(Sorry that this is such a delayed post, but better late than never right?)
Before departure
I did a quick weather check and things looked terrible with thunderstorms predicted for all 3 days of my planned trip. I was praying quite hard for good weather since the biggest thing about visiting this wonder of the world is to take beautiful pictures. Rain and thunder will make it very difficult to achieve my goal.
The journey to Livingstone, Zambia
Since Peter (the other volcon who shares the car) was away, I was able to just drive to the gautrain station and park there which made it quite easy. In fact, I actually ran into Peter and his girlfriend (Capi) at the airport line up for check in. It was actually my first time flying out of the International terminal of OR Tambo. Once I got all checked in and exchanged money (needed USD for Zambia/Zimbabwe), I met up with Peter and Capi again. Peter, being a "real" ex-consultant with flight status was trying to get us into the BA lounge, but we weren't able to locate it.
When we arrived in Livingstone Zambia and disembarked the plane, there was a big group of children waving to us. It was quite random. We weren't sure why they were there.. one guess was maybe to learn about nationalities of the visitors.
There was a long line up for visa formalities. I opted for a double entry visa since I had plans to visit Zimbabwe and return. Depending on your nationality, the cost of your visa is different. For Canadians, a double entry visa costed $80 USD (try googling to check ahead of time so that you can prepare the cash)
We were picked up by Jollyboys backpackers (a free shuttle) and I rode with a swedish guy who was here for a 3 week gap tour, a belgian girl Julie who was actually sitting beside me on the plane, and a swiss girl Alex who was sitting behind me. Julie is a vet student who was working in limpopo for an exchange to study kudus but because of funding cut offs, she ended up pursuing her studies in chickens. Alex works for a cheetah sanctuary and walks cheetahs.
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| the jollyboys lounging area |
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| Ottawa!! |
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| I had so much quatcha! (just from getting change!) |
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| ooooh 10K quatcha - (around $2USD) |
About Victoria Falls
Also known as Mosi-oa-Tunya in the local language which means the "Smoke that Thunders", Victoria Falls is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. It is located at the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, as part of the Zambezi river with the closest towns in each country being Livingstone and Victoria Falls respectively. A quick google search indicated that it is twice as tall as the Niagara falls from home and also quite wide (see wiki article here).
To the devil's pool
I have heard of the "devil's pool" prior to my trip and was in quite a struggle trying to decide if it was worth risking it. To give you a bit of context, the devil's pool is an area of the fall (right at the edge) where tourists (and I think only tourists) can swim to the edge of the fall. Some quick internet searches indicated that there isn't too much safety measures in place (it is africa afterall) and that people do slip off the edge and die. Thinking back to that Japanese exchange student who was climbing over the fence of Niagara falls to take a better picture and ended up slipping over and dying, I really didn't want to be THAT girl.
However, I must say, peer pressure and the excitement to seize the opportunity got to the better of me and we decided on the way to the hostel that we would do it.
We met up with Celeste (a south african med student voluntering at the local hospital from capetown stellenbosch area) and nina (a bavarian girl also volunteering in lusaka) and headed over to the falls together. The cost of the outing was $35 USD per person plus $20 USD for entry fees into the Zambian side of the Victoria Falls national park. (A side note, Devil's pool is only one of the activities that are on offer at Vic falls. The are a lot of other adrenaline inducing activities on offer at Vic falls including white water rafting, inflatable kayaking, parasailing, etc).
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| Outside the Zambian's Vic falls National park |
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| traditional dress musician with kids who started dancing - cute |
We were on time for the 3pm tour. Once we signed a very simple voucher, we began the tour with our guide Kelvin and 4 other german guys. As we were about to step into the water, the german guys said they've already walked it on their own in the morning and complained. So we waited for a good 20 mins while they sorted their situation out. The guys did end up coming back and were quite apologetic for the delay and promised us a beer each.
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| a glimpse of the gorges |
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| About to step into the water - german guys negotiating with the guide, kelvin |
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| Julie putting a bandage on Nina |
Then we were ready, and it was time to step into the Zambezi. We traversed through an upper stream area where the water is much calmer through rocks and river. At times, we needed to hold hands to form lines in order to keep pace but it was actuallly quite bad for balance. Since I was clumsy and rolled my left ankle before even stepping into the water, I kept my hiking books on to walk across. This journey was best done with hiking sandals that have very good grip or water shoes.
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| me stepping in the water with my hiking boots |
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| and off traversing we went |
After about a 45 mins walk, we finally got to a point where we have to swim across (just past the livingstone island). We swam across the top of the falls at an angle (upstream) and then downstream towards an area of rocks, behind which lies the devil's pool in the heart of the devil's cataract (part of the falls).
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| near livingstone island |
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| me and Julie |
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| this picture turned out to be quite funny |
It was at this point that I realized I needed to practice my swimming - it was extremely hard to swim with your head outside of the water in moving water! Most people jumped into the pool (which was 3m deep) and swam towards to edge. However, I decided to slide down for the sake of my contacts.
We sat at the edge on a piece of rock that was just right for sitting for picture taking (another guide has joined at this point and he carries the cameras over in a water proof bag by jumping across the river on rocks). Then it was time for the guide to hang you off the edge (by holding onto your feet only) for more picture taking. The pictures will tell the story better than I can.
My near death experience
All was well during the picture taking and the hanging over the edge. I was enjoying the moment and Lady gaga's edge of glory was playing in my head. However, when it was time to swim back to the rock, I was unable to swim fast enough against the current. I panicked and gulped in some water and got washed towards the edge of the falls. Luckily, there was a rock and I hung on for dear life. Otherwise, I would've definitely fallen off the falls and wouldn't be here to write this blog.
When Celeste was done her turn hanging over the edge, she offered me a hand and launched me back towards the big rock (in hind sight, it wasn't very far, but i just couldn't do it). I climbed up being quite shaken, but it was great to be on ground again. I was exhausted by then, and the guide made sure he swam on the cliff side of me when we swam back across to livingstone island so that he can catch me if I got washed off.
Finally, we were able to take a break and were offered fluffy towels and a cool drink (coke or sprite). I was really not looking forward to going back on foot, in the water again. The girls were super supportive and I was truly thankful to have met them and shared this experience.
Apparently the german guys did get a deal when they couldn't get a refund and got us a speedboat ride back!
Being so thankful that I was still alive, I did tip the guide around 15k Zambian quatcha. To be honest, the currency was very confusing, I was not even sure how much that was but it was a token of my appreciation (they said afterwards that 5k was around 1 dollar USD).
It was getting late by that point. Celeste and Nina showed us a place called Food palace where they serve a half bbq chicken with rice or chips for 36K quatcha. We had a nice meal and took the guys up on their free beer offer and called it an early night.
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| sunset in livingstone |
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| a local fruit - but i forgot what it's called |
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| quite sweet flesh |
Flying over the falls
The next morning, my new Beligan friend Julie and I decided to take a recommended helicopter ride over the falls. We ended up going for the 15 mins option which costed around ($140 USD + 5% CC charges if you pay by credit). It's not cheap but not prohibitively expensive either. You've gotta seize the moment, right?
We got picked up at 9 and flew along with a japanese guy from our hostel (who has the most awesome tented mosiquito net that's shaped like a body) and a british guy.
The heli experience was quite cool, and the 15 mins was definitely the right length for me, any longer, I would've felt even sicker (apparently the longer ride allows you to fly in through the gorges like a video game, at least rumour has it so)
I was surprised that the commentary was actually said by the pilot himself and not taped, and i must say it got quite repetitive by the end. The pictures will tell the rest of the story:
Julie's jump
We then crossed the Zambia border to get to the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe that overlooked the Zambezi. It was about a 5 mins walk to the bridge but felt like forever as we got the worse hackling that I've experienced in Southern Africa so far. The people were extremely keen to talk to you, and then they would proceed onto showing you things that they want you to buy.. then if you refuse to, they give you a philosophical talk on the fact that by staying Zambia, you're supporting Zambians and tried to guilt you into supporting the one Zimbabwean guy. If that doesn't work, then they start asking you to donate things to them...(like your cap, sunglasses, a pen, etc)
Julie almost gave in and took her wallet out. I managed to save her by dragging her quickly away from the guy and towards the bungee jumping center. Then when we were done registration, she told the guy she couldn't buy it and he said I was a bad influence and would never survive in South Africa (little did he know I've been living in Joburg.. ha)
This experience reminded me about my guidebook that said "be prepared to bargain, 1 dollar means a lot more to them than it does to you", which I completely agree with but it does not apply when you DON'T actually want the item, right?
Into Zimbabwe
Finally we reached the Zimbabwe border, and the visa fees were $75 USD for Canadians and only around $30 USD for EU citizens. Then we were required to pay another $30 USD to enter the park on that side. yes, it does add up, so it was very important for me to take enough pictures to make the $105 USD outing worth the trip.
I must say, it was definitely worth every penny of it. Because the falls run down from the Zambia side, the Zimbabwe side offers the most spectacular views. We were also able to see the spot of the devil's pool and felt that we were completely out of our minds to have tried to hang off the edges of it the day before.
We walked along the scenic route where vegetation closely resembled those from the rainforest (due to the lots and lots of water from the mists). Finally found a good spot to eat our leftover chickens.
We thought about wandering into town but was discouraged when pesterers started coming up towards us. We think it might be the sun but we were exhausted by around 2pm and headed back to the Zambia side and backed to Zambia.
The rest of vic falls
The rest of vic falls was rather uneventful. We took it easy at the hostel (in the beautiful lounging area) and had kudu curry (yes kudu is delicious and not gamy at all) for dinner. On sunday, Julie went on an inflatable kayak to brave the waters of the Zambezi (it's like white water rafting but harder, because you're on your own).
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| we saw someone else bungee jump |
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| and then she was down there! (see the video at the bottom of this post for a comparison) |
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| interesting... |
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| where i spent my afternoon lounging |
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| i feel that way too! |
I went back to Joburg on Sunday and Julie came to visit me on Monday (since she has a layover and I offered her a place to stay). I took her to Melon in Melville for dinner (since Lucky bean and D6 were both closed on Mondays) and we had a great meal. The evening ended with us watching HIMYM on my couch in the living room.
The next morning, Julie came with me to the office and we had a great breakfast at vovo. Then she spent sometime talking to mandla about chickens and other agri related things before I took her back to Rosebank so that she can head back to polokwane
I'm so glad to have met Julie on this trip and I look forward to maybe visiting her in belgium when I go to france. On a side note, the same bungee that Julie jumped from had an accident a few days ago and the cord snapped... glad it wasn't her...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16461278
