I took another wonderful trip with a good friend, Tracy, who is about to move to Indonesia and is finishing her African bucket list- I have a wonderful husband who holds down fort while I have African adventures :)
First up Victoria Falls! Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world based on combination of height and width and lies between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We arrived in early June at the end of wet season so the falls were at max capacity! We flew into Livingstone in Zambia (after overnighting in Johannesburg) and then drove to the Zimbabwe border. You have to do a border check (and passport stamp) on both borders and change vehicles as tourist vehicles cannot cross borders. My visa stamp count for this trip alone is 15 stamps plus a full page visa! This is why my current passport is currently being renewed- first stamp in that passport was April 2107 and I only have 5 pages left!! We arrived at the Victoria Falls Hotel which was built in 1905 and has a partial view of the falls just in time for a late lunch. After checking out the grounds we headed for the Zambezi river (which feeds the falls) for a sunset cruise- we saw lots of crocodiles, some hippos and a gorgeous sunset.
Next morning we headed back to Zambia for a local market and village tour. First up Maramba market - which is the largest in Livingston. It is a place locals come to buy everything from groceries to furniture. We have seen similar in Angola and we were amazed at the cleanliness and calmness of this market. Then we headed to Mukuni village which is still very traditional in both living patterns and construction but solely relies on tourism. They still have a chief (and a female chief who is not married to the male chief) and he opened the village about 15 years ago for tourism as it was happening anyways so why not. They now do tours and create crafts to sell in the local area. The tour was interesting and then we were taken to the craft market which was overwhelming to say the least.
That afternoon we crossed back to Zimbabwe and did a tour of the falls. The local name for the falls is Mosi-ao-Tunya which means the Smoke that Thunders and after seeing it in person I understand why! It basically "rains" the entire time you are in the park so you wear ponchos and prepare for the downpour. You can't see the bottom of the gorge and the spray is so intense you can barely see the falls at certain points. Interestingly during low water season the falls dry up considerable and you can see much of the rock face of the cliff and the bottom of the gorge. There is a famous "pool" on the top of the waterfall that you can swim out to and overlook the falls- called Devils Pool- thankfully this time of year it is not an option. The falls are awe inspiring - hard to really grasp their size and power from photos.
Our hotel had evening entertainment which included local tribal dancing- many of the dances and costumes were things I had never seen in other areas of Africa. The hotel also had warthogs cruising the lawn which are so cute - in the wild they always run from the cars but here we could observe them.
Next up Botswana!
First up Victoria Falls! Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world based on combination of height and width and lies between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We arrived in early June at the end of wet season so the falls were at max capacity! We flew into Livingstone in Zambia (after overnighting in Johannesburg) and then drove to the Zimbabwe border. You have to do a border check (and passport stamp) on both borders and change vehicles as tourist vehicles cannot cross borders. My visa stamp count for this trip alone is 15 stamps plus a full page visa! This is why my current passport is currently being renewed- first stamp in that passport was April 2107 and I only have 5 pages left!! We arrived at the Victoria Falls Hotel which was built in 1905 and has a partial view of the falls just in time for a late lunch. After checking out the grounds we headed for the Zambezi river (which feeds the falls) for a sunset cruise- we saw lots of crocodiles, some hippos and a gorgeous sunset.
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| Victoria Falls from the plane - it is the "smoke" on the ground |
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| Zambezi River Sunset |
Next morning we headed back to Zambia for a local market and village tour. First up Maramba market - which is the largest in Livingston. It is a place locals come to buy everything from groceries to furniture. We have seen similar in Angola and we were amazed at the cleanliness and calmness of this market. Then we headed to Mukuni village which is still very traditional in both living patterns and construction but solely relies on tourism. They still have a chief (and a female chief who is not married to the male chief) and he opened the village about 15 years ago for tourism as it was happening anyways so why not. They now do tours and create crafts to sell in the local area. The tour was interesting and then we were taken to the craft market which was overwhelming to say the least.
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| Groceries at Maramba Market |
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| Fabric in the local market |
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| Tiny fish- staple of local diet |
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| Coloring for cement flooring |
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| Mukuni Village |
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| Village- she is cleaning fish |
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| Traditional kitchen |
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| These cuties were obsessed with the camera and selfies |
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| Bridge at the border - built in 1908 and only supports one car/truck at a time now- along with bungee jumping |
Our hotel had evening entertainment which included local tribal dancing- many of the dances and costumes were things I had never seen in other areas of Africa. The hotel also had warthogs cruising the lawn which are so cute - in the wild they always run from the cars but here we could observe them.
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| Tribal dancing |
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| Victoria Falls Hotel |
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| Wart Hogs! |
Next up Botswana!
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