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Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa - page 2
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October 5th 2012
ZOMBIA NO MORE! Zambia has awoken from its slumber and after a very long absence; anyone can see it has joined the growing wave of the African renaissance crossing the continent. The changes have not been dramatic…but they have been profound! I arrived in Zambia from Livingstone – the last time I was here was in 1982- exactly 30 years ago. At the time I was going into voluntary exile from the apartheid government as I realised that even in the law degree I was studying… there was no truth. I determined to myself that I would discover it on the road. That was my goal- and of course to travel with public transport to England to see my grandparent... read more
Livingstone, Zambia – 18 – 21 August 2012
Published: September 24th 2012Africa » Zambia » Livingstone » Songwe Point
September 21st 2012
Livingstone – 18 – 21 August 2012: is to Zambia what the town of Victoria Falls is to Zimbabwe. Also known as Maramba, it was once the capital of Zambia before it was moved to Lusaka. Livingstone is in the Southern Province of Zambia. We arrived at 1.00pm. It was our plan to arrive as early as possible as there were 4 people leaving the tour, so this gave them 1 ½ days to look around and be involved in some of the activities associated with the Falls.....and there was plenty to do – helicopter and ultra light plane rides over the falls, bungy jumping, flying fox rides and swings, canoeing, white-water rafting, game and rino walks, elephant back rides etc etc. and of course not forgetting to actually walk around the Falls. What did we ... read more
September 6th 2012
7/28 Well we certainly left Lilongwe on a high note last night. Everyone came out to Harry's for the Olympics opening ceremony. It was wild watching with electricity in the air as Malawi came on screen amidst a jam-packed bar full of locals, ex-pats and aid workers going crazy, cheering with pride. Though as I write to you now I gotta give a shout out to Penn State Crew as an old friend and teammate of mine Ms. Natalie Dell brought home the bronze medal for the Women's Rowing 4 event. Let's Go State! A little later in the night, Alex and I ran into Francis, the founder of MEJN, who revealed to us that he was just hired as MEJN's outside consultant to begin the evaluation of all the projects we've been researching and that ... read more
September 1st 2012
Saturday September 1 It's the third evening of a five night stay in Livingstone, Zambia and although The Cough is back (thought I was on the mend after Round One but I've seemingly picked it up again in Round Two), it's been surreal so far. Not only have I white water rafted the 'mighty Zambezi', I've survived. Yes, fancy that. That was followed by an unexpected ride in a jet boat, a rather sedate Booze Cruise and a drum lesson! I was so tired by 9pm that I was unable to construct sentences! Then today it was another early start and I spent the morning with lions and this arvo with white rhino in the smallest of Zambia's national parks which I think all that went agreed is the best guided walk we've done on the ... read more
August 22nd 2012
Our days on the truck are coming to an end but we still have a lot to see and do. Today we left early in the morning to head towards Livingstone. We got to Livingstone around 1pm and got a chance to go and see Victoria Falls. It was really amazing to see, there was a rainbow in the water whilst we were there and depending on the way the wind blew we got sprayed quite a bit from the falls. We were able to see people sitting up at what was known as Devils pool, it is an area on the edge of Vic Falls where people can go swim, however there are a lot of safety concerns as there have been people who have fallen over the edge due to the current. It was ... read more
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August 13th 2012
I've never been so wrong about any country. If my safari experience in Entabeni is the highlight of my African travels, this Zambian adventure definitely is a very, very close second. Not Just the Victoria Waterfalls In all my readings and research, I have simply concentrated on Victoria Falls. As one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World methinks it was certainly worth a visit. For good measure, I signed up for the helicopter flight for a majestic full view of what is touted as the largest (not highest nor widest) curtain of waterfalls in the world. For a hefty price, of course. Methinks I might as well. You come here. View the Falls. And never head back. So might as well do... read more
August 5th 2012
Arrived in in Livingstone on the 30 th July. We were staying at one of the Protea hotels, big improvement on Chobe. Protea is a chain throughout Africa and when we go back again we will probably stay with these guys as the hotels are very modern and the service is very good. Our first stop was the falls, they are really spectacular, even though they wernet at their fullest. got absolutely wet walking the track to get better views, but it was so hot that I was dry before got back to the car. it gets up to 50 degrees in the summer, which explains why the roads are so bumpy as the tarseal just melts. July is a good time to go, as temp very mild. Deb got a poncho to protect the camera ... read more
July 10th 2012
The journey from Lusaka to Livingstone took 7 and half hours. It was fairly comfortable, but quite monotonous with the scenery unchanging the whole way down. I stayed at Jollyboys Backpackers, which is the most popular one in Livingstone and is one of the busiest I had stayed at in Africa. One funny thing about my stay here was the incredible amount of Irish people staying here. I must have encountered at least ten different groups of people in the few days I was here. Livingstone is a busy enough town and is 8km away from the Victoria Falls, but it is difficult to imagine if there would be anything there if it wasn't for the constant stream of tourists that come to visit the falls. It has seen an upturn in its toursim in recent ... read more
June 27th 2012
After many days with events starting early in the day, we were all happy to have a chance to sleep in. We showered, packed, and enjoyed the internet for a while and in the end were rushing to get down to breakfast before they closed up at 10AM. We enjoyed another lovely buffet breakfast overlooking the river. Back in the room we apparently had underestimated how much packing was left and were quite flustered getting finished in time for our ride to the airport. The small Livingstone airport has only one waiting area, which was quite crowded and hot (even though the temperature outside was quite pleasant). We had been delivered with plenty of time to wait and amused ourselves by withdrawing 50,000 kwacha (as a single bill, worth about $10) and then finding an inexpensive ... read more
June 26th 2012
We got up early and again had to hurry, this time to make our morning tour of the falls. After a quick breakfast at the hotel buffet we were off. The local name is Mosi-oa-Tunya which translates to “the smoke that thunders”. We stopped along the drive to look at the top of the falls from a distance and see the persistent plumes of spray that look very much like smoke. The water goes over a ledge into a wide, deep crack in the earth created by volcanic activity. The tour is along the opposite edge of the crack, facing the falls from approximately the same height as the top. The thundering sound of the water was audible long before we could get a view, but shortly into our walk we came to our first viewing ... read more
