Vic Falls 1

Ah, Vic Falls. Where do I begin? This was probably the most amazing 3 days of my life so far. :) Garn and I had such a good time here! When we arrived at our hotel, all I could think was "we're definately not on the mission field anymore!" The hotel was amazing! Beautiful wood everywhere, a smaller version of Vic Falls flowed out of the wall beside the entrance walkway, the lobby overlooked the restaurant, of which the walls were open the the pool area behind. Our room was also impressive - beautiful tile made up the bathroom, the main room had a king sized bed - especially amazing after sleeping in separate single beds for the past month - and a balcony. We were warned not to leave the balcony doors open while we were away from the room due to monkeys and baboons. Wow! We had eagerly watched from the plane for any wildlife roaming around, but it seems they're smart enough to not live immediately below the flight path.


Our first concern was getting into Zambia for the renewal of our Zimbabwean visas. This is a nerve-wracking process for the sole reason that the rules change so frequently that you can never be sure what will be required. Recently, it was required to be out of the country more than 24 hrs to get a new visa, but lately they've been getting away with merely crossing the border, getting stamped in Zambia and coming straight back to Zimbabwe. We decided to try this on the first day, so that in case they decided we had to stay in Zambia overnight, we wouldn't miss out on our Boma reservation the next day. First task in this operation: aquire more cash. It costs $75 each for a 30 day Zimbabwe visa, and it was unknown how much it would cost to get the Zambian visa. In Zambia, we had heard, it's different for Canadians than Americans, which is true also in Zimbabwe. As it turned out, since we arrived in Vic Falls on a Sunday afternoon, all the bank machines were out of cash. Huh. So we decided to walk down to the border crossing to find out just how much this Zambian visa was going to cost - maybe we had enough on us to pull it off without waiting for new cash Monday morning. We were wanting to get this over with so we could relax for the rest of our time there.

At the border crossing, we learned that basically, the Zimbabweans don't know what the Zambians do, and likely vice versa. No one could confirm for us how much it would cost at the Zambian side. Unfortunately, to get to the Zambian border crossing, you had to get stamped out of Zimbabwe, and the Zambian crossing was not in the same place! We found out later just how far away it was... So, no go. We did find out, however, that we could buy Zimbabwean copper bracelets, Zimbabwe dollars, and many other tourist type items anywhere along the road between our hotel and the border crossing, lol! The street hawkers are very insistent, and we often had to just keep walking while they still tried to convince us, following along behind for awhile. On the way out, though, we saw a mother warthog and 2 babies! Our first wildlife in Africa (not counting the birds, bugs and lizards)! On the way back, though, it got better - 2 elephants grazing not far behind our hotel! Wow!! I'm in love!

So, dripping in sweat as the temp had to be in the mid-30s and we passed the entrance to Vic Falls Park along the way, so the humidity was approx 300%, we headed back to the hotel. We could see the spray from the falls rising up a long ways from just about anywhere in Vic Falls town. In fact, we could see it from the plane when we flew in - sure wish I had a pic of that! I bet the spray goes up a mile in the air! By this time it was almost 5pm, so we decided to take advantage of the hotel pool before dinner. Ahhhh..... For dinner, we decided to splurge a bit and try out the hotel's buffet supper. Definately a good choice - not only was the food amazing, but we were entertained for the evening with drumming, music, singing and dancing! I do wonder just how authentic it all was, but it certainly was entertaining!

Monday morning dawned. After taking in the free hotel buffet breakfast, we headed out. (the breakfast was also amazing - just a side note for all you tea drinkers, Rooibos tea actually comes from northern South Africa, and maybe because of proximity, it is really wonderful here - better than the equivalent at home, so I'm going to bring some back with me) Visa attempt #2. We followed the herds of tourists to the most popular Monday morning destination in town - the bank machines. This time we were able to successfully withdraw sufficient funds for our mission. Then, slathered in sunscreen head to toe and outfitted with my largest hat, we headed for Zambia on foot. After successfully navigating the copper bracelets and various carved animals, we made it to immigration (which really should be emmigration) we got stamped out of Zimbabwe. It was an odd feeling, with no Zambia crossing in sight, and no longer allowed to be in Zimbabwe, we wandered in no man's land. There was only one thing we knew was coming - the bridge over the Zambezi river just after the falls. I was really excited for our first real glimpse of her majesty. After a while of walking, we came upon the bridge. It was beautiful! You only get a glimpse of the falls, but the valley on the other side of the bridge was beautiful. We arrived just in time to see some insane tourist bungie jump off the bridge far down into the valley below, amid much hooting and hollering from the rest of us on the bridge. In the exact center of the bridge, we came to the official border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, the lines for each country separated by about 4 feet of true "no man's land", just too far to be able to stand in both countries at once. After photographing the view from every few feet (the view changes, you know!) we headed up the hill again. Eventually we found the Zambian customs and immigration office. The 2 offices are separated by about 3 km. It turned out we were able to get one day passes into Zambia for only $20, so we were very happy. After getting the beautiful stamp-stamp on our passports, we turned around and started walking again. I think I like Zambia, but we weren't there long enough to know! Now, to get back into Zimbabwe. Along the road, we entertained ourselves with worries of what if a one day wasn't enough, oops we forgot to get the exit stamp from Zambia, (hope the authorities aren't still looking for us in Zambia now), etc, etc, but the crossing back into Zim went smoothly. With light hearts and light pockets, we were now able to relax and head into the Victoria Falls National Park!

Side bar - we are currenly flying back from Vic Falls, via Bulawayo, and despite my best efforts, still no wildlife conveniently located along the flight path.

After paying the $30 each admission (see why there is a daily migration to the cash machines?) we stepped into the park that houses one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. Outside the gate were more hawkers selling tourist trappings with one new addition - rain gear. Due to the aforementioned temperatures, we decided that getting a little wet from spray would feel pretty good...oh the ignorance of tourists... The trail starts at one end of this massive crack in the earth. The views kept getting better and better at each viewpoint, keeping us snapping more and more pictures. The spray was getting to be more than just a mist, too. Also along the path were vervet monkeys, who utterly charmed us by their sweet faces and their lack of fear - you could walk quite close to them without them getting upset. All along this path is what is considered rainforest, and it was understandable as everything is kept very well watered by the falls. I can't describe how beautiful it was, walking along this path among the trees, with frequent views of the largest waterfall in the world. With it being rainy season, the falls is almost as full as it ever gets. It took us an hour and a half to walk the full length of the ZImbabwe side, including stopping for pictures, and it was amazing to realize how far it still went on the Zambia side. Walking along it gives you a different perspective on just how long it is. As we walked, the spray got to be more and more, and some viewpoints did not allow us a view of the falls at all, just solid white clouds of spray. If we stood and waited, the breeze would clear the spray momentarily, allowing an interesting game of peek-a-boo with Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, this also meant a change in the wet factor. Rather than the refreshing mist we started out with, we slowly graduated up to rainstorm, then finally up to standing under a full-blast shower. I am in no way exaggerating this. It was at this point that I recalled someone in Harare mentioning something about "soaked to the skin". Oh yeah, I remember now! Maybe that rain gear wasn't such a bad idea after all... We could not have been wetter if we had actually fell into the river itself. My shoes were still not dry yet this morning, and at the time, I think there was more water than foot in each shoe. It did feel good, though, and it was too hot out to feel cold, even when that wet. However, electronics are not built for solid doses of Zambezi river, and though we were trying to be careful and had a plastic ziplock bag for the camera, it finally decided it had enough, and stopped working. We were so drenched that we could not even wipe the drops off of it. Talk about sudden stop to the joy - this was not a cheap camera. It was also about now that I recalled the advice of a disposable waterproof camera, but I had arrogantly thought that if I was going to be at a wonder of the world, I was going to take good quality pictures. The good news, to make a long story slightly shorter, is that the camera is working most of the time now. Also no match for the Zambezi river was my waterproof 30 block sunscreen. I am trying very hard to be careful, but alas, I am slightly crispy again. Even Garn got a slight burn, which is his first of the trip despite never wearing hats or sunscreen.

So, after "soaking up" as much Victoria Falls as we could handle (haha!!) we slogged our way back to the hotel. We had just enough time to change into dry clothes and pop onto the internet before it was time to go again. This time, we were headed off to our big Valentine's dinner at the Boma, with a very special stop in between. We had gotten the advice to go early, as the hotel nearest to the Boma overlooks a watering hole, and you can sit on their terraces and watch the wildlife come. Wow! I love being a tourist in this country! So, we found a good spot and started our vigil, while sipping ice cold cokes. What a way to spend an afternoon! We knew that since it's the rainy season, animals wouldn't be as common at the watering hole as in the dry season, but we would be happy with seeing anything. At first, we just enjoyed the active birds flying around, and took pictures of the large storks hanging out in the tops of the tallest trees. A ways off, there were 3 elephants, and we kept an eye on them in case they headed closer. Then, suddenly, a lone female elephant did step out! We were thrilled and spent much time watching her and taking pictures of her every move. Then, it was off to the Boma for the most interesting meal either of us has experienced.