Victoria Falls in Zambia - Wildlife around the Royal Livingstone Hotel

Victoria Falls in Zambia is not the typical safari place where one would go to photograph wildlife. People travel here to see the falls, to relax after a safari in the bush or to have an African experience in the excellent "Royal Livingstone Hotel" with safety and all the amenities of civilization. Or for a conference and all of the above, as we did in this instance. 

zebra roam freely on the property

Many birds can be seen without leaving the hotel grounds:

 Pied kingfishers, the "helicopter birds" (Ceryle rudis)

Blackeyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus)

Cardinal Woodpecker (Dendropicos fuscescens) , female

Trumpeter Hornbill (Bycanistes bucinator)

African Pied Wagtail (Motacilla aguimp)

A brightred dropwing dragonfly - Feuerroter Sonnenzeiger (Trithemis kirbyi)

On my walk along the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls inside the park, to which the hotel has an extra side entrance, I met a large family of baboons who live there on the left-overs from the food of their human relatives. I observed them for a while going about their business as all families do, sitting, talking, scratching, thinking, feeding, carrying or making children, quite undisturbed by me but not bothersome either. 

admiring the falls?

"help me up, please"

"ouch!"

   "The Thinker"

Under the canopy of the imposing jackal berry trees (Diospyros mespiliformis) that grow on the lawn reaching down to the water ....

... one can relax in one of the swings there and doze off after a day out in the sun. 

Although the city of Livingstone is near, nights can be very dark. 

The lights of Livingstone illuminate the steam of the falls at night.

The Milky Way in the Southern Sky