Blogs from Livingstone, Southern Province, Zambia, Africa

Hello all, The last leg of our journey took us to Livingstone, Zambia and the great Victoria Falls! Ben, Shami and I took a long, but scenic bus ride for 8 hours across southern Zambia to the Zambezi River. The trip was worth it as we stayed in a place by the river, complete with a swimming pool and happy hour with a wonderful sunset over the river. The tents rounded off our stay and we fell asleep to the sounds of the crickets and monkeys in the trees. It has been a wonderful stay with Shami and a good chance to see our friends on 'this side.' We'll share many more stories when we return early this week. I left Ben in good hands for one more day in Lusaka! Love to all, Ann, Shami, ... read more

Had an early morning start with a 6:15 breakfast, followed by a 6:30 pickup to the Mosi-Oa-Tunya NP (The Victoria Falls NP) for an elephant back safari. The elephant ride was fun, but there was almost no game to be seen, even though it was still cool because it was early. We saw some bush buck, Impala, Hippo, baby crocs, so we spent most of the time photographing each other on our respective elephants. The actual time riding the elephants was only an hour, so that part was a dissapointment. It was also very expensive, but W.. had a great time!... read more

Yes, Victoria Falls is one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, and it's well deserving of that accolade. It is amazing! We were planning on seeing it from both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides, but Zimbabwe has recently increased their visa fees. There's no longer a day visa option. At $75 Canucks pay the highest visa fee and then add another $50 for a visa back into Zambia, just to see the same thing from a different angle. This place is heaven for Adrenaline junkies. There's white water rafting on the Zambezi river, bungee jumping off the bridge connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia, zip lining across the Batoka Gorge, Abseiling down the cliff sides of the Batoka Gorge, Ultralight, fixed wing and helicopter rides along the river and falls ... the list goes on. We're ... read more

From Pretoria it took us 25 hours on two buses straight through Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, making a connection in Bulawayo (which means 'killing place'), to get to the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Once there, we looked at three different accommodations and decided on Shoestring Backpackers. We set up camp and explored the small town. There were not a lot of tourists around, so with the over abundance of street merchants, we would get hassled consistently on the streets. The local currency is in US Dollars. Inflation in their previous currency had gotten so bad, it would take a whole bag of money just to buy a newspaper. Street merchants would all sell the old currency. You could get large notes such as a 25 Billion Dollar note, but of course they were worthless. ... read more

Arrived today. The flight was brutal (even with the nice selection of Summer Catch as an in-flight movie) but the first 8 hours in Zambia made it worth it. We saw cavemen and other assorted awesome stuff at the Livingstone Museum and then took a sundown cruise on the Zambezi River where we saw hippos and elephants and a croc. One of the elephants even came into the water to check out the boats. ... read more

Hi Eveyone! I hope you are all doing well and Vancity is at its summertime best! I actually do miss home sometimes and the street festivals, sushi and good friends, but I've got one more month left on my trip so it's gonna be big. Soooo.... Zambia wasn't quite on the itinerary. Far from it. My plan was to leave from Rwanda and spend some time in Burundi before taking the arduous and somewhat tedious journey through NW Tanzania which we've heard nothing but horror stories about. I met two American travelers along the way and met up again in Kigali to see whether we would have compatable travel itineraries and they were kind enough to offer me and my new traveling compatriot to crash on the floor in their hotel. We were staying in a ... read more

Was up at 4am Monday morning to catch the bus to Livingstone. Stayed at Jollyboys backpackers', which was fine for my needs. Could boil up noodles for lunch in their kitchen and they do a basic filling meal for abouit a fiver each evening. They also had Savana cider even when the local Shoprite had sold out :) Tuesday morning got the hostel lift to Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya, paid my entrance and wandered around the main part full of awe- have attached pictured and videos but not sure they can really do justice. Was a long way to go but definitely worth it. On the way back went to the local crocodile farm; apparently the tail is the only bit eaten- the rest just becomes shoes and luggage.. Livingstone is famous for its extreme sports; many tourists ... read more