If there is one thing about Zambia that people everywhere are familiar with, it’s Victoria Falls. Located on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, it’s known by many as one of the most beautiful natural settings in the world. Water flows from the Zambezi River and plummets 360ft; it’s width, one mile. Historically, David Livingstone is the first recorded and well known European explorer to see the falls in 1855, he named it, in all its glory, after the Queen Victoria of England. Locals who had been living around the falls for centuries called the Falls in their own tongue, “the smoke that thunders”, or “mosi-oa-tunya”. With Cecil Rhodes’s Cape Town to Cairo railroad expansion, many tourist were able to visit Vic Falls in the early 1900s. Today, the two national parks on the Zambia side, Victoria Falls National Park (which, obviously, hosts the Falls) and Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park (which boasts an amazing diversity of African plant and animal life) are relatively small but are visited by a million people annually.
Peter and I spent four days in the town of Livingstone, where Vic Falls can be visited on the Zambia side. We set out on a charter bus for the 8-hour drive to the Southern Province. To sum it up: the trip included 9 hours of heat with windows that didn’t open, seats that had metal sticking out of them, a mile long traffic jam in the middle of nowhere that we were able to walk around outside and check out the scene, and an hour of driving on pot holes that made it seem like we were riding in a Hot Wheels Bus over bubble wrap. We stayed at the Maramba River Lodge in a cozy “luxury” tent. Our Lodge was located on a tributary to the Zambezi, the Maramba River. In the mornings hippos waded in the water, and in the afternoons we were visited by baboons, and in the evenings, sly crocodiles. There are certainly fancy hotels that charge over $700/night but our cute little river lodge was exactly how we thought we should be experiencing Vic Falls. You can see my pictures from the trip by clicking here.
Day 1:
Our first whole day was spent at the Victoria Falls National Park, we could hear the crash of the water way before we even entered the park and we could see the spray of mist in the sky while driving in. Somehow, without knowing, we just walked into the park and missed admissions. Sweet! At least we saved money on something because the rest of the trip was a whole lot more expensive. We walked along the Zambezi River edge right up to the top of the Falls. I’m sure Peter and I have never been more in awe of something. We then followed the trails over to a side where we could see the face off the water falling. I started to get finicky about a little bit of mist getting me wet, but within the span of three seconds, I had gotten doused with a huge wave of water bouncing back onto a bridge Peter and I were crossing.
It was cold, but felt good in the hot African sun. Peter and I ran around the trails and climbed rocks like little kids for hours. We kept getting splashed with water and were soaked to the bone. Afterward I walked to a stand that was selling African curios and bought a chitenge, a wrap of fabric that traditional African women often wear. We walked over to the Zambezi Sun, one of the luxury hotels, had a late lunch and basked in the delight of our day. That night we floated on a sunset cruise on the African Queen.Day 2:
We woke up early, had some pancakes, and were picked up by our tour guide for our morning canoing on the Zambezi!
We floated and steered down the Zambezi all morning. We saw more hippos, and little islands, and plenty of crocs. I think we found a new hobby! In the afternoon we were picked up for a tour of the Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park. Right off the bat we saw a group of giraffe grazing. Giraffe are my favorite because they are so awkwardly beautiful with their long necks and buckling knees. Our tour guide was great, stopping to tell how villagers use particular plants and what the natural cycles of life are like for the animals. We saw plenty more animals that you can see if you look at the pictures I linked earlier. We were off to bed in our cute little tent early that night, preparing for another early morning.
Day 3:
We signed up for a half-day with a company called Abseil this day. Abseil is a company that provides activities for the most adventuresome at heart. We repelled down a long gorge wall that wasn’t all that scary. Next, we did a gorge zip line, still, nothing compared to what we did next. Lastly, we each had two runs at the gorge swing. This was 160 ft of free falling (which really means 160 ft of feeling like you’re plummeting to your death) following by a swinging back and forth in a huge gorge. I screamed like someone was chasing me through a dark alley (see video below) and Peter screamed like he was saying, “no, no, no”. At the time, I thought I had lost my mind to do something so scary and now that I look back on it I just laugh at how scared I was. We spent the second half of the day at Vic Falls, saying goodbye to it's splendor.
Day 4:
We left in the morning for the same bus ride back home. The bus was much more pleasant second time around and we were entertained with TV’s showing Nigerian movies and home-made Zambian music videos.
It’s difficult for me to put into words what an amazing place Victoria Falls is and the experiences we had in those few days. However, I am positive that the trip grounded and refreshed my interests in Africa. Southern Africa is rich with National Parks and amazing wildlife and I look forward to seeing more.
Captions: Picture 1: Peter and I posing with Victoria Falls behind us, then next pic we took we were soaked. Picture 2: The view of the sunset from an evening cruise we went on. Picture 3: Peter and I taking a break from rowing on our Zambezi River Canoing trip. Picture 4: Yay, giraffe!
