Stopping briefly (45 minutes) at Victoria Falls (just writing that sounds ridiculous - I have no idea why people designing these trips think that 45 minutes is enough time to appreciate one of the world's natural wonders) was a bad start to a worse five days spent in Zambia.
While I am certain that Zambia is a lovely country with a lot going for it, my lasting memories will be of one thing - rain, rain and more rain! Upon arrival at our campsite we stared out the windows of the overland truck at the muddy lake where we were supposed to pitch our tents. After staring incredulously at our tour leader for a moment (and waiting for the punch line that never came), we roused ourselves from the truck and went for a quick tour of the campground.
After three minutes of walking ankle deep through mud and water (in the area where we were supposed to sleep), I resolved to do everything I could to get dry accommodation for the next few days. After being told that all "upgrades" (ie. rooms) were taken by our driver, I set off to the reception to conduct my own investigation
and was told that there was "no availability". After a couple of seconds of thought, I decided that we would relocate into town (about 15 mins drive away) and went in search of someone who could help make a booking. Miraculoulsy, when I mentioned this plan to the manager at reception a chalet became magically available and I was assured of a dry room for the next four nights - I said "yes" immediately (much to the consternation of our fellow truck passengers as it was the last room - when the rain became even worse a number of our mates on the trip bunked down in the room).
There isn't much to be said for the next few days - it rained, the place we stayed at was far from town, expensive and the food wasn't great - if you go to Livingstone do NOT stay at the Waterfront. As each day progressed and the rain became more depressing, the group got increasingly angry that we were forced to stay here for so long when there were so many other places we could be. One of the only highpoints of Zambia came on the third day when I
went white water rafting for the first time on the Zambezi river.
Comprised of grade 3, 4 and 5 (six is the highest and known as "commercial suicide") rapids, I was a bit worried to find out that the first rapid of the day would be a grade 5 as I'd never, ever been rafting before. After a brief safety lesson, we set off - it was AWESOME!! Although the first one was terrifying - I was at the front of the raft and the swell was about 6 - 8 feet high - after we made it through the first couple, the grade 3 rapids seemed kind of tame.
The only other activity we did in Zambia was an evening game cruise - this started out fine as it hadn't rained for a few hours and we thought the weather had cleared...BUT, about 25 minutes into the trip a huge storm swept over us and massive black clouds dumped more rain on us than I thought possible. It was so heavy that I'm sure the water level of the river rose before our eyes. The rain was so bad that we couldn't continue the trip and soaking
wet and cold we retreated to the river bank and disembarked at the Royal Livingstone Hotel - a five or six star resort close to Vic Falls (we toyed with the idea of spending a night, but the starting rate for a double room was $518 US / night!).
On our last day in Livingstone, we returned to Vic Falls during a brief break in the weather. Known as the "Smoke that Thunders" or Mosi-oa-Tunya in the Kololo language, Vic Falls was 'discovered' by David Livingstone in 1855 and promptly named after Queen Victoria. Living up to it's traditional name, we were surprised to find that even during nice weather you still get soaked - the force of the water as it drops several hundred feet into the river bed below sends up huge clouds of spray that drench you as well as any summer thunderstorm.
Nevertheless, it is beautiful and definitely deserves to be known as one of the world's natural wonders.
That was it for our time in Zambia - if you are in Africa during the wet season, don't spend more than a couple of days here. Now, it's off to Malawi.
Zambia's Flag
Map of Zambia