New Mexico hikes

I'm taking a break from posting photos from my overseas trips this year. Right now I'm in southern New Mexico, visiting my sister and brother-in-law. We go hiking every morning, despite the rains that have left the trails rather muddy.

This is the view from my sister's house in the mountains above Las Cruces.

We saw a number of squirrels on the hikes, and so did Becca. She still hasn't caught one, though.

This is a Sacramento Mountain Thisle. It seems to be very popular with the local bugs.

These are probably weeds, but they sure are pretty.

A view of White Sands from the Apache Point Observatory.

Zimbabwe safari ranch

We went to a safari ranch the first weekend we were in Zimbabwe. It was pretty much like a large zoo, but almost all of the animals were running free, except for the meat-eaters. The animals were pretty tame, but it did make for some beautiful pictures.



A small herd of zebras.

















A pair of giraffes -- or crossing giraffes...



















Nobby, one of the park's giraffes. I was told he got all the nobs on his head from fighting.





















Elephant mother and her new baby. The father spent most of the time watching us carefully, to make sure we didn't get too close.




















The baby elephant leaning against hismother's trunk.

Victoria Falls -- part 2

Of course the most beautiful thing about the area is the falls themselves. Luckily, it had been raining a lot before we arrived, so the falls were fairly full.

Walking toward the falls. As you can tell, it was very wet!






















Victoria Falls.

The power of the falls.

Water surging through the rocks.

The national flower of Zimbabwe. It's sometimes called the gloriosa lily or the climbing lily. Although beautiful, it's also poisonous.

Victoria Falls

We spent several weeks in Zimbabwe, and went to Victoria Falls one weekend. We took a cruise on the Zambezi River, where we saw crocodiles, elephants and some very playful hippos.


A not-so-friendly crocodile.

The first thing I saw out the window when I walked into my hotel room.

Hippos having fun.

An elephant at sunset.

Sunset on the Zambezi.

Malawi

It was about a four-hour drive from Lilongwe to the Liwonde National Park, after which we had a 45-minute boat ride to the Mvuu camp. We went through a number of small villages along the way. Malawi is incredibly poor, but the scenery is beautiful.














A Malawi village.
Market day along the main road.

Walking home from the market.


And back at the river -- another hippo.

Liwonde National Park -- part 2

I think this is a water buck, although I don't know for sure
A herd of impalas, and some cattle egrets.

Water buffalo. This was the only time we saw them.

A face only a mother warthog could love!

This elephant was not happy that we were so close, and wagged her ears to let us know.

Liwonde National Park, Malawi

I was in Lilongwe, Malawi, for about 2 weeks. While I was working most of the time, we did manage to take one weekend and go to Liwonde National Park. We stayed at Mvuu Camp, on the Shire River, which is home to hundreds of hippos and crocodiles, among other animals. But those are the ones you have to watch out for!

Getting a little too close to a crocodile.

Hippos enjoying the rain and the river.

A cattle egret.

A fishing boat, with a bicycle for when they land.

Sky over the Shire River.