Feb. 29th, 2012: Today, on the Leap Year day, I decided to leap off of a cliff on the Victoria Falls over a 150 metre gorge! I ziplined all the way across the gorge. It was so much fun!! I got to see the gorge from right above the water and I even got to see a circle rainbow that was spread out over the gorge. I span for a little bit of the trip which was really fun because then I was doing the ziplining backwards! I couldn't see anything but the falls in front of me. Then you have to climb up on this ledge that is right over the gorge and walk across the bottom of the bridge to safety. It was amazing! I then watched two of my friends bungee jump off of the bridge. I was sweating even putting my camera over the ledge and despite the peer pressure I refused to jump and kept my feet firmly on the bridge. Ziplining was as far as I was going! We then went out to Olgas (again) for some really delicious spaghetti. After a quick nap, I went to the craft market to trade many things that I don't want to bring back home. Or that just won't fit in my very stuffed suitcase :). It was really cool, the people I traded with were so excited to get my things and I was so excited to get their things! The craft market is rather intimidating but so much fun. It is a long strip of shops, each one selling different items but they are all roughly the same thing. As soon as you walk near the market you are hounded, the shop owners trying to get you to come into their shops to buy their stuff. I start out really polite but by the time I have finished the entire strip, I usually end up not so polite as I have been harrassed the entire way down, haha. What amazes me, is that you can see people making their crafts right in the market. They say they can take up to a month to make and they only sell them for roughly $10.00 Canadian. Bargaining is a blast. Some of the shop owners don't like to bargain much, so I find the ones that really do like bargain and we have fun going at it. I had a quiet night after my big day, resting and enjoying the sunshine.

March 1st: Today, I rode and fed an elephant and played/walked lions and cheetahs!!! I started my adventure at 9 am, with the elephants.  I was very lucky that one of my friends agreed to come with me to the elephant back safari because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go with only person. There were 7 elephants in the herd with the oldest being 36 years and huge! I rode a 13 year old elephant named Sondelo, with a tour guide named Bonaface. He told me about the elephants while we walked through the forest up and down hills with me gripping tightly onto the seat that was strapped onto the elephant. The ride was a little bit bumpy, I definetly got my ab workout for the day! Up close, Sondelo was very brown and muddy. He had little balls of mud on his head from the last time he took a mud bath to keep cool. His ears were huge and very strong. His tail was very strong as well with a little black tuft at the end. I heard how the elephants communicate which was really cool. They were telling the other elephants to hurry up according to Bonaface. All 7 of the elephants came on the walk although only two were being ridden because Bonaface said that the others will get lonely and angry if they are not brought along. One of Sondelo's tusks were broken off because he had tried to dig for a branch a little too roughly. They say that it will grow back within 2 years or so. He responded to commands like "stop" and "walk on" but would constantly reach his long trunk to the side and grab some snacks of branches along the way. After the walk, I got to feed Sondelo! I said "mouth open" and he curled up his trunk above his head to reveal a very large mouth and tongue onto which I put the handful of snacks onto. Then, I said "truck down!" and he stretched his trunk back down to vaccuum suck the snacks off of my hands. It was really, really cool!!!
I then visted the lions!! There were two. One was a brown lion aged 17 months and the other was a rare white lion aged 11 months. I stood behind the lion holding a stick in case the lion saw me and decided I looked rather tasty. The stick did work, it distracted the lions when they looked at me like I was a big piece of meat. I pet the lions and even gave one a belly rub! Then, I walked with the lions. I was able to hold onto the tail of both lions as we walked. I saw their huge paws and their huge, sharp teeth which were a really good reminder to only do what the guides were telling me. They say that even they need to watch their backs when with the lions. Even though they are very tame, they still have the instinct to kill and are still very wild. I found it really interesting to learn that they had spots only because they are still young. You can tell how old a lion is by how dark their spots are! They are used for camouflage while they are still young and at risk for being eaten by other animals. Apparently, after they are released into the wild, the lion has no problem adapting to it's new life and can hunt and resume a normal lions life. This place takes lions which have been abandoned by their mother because of unfortunate circumstances, like the mother being poached or something. Lions are not born with the ability to walk so they need to be carried by their mother for the first 3 months of their life. So if the mother is killed, the baby lions are left for dead unless they are picked up and brought to this place. They are then raised to tolerate humans for a few years (usually up to the age of 5) and then they enter the 'wildlife' phase where they are slowly introduced into the wild and eventually set free into a private national park. They were so very beautiful and and powerful.  I am so happy I got to see them and touch them like that! Who knew lions liked belly rubs?
I then visted the cheetahs. There are 9 cheetahs altogether at this place. Cheetahs are still an endangered species, so this place took in 3 cheetahs that were bred in captivity somewhere else and are using them to help re-populate the species! The females choose their mates and after a 3 month pregnancy they give birth to 3-5 pups which are released into the same private national park as the lions at the age of 10 months. The older cheetahs that started the family cannot be released back into the park because they were born in captivity. The cheetahs were much less intimidating versus the lions. The first thing I noticed was their colour. Their black spots cover their entire brown body ending at the tail, which ends up looking like stripes as the tail ends. They have beautiful black markings on their face, leading from their hazel coloured eyes down to their mouth. I was so surprised when the cheetah started to purr! Like a really, really big cat. They loved to be pet. Especially on the chin. I could pet anywhere on the cheetah except on the legs. I sat down to pet one of the females and the male walked right over to me and sat right on me, jealous of all the petting that the female was getting! I thought that was really funny. They loved to play and tried to eat my water bottle after demolishing the stick that I had brought from the lion encounter. I got to walk the cheetahs like a really big cat (with a leash and everything) which was interesting because there were 3 of them and 1 of me. So trying to walk all 3 of them was really entertaining. One escaped from me at one point and I was really happy that it didn't run because at the speed of 120 kms, you can only hope that they come back! There is no chasing them. They are one of the animals that are often hunted by others because they are very weak. Their teeth are not very large and they are not very muscled compared to other animals. They are built to run and like to eat the gazelles! I felt like I was famous with all the photos that the guides took. They were awesome. Because I had booked these activites so last minute, I got to have a private encounter with the lions and the cheetahs which the guides said never happens and the experience that I had was something to be jealous of. I will be posting all of my pictures as soon as I get home!
I am so happy that I was able to do everything that I did today. All in all, it was too much of an amazing day to really put into words. The fact that I had to wash my pants of cheetah, lion and elephants before I left for home was pretty awesome. I can't believe it, but I leave for home tomorrow! Saying goodbye to Africa is hard. I really like it here. As much as I miss home, I will miss Africa a lot. Someday, I plan to return here. Hopefully with more money so I can see more of this continent.

PS:  I will be turning my phone off and will most likely not have any access to internet until I get home so I will have to talk to everyone then. Canada and Tim Hortons, here I come! :)