Zambia and Victoria Falls

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

In the morning, we woke up early so we could head across the border into Zambia for the day. Our shower in the chalet wasn't working properly, so we just showered in the other building that everyone else was using. We all went to the main lodge, a 30 minute drive, to have breakfast. This meal was even less satisfying than last night's dinner. We were each given 2 hard-boiled eggs, cold baked beans, and two slices of plain, untoasted bread. Tommie complained to the campsite management about the food and other shortcomings, but they didn't seem very interested.

We left for Kazungula, the border town where we would take a ferry across the Chobe river into Zambia. We went through the border checkpoint and boarded the ferry, along with other passengers and a large truck. There were many other trucks lined up to cross the river on both sides, but only 2 ferries. We heard that some of these trucks wait as long as 2 weeks to cross the border.

on the ferry to Zambia

On the other side, we met Tommie's brother, Bobby, who would be our tour guide for the day, and also would be hosting us when we return to Zambia on our own this weekend. At the Zambia border checkpoint, we had to pay $50 for a single-entry visa. Immediately after coming out of the border post building, several people approached us offering to change our money into Kwacha, the local currency, and trying to sell us souvenirs. We walked past them and crammed into a small taxi van for the 60 kilometer drive to Livingstone.

Once in Livingstone, we tried to change our money into Kwacha as quickly as possible. The first exchange bureau was out of Kwacha, so we had to go to another one. It was very difficult for 11 people to get their money changed in this small office, plus the students each needed 10 US dollars to pay for admission to Victoria Falls. This was a big hassle and probably should have been taken care of in Gaborone.

Tommie and Bobby told us it was still too early for lunch, so we went straight to Victoria Falls, agreeing to have lunch at 2:30 before going back to Botswana. At the falls, Tommie and the students all rented rain gear, but we had come prepared with our own ponchos. We definitely needed them because the mist from the falls comes all the way back up and feels like rain. The Tongo name for Victoria Falls is Mosi-Oa-Tunya--"The Smoke That Thunders." At some viewpoints, it's difficult to see the falls because there is so much mist. Even with our rain gear, we all got soaking wet. But through all the mist and wetness, the Falls were absolutely breathtaking, putting Niagara Falls to shame.

getting soaked at Victoria Falls

After viewing the Falls, we hiked 690 meters down to a place called the Boiling Pot, where the water from the falls gathers and swirls around like a pot of boiling water. On the hike down, we saw several baboons up close. They are so used to human visitors that they were not scared by us at all, but we were warned not to feed them because they can get pretty nasty.

Baboons at Vic Falls

As we hiked down the hundreds of steps leading to the Boiling Pot, we felt like we were in a rain forest. The plant life here was very different from the dry areas we have been used to in Botswana and other parts of Zambia. When we reached the bottom, we climbed down some jagged rocks where we could see Victoria Falls, the Boiling Pot, and the bridge that spans the gorge and connects Zambia to Zimbabwe. We even saw a few people bungee jumping off the bridge, 111 meters in the air. We also saw multiple rainbows through the mist of the falls.

View of Bridge from Boiling Pot

After relaxing by the water for a few minutes, we started the hike back up. This part was much less enjoyable. The kids managed to get up without a problem, but our old bodies took much longer to climb the steps that seemed like they would never end. We finally reached the top and got back into our tiny taxi, but we had to wait 20 minutes for our driver to reappear. We drove to an Indian restaurant for lunch, and everybody ordered their food. It was taking very long for the food to come, and we were concerned about making it back to the border in time to get on the last ferry at 6:00. We told the restaurant to give us the food in "take-away" boxes, and we had to eat our lunch in the tiny taxi. We got to the border and hussled through in order to make it on the ferry. We almost didn't make it in time because one of the ferries had a problem off-loading its vehicles. They weren't going to make another trip across the river due to the sun going down, but Tommie convinced them to make one last trip. We don't know what would have happened if we had been stranded in Zambia.

We met our bus on the other side and made a quick stop at the Chobe Safari Lodge to confirm a game drive for the two of us tomorrow morning. This lodge was very luxurious and made us jealous that we couldn't stay there, but it also looked very expensive. Next, we stopped at a grocery store to get some snacks. We decided to buy a box of Cheerios, since meals are seeming to be unpredictable and we wanted to be sure we had something to eat in the mornings. Finally, we went back to the main lodge, where we had eaten breakfast, and had dinner. This time the food was really good--beef, chicken, rice, and salad.

We got back to the campsite and went to bed immediately. We would be waking up at 4:15 tomorrow morning in order to get back to the Chobe Safari Lodge for a 6:00 game drive.