health, thereby establishing a tradition of care and respect that forms the legacy of the sanctuary.

Once word of Pal’s recovery spread, the Siddles found themselves inundated with orphaned chimpanzees. Although many are confiscated from poachers who attempt to smuggle the infants into Zambia for sale as pets, an equally large number are rescued from dilapidated zoos and circuses from all over Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

The Siddles bestow love and care upon the traumatized apes and gradually introduce them to the extended family at Chimfunshi. Five social groups inhabit the free-range enclosures that span 1,100 acres at the orphanage, including two 500-acre enclosures, the largest area ever set aside for captive primates.

About The Chimps

The chimpanzee, scientifically known as Pan Troglodytes, is the animal kingdom's closest relative to humans. In fact, chimpanzees are more similar to man than they are other apes, and research indicates that chimpanzees are over 99 percent genetically identical to humans.
Chimpanzees are native to Equatorial Africa, and once roamed in their millions across 25 countries in West, Central and East Africa. But relentless poaching, logging, habitat destruction, and human encroachment have reduced the wild population to less than an estimated 150 000, and they are classified as an Endangered Species.
Sadly, only limited legislation exists in a few nations to protect them, and it is estimated that chimpanzees and Africa’s two other great apes – gorillas and bonobos – could cease to exist in the wild within the next 30-50 years.
Chimpanzees are social animals with strong family bonds. They live in large groups of 25 or more, and female chimpanzees are attentive mothers, often doting on their offspring for the first four or five years. Chimpanzees are also efficient hunters and tool makers, and exhibit many of the same emotions once thought exclusive to humans, such as jealousy, envy, compassion, greed, sloth, avarice, and malice.

Chimpanzees continue to be hunted down and poached in their hundreds each year. The illegal hunting and subsequent sale of primate meat -- known as "bushmeat" -- is a thriving commercial enterprise and is on the increase with the depletion of forests. Sadly, it is believed that the killer human viruses such as Ebola and AIDS are directly related to the consumption of this ape meat, yet the practice shows no signs of abating.
Chimpanzee babies who survive the hunting ordeal are often sold as pets, zoo animals, or circus performers, while some wind up in medical research.