Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls)
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2008
1
23
25
Trip End
Aug 04, 2008
Livingstone,
Zambia
Saturday, August 2, 2008
At 8:30, we loaded into our banana boat and went up river to the main lodge. We, and a family from Germany, were then shuttled out to Victoria Falls.
The Falls are amazing, and I took many photographs. We began our walk along the edge, where the water plummets over the side, with only a slight view back to the Falls. A group of school children surrounded us - we had seem them all climb out of the back of a lorry that seemed to function as a school bus - turns out they are from Chris' home town.
The Falls
The path wends its way around from the back of the falls, to a view along the length of the Falls, which was one of our favourite vantage points. The trail continues towards the front of the Falls, passing over a bridge, from which one can view the swirling depth far below (and get wet from the spray). The falls have four main cataracts: Eastern (which we saw from Zambia); Rainbow Falls (also visible); the Main Falls (which we sort of saw); and the Devil's Cataract (invisible to us). The water through the Falls were perhaps at the ideal: enough to fill the curtain of water but not too much to obscure our view of the Falls through the mist.
After viewing the Falls, we hiked down to the Boiling Pot, at the base of the chasm. This is where the river heads off into the gorges below. The first half of the hike down uses a series of steps - not flat, not regular, not paved - just slightly leveled into the dirt - but still easier than scrambling down the skree. The second half takes one on a poorly marked trail (we lost it twice) through rainforest, along a small creek (which is a fun challenge to cross at different points), then across tumbled basalt rocks, down to near the level of the Zambezi. From this vantage point, we had a great view of the bungee jumpers and the river. We stayed, enjoying the view, until it grew hot
The Falls
.Upon our return, we lunched at the main lodge, then rested, checked email, and played games. We took the banana boat to the island, then called for hot showers (which felt great). The kids came over to our place, and we all played a game of Hoopla. Very disappointed that no tea was in sight at tea time.
We had our final sundowner cruising the Zambezi. We started up the small channel, then began down the large channel ... when Chris received a radio call from the other boat - their engine had died and they floated to Zimbabwe (the other side of the river, 10 metres away from Sindabezi). So we went back to rescue them, only to discover that they had managed to get the engine started. No problem - so we returned to where we had been and killed the engine, drifting upstream in an eddy. We had our gin and tonics and enjoyed the sunset of the Zambezi. So perfect. The weather was absolutely ideal - I'll miss this.
After our return, we went to the fire quickly, enjoying the evening. There were 12 of us at table - since so many new arrivals were there, the conversation was very similar to what we had the night before but still enjoyable. Chris, as nice and informative as he is, seems to have more decoding problems than any of our other guides. This is odd, as English seems to be spoken amongst the guides and valets themselves more here than elsewhere ... or maybe that explains it, as they are so used to hearing English spoken with local inflection, rather than only hearing it from matsalehs.
I didn't linger by the fire tonight. The conversation wasn't interesting - but more, I really wanted to spend my last evening listening to the sounds of the Zambezi.
