The flight from Johannesburg to Vic Falls was about 1 1/2 hours but getting through immigration and collecting bags took just about as long. Unfortunately a couple people encountered some bad agents who tried to get more visa money. For someone else their luggage went from 4 wheels to 3 wheels.. Oh the joys of travel. Singing and dancing immediately greeted us at the airport. Our tented camp is pretty amazing. It’s night time so no outdoor pictures - glamping for sure.
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| Outside my tent |
Victoria Falls is absolutely amazing. The roar, the must and the sight of the water flowing over the rocks is definitely a jaw dropping moment. And the amazing part, this is not even the rainy season - it’s hard to imagine what it looks like when that happens.
Rainbows and more rainbows as we walked from one amazing look out to another!
The next day started with some education. The first visit was to a Wildlife Organization. Their goals are to reduce poaching and to provide shelter and medical help to animals impacted in some way by people. They also try to prevent lions and elephants from doing damage to local people by finding ways to scare them off - a horn, a mixture of red chili and oils or shooting a ball out laced with red chili all work. There is an on site lab studying animal behaviours and diseases as well as a vet clinic.
Next stop the elephant sanctuary. They were just too cute as they posed for pictures and then were rewarded with pellets for good behavior.
Lunch was a great cultural experience. We were divided into 3 homes where similar dishes were prepared for us. It was a chance to ask questions about anything we want. The home I visited had 8 people in 8 rooms and a small outdoor garden area.
Late afternoon we boarded our boat for the sunset cruise which also included elephant, hippo and crocodile sightings. Free flowing drinks and snacks made for a happy evening. But we weren’t finished as dinner was served at the Lookout Cafe.
Our final stop before leaving Zimbabwe was a visit to the chief of the village. Now the village is not really what you think of as it covers thousands of acres. In fact there are 9000 people 18 and over entitled to vote. The chief was very passionate about how great everything is in the village compared to the rest of the world run by politicians. I thought he often did not answer question he didn’t like e.g. where does money for schools come from if you don’t pay taxes? The answer which he did not give - from the government. He had lots of good points but I’m not sure everything he said was believable but an interesting stop.
