Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa - page 2

L’une des parties du voyage théoriquement les plus « challenging » au niveau de la logistique était de se rendre de Kasane au Botswana à Livingstone en Zambie, à proximité des chutes Victoria. L’option 1 était d’engager une compagnie qui nous mènerait du point A au point B. Option très simple, mais dispendieuse puisqu’on charge habituellement autour de 60 à 70$US par personne pour un trajet de moins de 100km et de moins de deux heures (aller simple). L’option deux était d’engager des taxis locaux et de traverser la frontière à pied. Cette option semble peu populaire puisqu’on retrouve peu d’informations sur Internet, à part que le poste frontière est assez chaotique. Nous avons opté pour l’option 2 et finalement il n’y avait pas grand défi. Expérience intéressante quand même : taxi vers le poste frontière ... read more

We left Kasane, Botswana for our journey to Livingstone in Zambia. After a short drive to the Botswana border we left our vehicle and crossed the Zambesi River at the Kazangula River crossing. What an experience! There were lorries queueing for miles each side of the crossing waiting for the small ferry that could transport them across the river. A major much needed bridge was under construction by Daewoo to alleviate these hold ups. We were lucky and could cross the river in a small passenger ferry. There was a mass of people on each side of the river, trying to cross or sell things or get through immigration. We found our new transport on the Zambia side and negotiated immigration. On arrival in Livingstone we checked in at Olga's Guesthouse a nice small hotel with ... read more

The flight from Johannesburg was quick and inexpensive. We met up with my friend John (see 2009 Quilotoa and Galápagos blogs) and his girlfriend Cristina and explored the falls area for a few days, fully aware that it is a very well beaten and expensive tourist track. Zambia and Zimbabwe now offer a dual visa for visiting both sides of the falls. Apparently you can go back and forth between the two repeatedly as long as you don't go to another country. Livingstone and Victoria Falls The town of Livingstone is surprisingly authentic, with plenty of shops and activity in town and then shanties and dirt roads surrounding, which I ran through and found to be safe and friendly, largely because most of the tourists seem to fly in and stay at extravagant camps in the ... read more

Hello All! I have now been staying in Livingstone for a week, and tomorrow I will be flying to Johannesburg for the start of my 3rd and final leg of my journey, in South Africa. It's been a brief stop in Zambia but it's brought some of the best highlights of my trip. I arrived at Livingstone Backpackers hostel late Tuesday afternoon and instantly ran into a German backpacker who I had met in Lusaka for one night. He told me that he and a group of 3 Dutch girls, a German-Swiss, and an Irishman were heading straight to Victoria Falls for the evening to see the Lunar Rainbow. Every month, when the Full Moon appears, the moonlight is bright enough to light up the falls and cause a rainbow to appear over the spray. I ... read more

Bright and way too early for the kind of night I had I caught the free shuttle to Victoria Falls to take in all the glory that makes it one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. Unfortunately the dry season has been particularly dry and there was literally no water falling off the rocks on the Zambian side…Cheese and rice things are hard…I walked all around the park to different viewpoints to try and see some kind of spectacle but to no avail. Luckily I paid too much money to walk out to Livingstone Island where there is a chance to play in the water and get an actual view of the falls first hand. Livingston Island was where Dr. Livingstone “discovered” the waterfall and named it after some queen or something. Idk. But ... read more