Victoria Falls

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Victoria Falls up in Zimbabwe.  Theresa, the daughter of the B&B owner where I’m staying in Joburg, came with me.  We flew from Joburg Friday morning to Livingston, Zambia.  We had a bus waiting for us that would take us to our hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  We had to cross the border, get exit visas, pay money, get entrance visas and get our passport stamped.  There were some baboons  at both immigration location – in Zambia, one was eating  papaya  (or poepoe).  In Zim, there were two playing on the edge of the roof of the border checkpoint.  One looked remarkably like my brother…I didn’t know he was in Zim!  :-)  Just kidding bro!  We got to the Kingdom Hotel around 1:30 and were meeting a travel planner at 3pm to plan our time in Vic Falls.  We got that all arranged and then it was time for fun to begin.

At 4pm, we got picked up to go on a sunset  cruise on the Zambezi River (which feeds the falls) and is the border between Zim and Zambia.  When we arrived, there were African singers and dancers that greeted us and performed.  There were maybe 20 people on boat…a pontoon with a roof that protected us from sun and rain.  We traveled down the river (toward the falls) and saw some hippos lounging in the reeds and taking a dip in the fast moving water.  Then we headed up-river and saw an African fish hawk and a long-billed crane.  Unfortunately, because it’s the rainy season, the underbrush is high and the wild animals can find water everywhere, so they aren’t out and about.  So we didn’t end up seeing any wild elephants or crocodiles (I wasn’t so disappointed about the crocs!).  On the cruise, they had finger food and all you could drink.  I was introduced to Mazoe, a orange concentrate that you add water to….kinda like Tang but much, much better.  It was delicious.  I had some every day…but none was as good as what I had on the boat.  On the way back to the hotel, a wild elephant crossed the road ahead of us.  We stopped to let him bass and take pictures.  Fortunately, he wasn’t in a bad mood and our bus wasn’t accosted. 

Saturday, I was picked up at 6:30am to go on an Elephant- back safari.  We went out into the bush and loaded up on 6 elephants…each elephant was ridden by a guide and 2 passengers.  We were given a safety briefing before we started out.  If once we start out into the bush and you see a wild animal, don't jump off the elephant.  If the elephant starts running, don't jump off the elephant.  If you get tired or sore, don't jump off the elephant.  Ok...so you don't want me to jump off the elephant?  I guess they don't like having to clean up human pancakes. :-) Riding an elephant was much like riding a horse, but the body was a little bigger and taller.  Our particular elephant didn’t like loading humans via the ramp, so she knelt down and we climbed up a 3-step stool to hop on the saddle.  We held on tight as Lundi, our elephant got to her feet.  I can tell I’d never be a bull-rider…it was all I could do to hang on & stay in the saddle when she stood up!  The guide told us the elephants are the African all-road vehicles – they call them 4 x 4 x far.  Elephants eat almost constantly – as we walked, they’d wrap their trunk around a branch & rip off the branch or a bunch of leaves.  No wonder they can go far!  They only sleep 4 hours a day or so, the rest of the time is spent eating.  They eat 50-150kg of food a day. No wonder they’re so big!  Elephants are also fast…they can travel up to 40 km/hr for 10 kilometers.  Fortunately, we didn’t need that kind of speed and we took a leisurely pace thru the bush.  I got to feed Lundi pellets that the guide said was like chocolate to her.  He let me feed her and I tried to dump as many into her trunk as possible.  That’s what I’d want, so I figured she’d appreciate it.  I was told that African elephants are different from Asian ones because their trunks have 2 “fingers” at the end…they can pick up small objects with their fingers and their trunk has over 100,000 muscles in it….very strong but also able to do delicate tasks.  As a matter of fact, when one of the tourists was loading onto the elephant, she dropped her camera.  With her trunk, the elephant picked up the camera and handed it to her guide.  I wish I had had my video on for that.  The camera came back kinda muddy from where it fell and with a little bit of elephant saliva, but other than that, it was undamaged.  It was pretty impressive. 

I got back to the hotel around 10am, we quickly changed clothes and headed for the Falls.  We had been warned that we would get wet, so we wanted to wear clothes that would dry quickly.  We got to the Falls and started on the side furthest from Zambia and slowly made our way to the river.  Since it is the rainy season, the amount of water coming over the falls was impressive…I can’t even imagine how many gallons a second are going over…the roar was quite loud.  As we got closer to the middle of the falls, it started to rain…but it was raining up and not down.  The spray from the water crashing over the falls and onto the rocks and water below cause a mist or rain to spew up even higher than the falls.  We didn’t just get wet, we got soaked…like we were in a downpour.  Sometimes the mist was so thick we couldn’t even seen the falls…it was a whiteout.  Even when the mist was “clear”, we still couldn’t view the whole length or depth of the falls…the spray was just too thick.  It was interesting that the park didn’t have any place where you could sit and observe the falls.  They had only a few benches in the park and all were set back from the falls with no view whatsoever.  So we only spent about 1 ½ hours there.  By then we were so wet and our cameras were also getting damp, so we decided we had enough.

We changed into dry clothes and at 2:30, Theresa had an appointment to ride a zip line across the Zambezi (below the falls).  I went along to take pictures and capture the video, screams were included.  :-)  She had fun…I think life is exciting enough without needed to add any.  I stayed on the sidelines for this one.

At 3:30, I was picked up to do another tour – this one was walking with lions.  There were 3 lions that had been rescued…all were about 9 months old.  The Lion Park is part of a conservation effort that has a 5 step plan to re-introduce lions into the wild.  Step 1 is to get them used to being around humans…that’s where I come in.  So we had opportunities to pet them (we were told to pet gently but firmly…what????)  They explained that if we didn’t pet them firmly, the lion would think it was an irritating insect…I didn’t really care to get bit, so gently but firmly it is.  We were also told not to pet their heads, only their backs, from neck to tail.  The lions are very social animals…but also lazy.  So part of their repatriation with the wild is making them to take walks in the afternoon.  But it’s hot and they don’t want to walk…so as soon as they saw a shady spot, they’d crash into it and on top of each other, biting each other tails & taking a little kipperoo (nap).  It was like watching puppies…just with bigger teeth, claws and bodies.  The guides would get them up and they’d walk a little further, but then crash into another shady spot. It was a lot of fun interacting with them…but also I was a little on edge the whole time.  I mean they are wild animals that eat people.  My brother suggested not showering for a few days before walking with the lions…he said lions don’t like dirty humans.  I didn’t take his advice and so was a little concerned that I would look like a tasty morsel.  Fortunately, the lions ate that morning, so after a while, I figured I might be safe (they only eat every 2^nd day).  Then we hung out with 2 lions about 16 months.  We were told the male was “naughty” and so we were to keep our distance from him and not turn our backs on him.  We walked around with them, but they were always in the lead and we were behind.  I much preferred hanging out with the 9 month olds…they didn’t have a serious thought in their head…and weren’t looking at me like a snack.  Then we headed back to the hotel.  I was so tired that I could barely hold my head up thru dinner.  I crashed after that.  That was one long day!!!

The next morning, we got up early and walked up to the Victoria Falls Hotel which was built back in the colonial days of Africa.  It was beautiful both inside and out.  Then it was back across the border, to the airport and back to Joburg.  I was ready to crash when I got back home.  It was a fun, unique experience that was worth the time and effort.  I’m glad I did it.