44. Victoria Falls, back to civilization

our room with mosquito net

The Pioneer Hotel is nice! It feels like old English grounds with lots of lawn and greenery, white British colonial buildings, and little brick pathways. They had complimentary afternoon tea with little sandwiches and cakes. At night they put a mosquito net around the beds and though I’m not sure it was necessary, it did set a very safari-like tone. It was great to have a regular bathroom with sink, toilet, and shower again. However Dawne discovered a very large spider in the shower near the ceiling. After some discussion, we decided we really needed to call in for help. The front desk sent someone right away and he dispatched the spider though not until it made a break it towards the side I was standing in, which scared me silly. That guy definitely earned his tip!

maintenance to the rescue!

our sunset cruise boat

We had a sunset cruise that night which turned out to be way more fun than I anticipated. We were on a bus with several others so we got to meet some folks from Texas (and surprisingly, they do not like Trump). Then on the boat we were seated all evening with a lovely couple from Atlanta who do charity work in Africa helping educate people about AIDS. Mark commented on how all three of us women (us and his wife) are adventurers who like to travel and experience new things.

that's not a fire, but mist from the falls

nice view of our dinner table on the sunset cruise

From the boat we could see the massive billowing spray from Victoria Falls over 2 miles away. We also saw some hippos (not exciting for us after our photographic boat tour but great for everyone else) and a beautiful sunset. The cruise included appetizers, dinner, and drinks all of which were very fancy and extremely good. One of the few bad things about this trip is while the food was plentiful and delicious (ensuring that I ate way more than usual), my exercise level is way down. On safari we weren’t even allowed to stand up in the jeep, no less get out and walk around except for carefully explored bathroom breaks or afternoon tea breaks. Even on the cruise to New Zealand I managed to get more exercise and only gained a couple pounds whereas this trip I ate and sat my way into an 8 pound increase!

fabulous food on the cruise

sunset on the water

Victoria Falls

The next day we did a walking tour of Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe side. The falls are very full and the mist from the water crashing down can be seen for 50 kilometers. The locals called it Mosi-oa-Tunya which means “the smoke that thunders.” Once you are in view of the falls, you can feel the drops coming down like light rain. As you walk along the viewpoints opposite the falls, this progresses to sprinkles, showers, and torrential downpours as the mist from the crashing water rebounds high in the sky then returns downward with all the force of gravity. It is high water level now for the several weeks but in July and August the water levels will drop some and there will be less mist clouding the view. Thankfully we had heavy raincoats our guide had gotten us. Once I even had to break out my umbrella. Our legs and shoes were drenched so it was fortunate I wore water shoes and shorts that were covered by the raincoat.

Falls from the Zimbabwe side!

The right edge of the falls can be viewed from Zimbabwe

view of the Victoria falls bridge from the falls area

getting ready to board the helicopter

From there our guide dropped us off at the helipad. There were 2 helicopters. Each ride was about 12 minutes and we could see groups of 5-6 lining up and walking out to catch their ‘copter. The helicopter we took in Nepal had 5 passenger seats: 2 in front with the pilot and 3 in the back. Being in front would be fine in any position since you can see everything in front of you but being in the middle in the back would suck for sightseeing. I was desperately hoping Dawne and I didn’t get stuck in the middle. We were about 45 minutes early so we waited around for awhile until they called us to weigh in. They weigh you with any gear you are bringing so they can balance the load. Then they gave us our briefing and handed out headsets. It turns out these were just to dampen the noise as the pilot didn’t speak to us at all.

on the helicopter ready for takeoff!

We hunched down and moved quickly out to our helicopter and I was so pleased to see that everyone got a window seat! One person went in front and the back had 2 sets of seats facing each other. We had incredible views soaring above the falls! You could see the giant wide river of water making it way to the falls, then pouring over the side. On the other side were canyons cut into the earth where the river ran thinner and faster. The whole experience was magical and over before you knew it. It was definitely worthwhile and one of the best helicopter tours you can take! Someone else seemed to think that the Grand Canyon was better so that has now moved from obscurity up towards the top of my “to do” list.

Victoria falls from the helicopter

long walk to Zambia border

After the helicopter, we had the driver drop us at the border. After we crossed Zimbabwe immigration, it was a long walk along a road lined with semi-trucks waiting to be allowed to cross the Victoria Falls Bridge. Then the long bridge which looked much smaller when we were viewing it from the falls lookout. From there we had another looong road to Zambia immigration. It was roughly a mile though being in a foreign country made it more intimidating. Our friend Kathie did the walk on her own, and I’m very impressed! After we got checked through immigration at Zambia, we walked to the Victoria Falls entrance on the Zambia side, not sure if we were willing to pay the entrance fee since we felt the Zimbabwe park fees were exorbitant at $50 each for foreigners. Locals get a significantly better price (around $1 I think which is still a lot of money for them). Luckily the park entrance fees on the Zambia side were only $20 for foreigners so we paid and walked in, First we walked along the river section and saw the slow moving edge of the giant river drifting towards the falls.

Dawne walking on knifes edge bridge

Then we walked across from the falls and decided to walk across the Knife Edge Bridge, which is famous for having water pouring down on you as you cross. We rented raincoats from a nice guy in the park and made our way towards the bridge. The Falls were drenching down and it looked like a terrible storm all along the walking bridge and up the right side. There were a few spots on the other side that weren’t that wet and you could get a decent picture of the falls. Then we walked back along the downpour area back across the Knife Edge Bridge where I returned my now very wet raincoat.

nice guy who rented the raincoats for $1, sooo worth it!

panorama of vic falls

Video of Victoria Falls from Zambia:

Video of Dawne and I walking back across the Knife's Edge Bridge. You can hear the falls thundering in the background:

other customers when buying sausage from a street vendor

One the way back to the border, I saw people buying sausages from a street vendor and could not resist. It was way too hot to eat right away so I had it in my bag when we saw a baboon with baby climbing up on a semi truck to check out the contents. A local advised me to put the food in my backpack. The baboon followed us to the passport control area and was hanging nearby very nonchalantly as if to pose no threat. We were not fooled so we walked over to the gate area where there were several agents and I could eat safely. After the sausage was gone she wandered off with her baby.

baboon mom and baby that were stalking us

baboon mom and baby looking for food

Selfie with Brenda and friends with my water logged cell phone

On the walk back we took some good sunset pics from the Victoria Falls Bridge. We saw some colorfully dressed local women walking across the bridge and took a selfie with them. Brenda and her sister and friend walk back and forth every day. They work in Zambia but live in Zimbabwe. Brenda in particular was pretty chatty as her English was very good. They were all fun loving and friendly. Dawne and I were tired and my feet were developing blisters from my wet water shoes rubbing so once we cleared Zimbabwe immigration we took a taxi back to the hotel where we could change shoes and we had a fabulous dinner there.

excellent dinner at the hotel

nice sunset from Victoria falls bridge on the canyon direction

at the falls in Zimbabwe side

My biggest surprises for this part of the trip: How incredibly wet the falls are even from across the way, how split the area is (very basic 3rd world living next to plush fancy hotels where the $5 bowl I bought from a vendor is significant in an economy where the average monthly income is $250), and how fun the people are: the laughing local women we met on the bridge (Brenda and friends), the humorous girl who photobombed my picture of the sausage stand, the friendly border guards who acknowledged that standing near them while eating my sausage was a good call with baboons nearby, the great couples from the SOUTHERN part of the States Texas and Atlanta

Dawne got the best deal
of all. 3 bowls for $10! wish
I had jumped on that too
as I'll bet he had more

Dawne found a wonderful local tea