After 3 flights and about 26 hours of
traveling I flew into Victoria Falls
Zimbabwe. After waiting a while to get
through immigration I was met by my guide
Paulos. A nice guy that was born and raised
in Victoria Falls. We piled my luggage, yes
it made it all the way to Victoria Falls,
into the mini van and headed on the 20
kilometer drive into the town. On the way a
band of baboons came across the road in
front of us. It was quite interesting to
me, though more of a nuisance to Paulos.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of
them.
We got to my hotel in good time and I
checked in. The Kingdom hotel is quite
nice, open and airy but with a definite
African feel to it. My room was nice with
sliding glass doors that opened onto s small
man made lake. The room had two small beds
in it instead of a big bed. Oh well so much
for stretching out. I had about an hour
before Paulos picked me up for the Sunset
Cruse on the Zambezi River so I headed down
to the pool to relax and have a beer. The
attendant was very nice and brought me a
local beer. Not bad but not as good as the
Czech beer. After finishing it off I had to
leave to meet Paulos and so I asked for my
bill. When it came the amount on it was
4000 Zimbabwe Dollars. At the official
transaction rate that would be $16 US
dollars. I asked and he went to the bar to
check. When he came back he said there was
a foreign currency discount and it was about
$3. OK, we will see when I get the bill.
I met Paulos at about 6:00 PM and we headed
to the river to catch the boat. At the dock
a pack of monkey was running around with the
mothers holding the babies to their stomachs
as they chattered and headed for the trees.
It was quite a site.
It was a
decent size pontoon boat that was serving
drinks and snacks. There were a group of
South Africans on the boat intent on
drinking as much as possible and a group of
French that kept to themselves. I ended up
sharing a table with three other Americans
that were quite nice. Shortly after we left
the dock we headed over to the Zambia side
and stopped at an island that had a medium
size Crocodile basking in the sun.
Interesting but I had seen it before.
Shortly thereafter we saw another one
swimming on the river. We headed up the
river and encountered some Hippopotamus in
the river. These things are huge and when
they open their mouth it is amazing. We
watched about 4 or 5 of them as they stayed
on the surface and looked around
periodically opening either mouths. Quite a
fascinating site. Shortly after we saw the
Hippo’s a storm squall came through and
started pouring. Luckily it passed rather
quickly and we got to see the sun set. We
also got to see the mist from the falls, it
is called “The Thunder that Smokes” because
of the noise and the mist that it produces.
After a few more Hippo sightings we headed
back to the dock and then to the hotel. I
grabbed a quick meal at the restaurant and
then stopped by the bar for a drink. I was
the only one in “The Action Bar” so I
decided to head up to the room and crash.
After a good and much needed nights sleep I
got up and grabbed a nice buffet breakfast.
I headed to meet Paulos for the walking tour
of the falls. We walked around the
interpretive center then headed off to the
left to the first place to view Devils
Cataract.
It
was an amazing site. So much water rushing
over the falls making such a roar you can
hardly hear yourself think. After many
pictures we continued on to several more
viewing sites. Given that the falls is 1.7
kilometers long there are plenty of places
to view the different parts of the falls. I
got lots of pictures but we also go soaking
wet because of the mist. It was like being
in the middle of a hard rain storm.
Needless to say I took pictures and videos
that I will put up on the website to view as
soon as I get a chance. After a thorough
drenching we walked to a place to view the
bridge to Zambia just in time to see a
person bungee jump from the bridge. Crazy
fool J I also got talking to Paulos and
found out he is a council man from Victoria
Falls and a member of the opposition party
trying to get Mugabe thrown out. He is a
guide make extra money.
Devils Cataract
We headed back to the van and were on our
way into town but didn’t get far. Shortly
after leaving the van died and he had to
call for another one. Luckily it got there
fast and we were off to town. After a tour
of the different dwellings that the various
peoples of Zimbabwe used we headed to the
shops. In the shops I was surprised to see
so much Ivory for sale. There were also
lots of carvings of animals and jewelry to
see. After the shops we headed to the open
market. It was what I expected and it
wasn’t. Everyone tried to get me to stop
and view their goods but they were very
polite and did not persist after I walked
past. They had lots of really nice carvings
and were interested in bartering for my
shirts or any goods that I had. I passed on
most of the items but ended up buying three
small stone carvings, an elephant and Rhino
and a Hippo. I thought they were quite nice
so I didn’t haggle too much. After leaving
the market we stopped at a few more stores
where I decided to buy some Ivory that came
with a certificate saying it was not
poached. It is a small tusk carved with the
African animals. I am looking forward to
displaying it on the mantle.
Finally it was off to the airport and a
nice flight to Johannesburg. I wish I could
have spent more time in Victoria Falls but I
did see a lot in the short time I was
there.
When I checked out the bill for the beer was
$2.00. Zimbabwe has an interesting exchange
issue. Officially the exchange rate is 250
Zimbabwe dollars to $1 USD, but in town you
can get 3,000 Zimbabwe dollars to $1 USD.
Technically it is illegal to exchange money
this way, but everyone does it. I heard
that recently they chopped three “0” off the
currency. $1 USD was worth 3,000,000
Zimbabwe Dollars. Inflation in the
country is over 1000% and many people don’t
make a living wage which is abut $150 USD a
month. It is a really beautiful country, at
least what I saw in Victoria Falls and from
the air. Shame it is having such problems.