Welcome To The Mighty Zambezi

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Zimbabwe isn't faring too well in the press of late. Family and friends reacted with surprise when we told them we were going to Zimbabwe. Most felt Zambia would be the safer option however we felt safe and would recommend it to others.

(One of the) problems in Zimbabwe is their local currency is spiralling out of control. They set the official exchange rate at 250 zim to the us dollar, however most people will trade you around 2,000 zim for one us dollar. Therefore if you were to get cash out or use your credit card in Zimbabwe you would be paying about 10 times too much for everything. A beer would go from being US$1 to about US$12.50, and a few would prove a real headache (financially of course). Following 24 hours of flying we arrived in Zimbabwe to find out we were short in US dollars so Dave had to spend a few more hours travelling to Zambia and back to get more money.

If you go to Zim, take plenty of US dollars

.

The biggest attraction to Zim was the opportunity to raft the mighty Zambezi river - the Bakota rapids are the best wild water rafting in the world. We named our boat the zambezi rescue crew as we only flipped once and spent quite a few rapids picking up people from other over turned rafts. After some pretty wild rapids in the morning our teams confidence was high and unfortunately continued so till the last rapid of the morning - #8 midnight dinner. Approaching from the middle we tried to pop through "Star Trek" only to be reminded that we were small people in a tiny inflatible raft. Nicola got stuck under the raft

for ages

trying desperately to get free and find some air. A newly wed husband popped up beside Dave and asked where his wife was. After a good look around including dragging ourselves to the other side of the overturned raft I noticed he had aged about ten years. We checked on top to see the guide had pulled her on top of the overturned raft. I have never seen someone so relieved.

We highly recommend rafting the zambezi river - go in October for the wildest ride.

Early the next morning we decided to take a stroll with some Lions. Yep Lions. Ok they were only nine months old, and reasonably well fed but they were still LIONS. They run a lion breeding facility in Botswana which is supported by the tourist dollars raised at the "Lion Walk" place. So we strolled and conserved and pet lions. A good mornings work.

We also managed to pack in some parasailing, a sunset cruise and of course a tour of Victoria Falls. An incredibly wet experience. However the best view of the falls was from a landcruiser late at night. We went out for a few drinks with the guys who ran our hostel and afterwards driving back you could see a huge trail of smoke wafting from the ground and running for several kilometers.

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Comments

[Beth]

What about Nic?
Dave, in your narrative you say that Nic was trapped under the raft "for ages" , then go on to talk about how the newly wed husband searched for his bride and aged 10 years in the process. What did you do to help save Nicola? I think you need to clarify this in your narrative. Just joking! I think I need to add rafting the Zambezi to my list of things to do.!!

[james]

money
I see that you are with the lions there, , did you book that in advance or book it when you got there ? also about the money , who do you trade with to get the great deal ? then do you use it to do all activites mentione d

[Dave and Nic]

money
We booked the lions when we got there as part of a package from our hostel. Take lots of US dollars with you. If you need to get more money out, go to Zambia, don't withdraw money in Zimbabwe. Also don't put anything on your credit card in Zim. Our 5 days cost around $500 US as we did activities every day.