Vic Falls

As we approached the Vic Falls area in the truck, we could see a huge misty cloud of spray rising from the falls. On our first night we stayed in a cell-like room in the Rest Camp, but it was better than freezing in the tent. We treated ourselves to a Wimpy then went to a local bar called Hunters, that we affectionately renamed Munters. It was only 25p a bottle of beer! That evening everyone else seemed to get wrecked on cheap plonk and they all ended up pushing each other into the swimming pool at Shoestrings Backpackers. So made a sharp exit as we were saving ourselves for the booze cruise the following night.

Walking around the Falls
The falls were totally awesome! We walked along the front of the falls, progressively becoming wetter and wetter at each viewpoint. The sheer force and volume of water was amazing and even in cagools, we got absolutely soaking wet and had to wring our socks out. At the end of the falls we looked at the bridge over to Zambia, from where lunatics were throwing themselves off attached to an elastic band. No thanks! We went back for lunch to line our tummies for the all-you-can-drink booze cruise on the Great Zambezi.

The Booze Cruise
About half the group jumped on board our floating bar for the next three hours. We soon got stuck in, so the barman hopped off to stock up on extra vodka before we set sail! The Zambezi was beautiful in the glow of the sunset. Until Elliot flashed his own to sunset to passing posh boats. We were all rolling around with laughter, all the vodka and gin disappeared rapidly so we moved onto cheap bubbly, wine and even evil Cane Spirit. Even the whisky got hammered (although nothing to do with us obviously!). It wasn't all drinking because we spent at least 10 minutes looking at elephants, hippos and crocs. When we docked we refilled our water bottles with beer and had a very merry bus ride home. We met the other sober half trying to cook their dinner, as you can imagine, we weren't very helpful! So we all left for Shoestrings (where we had moved to) for more beverages. Jason lagging behind as he was carrying Gav who had fallen off the truck trying to retrieve his pants! It starts getting a bit blurry from there onwards, but we all jumped in the pool, Jase taking his trousers and t-shirt off which was a scary sight! (Rach wasn't so eager to flash her bits). We had a fantastic night, not that Jase remembers that much. Jase suffered a bit the next day but Rach was glad not to have a hangover. Fortunately he had recovered by the time we went to The Boma that evening, for our first game meat restaurant (sorry Debra!). We arrived and they dressed us in traditional costume and sat down to yummy butternut soup and a buffet of game meat. We tried ostrich, guinea fowl, impala and warthog, the latter being our favourite. Rach did have a bit of a veggie moment thiinking about the cute family of warthogs that had been roaming around the village that afternoon.

Flight Over The Falls
We booked a 40 minute scenic flight in a six seater Cessna. We picked the pilot up on route and went to Vic Falls International Airport, which was tiny. We took off and spent 10 minutes looking for game and finding a few giraffe, before following the Zambezi River to the Falls. The view from above was spectacular, as you could see the river snaking its way to the falls and pretty rainbows dancing through the spray. We circled several times to appreciate the falls from all angles, but our stomachs didn't appreciate it, and we all felt a bit green. Thankfully we straightened up and headed back to the airport. Back on terra firma we dashed to the curio market so Jase could buy his much coveted chess set. It was hand-carved animal figures from ebony and rosewood.

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