Day 10 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe - Sunny Rain, Flying High & Bongos

Day 10 – Ilala Lodge, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe/Zambia

Today's activities include a guided walking tour of Victoria Falls and a Microlight flight over the falls.  We were picked up at 8:30am (aahhh, the luxury of sleeping in) for our walk.  We are officially the closest hotel to the falls, so the drive was only about 3 minutes.  This particular walking tour is a pretty big tourist draw, so when we arrived, of course the “vendors” were everywhere.  We had a group of about 8 people, we were all given big black hooded raincoats as we were expecting a gentle mist off the falls, and off we went.  

We started on one end of the falls and walked the length with various viewpoints. 

Note bright blue sky and sunglasses

"Devil's Cataract" - where girls were sacrificed

Video: Falls

It is currently high water season, so there is a lot of water and it is moving fast.  The water off the falls is crashing down and there is a LOT of "mist".  We had a few good views early on, but the closer we got to the main falls, the less we could see anything of the falls, and the more we were basically just walking in a torrential downpour of water.

Still wearing sunglasses - mainly to keep the water out

Blue sky, sunglasses, rainbow, torrential downpour

Video: Rain in the sunshine

Now I understand the hooded raincoats.  There was one point, called “Danger Point” that was an outcropping of rocks off the main path.  Our guide said not to go or to be very careful because of how slippery it was.  Of course, there is Damon, standing on danger point with another thrill-seeker  over the edge!

Ha ha - I asked him to sit for a picture and he did

Safety precautions in Africa are not quite American standards.  There was a fence/railing on the main path, supposedly to keep wild animals away and so people don’t wander over the edge into the falls.  The fence was basically an occasional bush or wooden post that may or may not have had any horizontal railings on it. 

The "safety" fence.  In better repair here than most other areas

I’d say not too effective for keeping wild life out or tourists in.  It would be an understatement to say that I was drenched from head to toe when we finished – my raincoat was definitely broken since I was able to squeeze water out of my t-shirt when we finished.  That aside, we did learn some interesting things about the falls.

Video: Rainbow over the river

Back in the day, they used to toss young girls off the devil's cataract (picture above) falls in sacrifice.  Then when the much revered Dr. Livingstone (I presume) discovered the area, he convinced the natives that maybe that was not such a great practice.  Now, from what we hear, the only sacrifices are the occasional elephant, croc or hippo that wander too close to the edge of the falls when the water is running lower, and fall off.  In dry season, it is possible to walk almost all the way across the top of the falls on dry land – definitely not something that can be done now.  If you’ve ever been to Niagara Falls, size wise, it just pales in comparison to Victoria Falls, which stretches across two countries (Zambia & Zimbabwe) and runs about 1.4 miles across.  It is impressive, but honestly, with the amount of mist that generates, it is difficult to get a really good view or picture when standing there.  The falls drop into a gorge that narrows really fast, so immediately past the falls is a zig zag of river gorges.  It was explained to us that each zig and zag is where the falls used to be before they receded back because of an earthquake.  The mist can be seen for miles!

On our way back to the lodge, we stopped at the famous “Big Tree”.  It is, well, a really big, ancient tree. 

Our guide explained a bunch of stuff about the tree – I think it was about 1000-1500 years old.  But what was more interesting about the big tree is that when we stopped, next to some dense bush land, within seconds, a line of men came out of the bush trying to sell us stuff. 

Still a little wet from the "mist"

We weren’t even off the shuttle before they had lined up wooden trinkets and other things for sale right at our feet. 

Vendors

They are very aggressive and make viewing things uncomfortable because they are really up in your face and won’t leave, so we took our pictures and got back on the shuttle.  Sitting on the shuttle, the bus was surrounded – you couldn’t look out the window because there was a man in every window trying to get your attention.  There is nothing dangerous about it, just a little annoying because it is hard to calmly enjoy things when you are in a public space.  As soon as we were all packed back on the shuttle, they picked up their things and disappeared back into the bush waiting for the next group to arrive.

We had a relaxing early/mid-afternoon.  We hung all of our soaking wet clothes out on the balcony to dry, and wandered to a café next door – you really can’t go too far because of the onslaught of vendors.  Damon tried the trio of sliders – Kudu, Crocodile and Beef. 

When in Africa... Of all of the game meats we have tried to date, we have determined that ostrich and wart hog are surprisingly tasty! 

We were picked up around 2pm for our Microlight flight, which was back in Zambia.  In between the Zambia and Zimbabwe immigration points, there is a bridge that is considered “no man’s land” – people can walk across it without worrying too much about immigration issues, and it is also where people bungee jump (side note:  hell no to bungee jumping in Zimbabwe – did not look very safe.  Been there, done that in New Zealand and once was enough.) 

No man's land - Welcome to Zambia!

Driving near the immigration area

Video: Driving near Zimbabwe immigration

 Our transfer went smoothly as we basically got dropped off in no man’s land by our Zimbabwe driver and picked up by a Zambia driver there – we asked if it would be okay if we walked across the bridge and meet him at the other side, which was no problem.  The view of the falls and the gorge are amazing from the bridge so we took our time and got some beautiful pictures. 

We got to Zambia, met our driver, went into a little building for some sort of Ebola screening (they pointed some infrared thing at us to check temperature), got our immigration stamps and carried on.  I definitely feel safer knowing how thorough the Ebola check procedure was (said no one ever from the Zambia immigration check-point).

Ebola screening building

A microlight flight is basically a hang glider with a motor and a chair for the pilot and one passenger sitting directly behind.  In our 15-minute flight, we soared over and around the falls, spotted hippo pods, elephants and crocs from the air, and at one point, my pilot said “hold your arms out and pretend you are flying” as he took a nose dive straight down.  That lasted about 2 seconds before I was like, uh, no thanks. 

Damon, being 1 test away from getting his own pilots license, was given the okay to steer/fly his microlight.  He was in heaven.

Video: Damon's full flight (he takes controls at 11:58)

Then the drive back to Zimbabwe, another border crossing, another spectacular 20 minutes in the immigration building with a stench that curls your nose hairs, another stamp in our passports I think we have more stamps in our passports flying around Africa than from all other international travels combined. 

At the border crossing, there are a bunch of baboons running around - mostly digging through garbage, but we did see one jump into the open trunk of a car while searching for unattended food.  They are like annoying squirrels only I think they could probably kill us pretty easily, so we stay away and carry no food.  I still think it is crazy to see what people are transporting across the border on bicycles – piles and piles of sweet potatoes!

Baboon in the garbage behind the fence

Baboons in the street

Dinner was at the Boma restaurant with a “traditional drum show” – yes, it was totally cheesy, but there was a huge buffet of everything imaginable, including a “meat bar/grill” where you could pick any of about 10 different game meats and they would grill it for you, plus a whole pig roasting on a spit, not to mention table after table of sides, salads, soups, & desserts.  For entertainment, we watched a group of drummers/dancers and about halfway through the show, they gave us bongos (a hundred or more people).

Video: Donna on the bongos (aka, don't quit your day job) - BTW - my hands hurt after an hour of bongo-ing, ergo, the lackluster performance.

It is not possible to not have fun when you have your own bongos with African music playing in the background.  They formed a big African dance circle and of course Damon got picked (again) to dance in the middle of the circle, so that was entertaining for me.  Then home and to sleep.