Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa

After few amazing days in and around Chobe in Botswana...we are moving to Zambia. That's one more Covid test, and on my side, just the 5th one in less than two weeks. This is indeed the new world, better get used to it. We have transfered from Kasane to Livingstone. Interesting, it's exactly the same distance, around 100km, but the price of the private transfer is simply half of the one from Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe to Kasane. I came to visit first the Victoria Falls 10 years ago. At the time, I flew into Livingstone and crossed the bridge to stay in Zimbabwe at the famous Victoria Falls hotel. Today, we are actually doing the opposite...as there is no great deal on the Zim side. So we are staying in the more basic Protea in ... read more

Today, we flew from Cape Town to Johannesburg and then on to Livingstone, Zambia, a new country. We were immediately driven to our lodge, Toka Leya, just outside of Livingstone. Livingstone and surrounding areas are very rural and impoverished with over 50% unemployment. But our lodge was lovely. Our guide, Godfrey, had us quickly unpack and then took us on a personal Zambezi River Cruise where we saw many, many hippos, water bucks, birds and a huge male Cape Buffalo. The other guests at our lodge consisted of 14 people on a tour with OATS, Overseas Adventure Travel Services, an educational tour. After a nice dinner, we went immediately to bed. Mornings on safari start early so early bedtime is a good thing.... read more

Livingstone ist ein ekelhafter Touristenort. Alles perfekt durchorganisiert um einem Maximim an Touristen maximale Geldmengen zu entlocken. Vormittags Spaziergang im Nationalpark an der Sambiaseite der Fälle. Nachmittags bei den Löwen. Paul nach wie vor todkrank. ... read more

We had a lovely final dinner with all of the guides last night. We have to say the the good at Senalala was great the whole time. After what was for me a restless sleep, we got up at 5:30 and our ride picked us up for the 3 hour drive to Nelspruit airport. On the way out of the reserve we were treated to more game sightings including a big bull elephant, and old Cape buffalo who couldn’t keep up with the herd anymore, and a giraffe in the distance. And more impala. We also were fortunate to see 3 female lions stalking a herd of zebras and a wildebeest. Fortunately we didn’t see an attack or kill - but it was fascinating to see the herd behave in a protective way. The drive through ... read more

Slow morning before our helicopter flight over the Victoria Falls. Picked up by the standard 4wheel drive safari vehicle and driven about 3kms to the helipad. Signed up and then briefed on the safety, etc. We were on the second flight. Somehow I ended up in the middle back seat...... Never mind, could still see really well. Huge expanse of water and falls and we went round at least twice before exploring up the Zambezi for a while. Huge pod of Hippos, elephants and crocs. Was a really good flight, then back to the helipad before we were driven back to the hotel. We had until 1400 before our walking tour of the falls so had time for a bite to eat, shop and re-arrange the bags a bit. Onto the bus, given a bit of ... read more