Victoria Falls is on every "must see" list for Southern Africa, and since we were within an hour of it, we decided that we, too, must see it. We drove through Botswana to the Zimbabwe border crossing to a bit of a shock - it would be $75 USD each to enter Zimbabwe, plus another $100 for the vehicle, ouch! I guess we were now at the point in our trip where we were either tired of researching everything or confident enough that we could figure it out when we got there, so we hadn't even looked into visa fees for Zimbabwe- a big difference from how we handled things at the beginning of our trip! We had driven an hour to get there, and some of us really wanted to see the falls, so we decided to go in despite the expense. While waiting for our VISAs to be processed we noticed a bulletin on the wall, which also gave us pause about entering Zimbabwe. The bulletin informed travelers about a recent outbreak of the Ebola virus. Since the outbreak was very far away from the Falls we decided we weren't in danger.
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| Hmm!! Should we stay or should we go? |
A border broker who worked for our vehicle rental company helped us deal with the paperwork for the truck, then he also helped us somehow get a visa that was good for entering both Zimbabwe and Zambia for *only* $50 USD each - that was bit better, although totally illogical that it would cost less to enter 2 countries vs one.
After crossing the border we drove into Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls, thinking that we would walk across the bridge in Zambia and see the falls from that side too. We paid another bunch of money to gain entry into the falls area, and were by then feeling pretty grumpy about the cost of this little day trip - the falls had better be impressive! We wandered up the trail toward the falls and saw one small section of them which was really impressive, it was high water season and the amount of water flowing over the falls was rather incredible! On average 1000 cubic meters per second flow over Victoria Falls, presumably more when we were there at high water.
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| Our first sight of the falls, which turned out to be a small section that is separate from the huge main falls |
We followed the trail upriver a bit and came to an opening where we could see the Zambezi River flowing gently along. It was hard to imagine that in a few hundred meters it would crash down over the worlds largest waterfalls!
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| the gently flowing Zambezi |
Walking back toward the falls, we passed the odd person who was soaking wet and kind of wondered where they'd been. We did bring raincoats (as advised) but it was a hot, dry day and we couldn't imagine that we would really need them. As we got to the main part of the falls we started to get a sense of their enormity, it was kind of crazy, they were really loud and there was a huge cloud of mist above them - waterfalls so big they make their own weather - that is impressive! No wonder the indigenous Tonga people named them "The Smoke that Thunders".
It was hard to get a clear view of the falls because of the mist, but as the wind gusted and moved things around a bit, we did catch the odd glimpse of the beautiful waterfalls.
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| the main falls are flowing from the left into the river below where the cloud of mist has formed (the foreground is the separate overflow falls) |
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| a nice look at the left part of the main section of the falls between clouds of mist |
As we got closer we pulled out our rain gear ...we had entered the cloud and at a few of the lookouts that are right across the chasm from the falls it was pouring rain on us! Then as soon as we walked a few steps away it was hot and dry again - what a unique phenomenon!
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| the mist is pretty refreshing |
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| completely drenched - full on "raining" in this little section of the mist cloud! |
There were several viewpoints and we walked around for awhile trying to get some good views and take some photos of the falls, not easy in the mist.
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| this is a section of the main falls, they are much wider than this but we couldn't get a complete shot |
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| droplets of mist inevitably landed on the lens |
We walked to the bridge where people can bungee jump over the river at the base of the falls, no one was doing it at the time.
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| bungee bridge |
As was typical in the region, things were poorly marked so we got lost trying to get to the bridge to Zambia on our own, then were given wrong directions to get there and got lost again, and finally gave up and decided that we better head back because we were booked into Chobe National Park that night and had to get into the park before the gate closed at dusk.
In hindsight, it may have been better to splurge on a flight over the falls so that we could actually see their grandeur instead of just getting glimpses of them between gusts of wind while getting soaked. Still, there is something fun about the way we did it, and getting soaked literally and figuratively makes an ok story!
Driving through southern Africa there were several signs showing "elephant crossing", always signs at rest stops saying something to the effect of "get out at your own risk", and then people always telling us not to drive at night because of the risk of wildlife on the road.... well, driving back through Botswana that day we found that the threat is real!
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| Signs like this were common on the roads in southern Africa |
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| a big fella crossing the highway in front of us- we saw several elephants alongside the road or crossing it |
As we drove along in the late afternoon we spotted this 'little fella' (about 2 ft. long) basking on the side of the road. When we stopped to take a look (and some photos - from the truck) he quickly slithered underneath. Our dilemma was how do we drive away making sure that we don't run him over. Kim jumped out of the truck as far away as possible (since we didn't know whether it would have a predatory response or not) and she guided me off of him. Once far enough away, I got out of the truck and with the aid of my zoom lens snapped a few quick photos.
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| Puff Adder basking on the side of the road. We learned later that although bites are rarely fatal and they don't tend to act in a predatory manner, this species is responsible for about 60% of snake bites in Africa due to its wide distribution on the continent. |
Things were never dull in Botswana!
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