It was our last morning at Puku Ridge.  After another beautiful sunrise, we headed out for a walking safari with Alick (our guide) and Simon who had a gun just in case.

Alick showed us lots of different animal tracks and their poops.  Who knew that elephants only digest 40% of their food leaving plenty of seeds, nuts and other goodies for baboons and monkeys to pick through.  We learned about some of the vegetation and the smaller animals while we watched the larger ones from a distance.

Having survived our walking safari, we piled back in the truck for one last game drive.  The night before there had been a lot of lion roaring.  We found them not too far from the camp.  Three male lions (brothers) who are occasional visitors to the area.

As we left them, we startled an elephant who went running off the other way.  He looked very agile as he made the turn.

After returning to camp, we had a little time to relax before heading back to Mfuwe for our flight to Lusaka and then to Dubai.

Zambia had held elections on the previous Thursday.  While there are 9 parties on the ballot there were 2 that dominated.  The incumbent and his main opponent who was from the Southern region (where Victoria Falls is).  The winner had to get over 50% of the vote and it looked to be a close race.  The Wall Street Journal had written a story indicating that there might be some unrest.  As we drove through the streets in Mfuwe the announcement had just been made that the current president had been re elected.  He was a favorite in the area, so there was a lot of green (the color for his party) and celebrating.  Given his popularity, we were happy it hadn’t gone the other way.

Around 5:30pm we boarded our small plane for Lusaka where we would have a couple hours to layover before boarding for our overnight flight for Dubai.  We were a little sad to be leaving Africa.  Hoping it won’t be another 20+ years before we return.