Feel the Power

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May 4, 2006 - Day 19 - Today began with another optional game drive, which I also did not attend. They weren’t nearly as lucky but did see a hyena with two babies very early on and very close to the truck. Once they were back and breakfasted we took down the camp and started making our way to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This was our first complicated border crossing, in that we all had to pay to enter the country but were unprepared for how it would all work exactly. For example, I expected to pay $30, or about 200 South African rand, which I thought would be best to get rid of. Instead, they changed it to 210 rand. Once I finally was able to scrape 10 rand in coins together, they said no, they couldn’t accept coins. So in the end I had to pay in US dollars, which is what I think they intended and why they changed it to 210 rand in the first place. The Canadians had it worst - they thought they had a fee-free visa, yet they were charged more than anyone - $65 USD each! Turns out that Zimbabwean money is worthless and they don’t even want it. I changed in 200 rand once we arrived and received 5 million Zim dollars!!!! It was a heap of money in $20,000 notes. I was an instant millionaire. But when everyone is a millionaire, no one is. Especially in Vic Falls, which has become a tourist city where everything is expensive and tourist priced, even the grocery store. Here we stayed in a hostel called the Savanna Lodge where a moneychanger came with his satchel full of billions. No doubt it was illegal but he did give us a good rate and actual real money rather than fakes. They said they expired at the end of last year but were still real money. Took me a while to count my piles of millions, but it was all there. Checked in and then had a presentation of all the activities we could spend outrageous amounts of money on, like bungee jumping, elephant tours, and flights over the falls. Being extremely money conscious, I decided to opt out. Instead I cleared my things out of the truck, as our tour was coming to an end and the new tour would include a new truck and crew. Walked into town with some of the others to check it out and use the internet. Jules and Jon and I got on the computers, but after 15 minutes I was unable to send or read any emails so I got a refund. Barbel and Markus then came back to meet us and we went grocery shopping for dinner, as some of us had decided to opt out of a 3 million dollar feast. Bought supplies for pasta for only $200,000 each instead. Bargain. Even better, Jules prepared the dinner and I got a hot shower. Dinner was good and we sat around chatting for a bit, waiting for the others to get back. Met Walt, out new guide/driver and talked to him for a little bit. Decided to go to bed and write in my journal. Just as I was getting to bed, I saw the door open and Markus’s head and then the door closed. I went out to see if he needed something and it turned out he had just gotten back and noticed our door was somewhat open (as it didn’t close properly) and tried to close it. We ended up chatting outside our rooms until nearly midnight, along with Austin who came along at one point.

May 5, 2006 - Day 20 - Got up early today, like usual, and had a leisurely breakfast followed by some hand washing of all my things, as laundry service was too pricey. Once that was hanging up, Dana, Trevor, Jules, Jon, Anne, Markus and I got a ride into town and then walked to the Victoria Falls. It cost $20 to get it the park to see the falls and it was really nice. There has been so much rain that the Zambezi River is really high and the falls are really flowing, so much so that it is almost like it is raining in some of the viewing spots as so much water kicks up as spray that you get completely drenched. It was almost impossible at some points to take photos, as the cameras would have been trashed. The last viewing point was of the bridge to the Zambian side of the falls, where we saw one bungee jumper take the plunge. Afterwards Markus, Anne, and I decided to stay a while longer while the others went back to town or the craft market. At the falls the three of us found a nice sunny spot and dried our cameras, our bags, even our piles of money in Markus’ case. Spent two extra hours there drying out, and were treated to some really clear views of the falls at certain times as the spray was kicked out of the way. We also had a troop of Vervet monkeys that came through just before and as we were leaving. I was worried one of them would make off with our cameras or other things, but they didn’t. On the way out, we saw a bunch of baby monkeys playing in the trees. It was a hot hungry walk home, with a detour to the grocery store for bananas and rolls for lunch. Meanwhile, Jules had gotten rice for dinner, and cooked it, which was another treat. Even better, after my shower, I realized that Charmed was on that night (same as in South Africa), so I got it on the tv and watched it religiously for one hour. And I was rewarded - it was a new episode from the current season (for me anyway). Whoo hoo! Score. Ate my dinner and then spent the next few hours staying up chatting with everyone, as most people would be leaving the following day. Washed up the dishes, wrote in my journal, and then went to sleep about 12:45am.

May 6, 2006 - Day 21 - Got up at 4:45am to see off Dana, Trevor, Anne, and Sang-hee who were leaving with our truck and guides back to Johannesburg, South Africa at 5am. Unfortunately, the guides slept in and Trevor had to wake them up. We waited until 5:45am to say good-bye, and then it was back to bed for me. Got up again near 8am to get to breakfast and spend some time with some others before their late morning departure. Had some stress about whether the tour company was going to pay for our hostel for the nights between tours or not, and eventually it was decided that yes, they would pay or reimburse everyone who had paid. Afterwards had a nice chat about life with Markus, and then it was time for him and Elizabeth to make their way to the airport. Spent the rest of the day going into town, finding an internet café that worked, buying some things at the craft market with my leftover one million dollars. Actually, I used a combination of money and items to trade like little soaps and airline headphones to get goods. It was great. Everyone at the market is your friend and wants your business and talks your ear off trying to bargain with you. But everyone was also really nice about it when you didn’t buy, as long as you were nice as well. More pleasant an experience than some of the markets I have been in. The masters at it were the Canadians, Dana and Trevor, the day before. They went to the market with a lot of their clothes and traded them for masks and crafts, as they were going home right after the trip and wouldn’t be needing that stuff anymore. Went to the grocery store to buy food for dinner but it was closed, so we got some incredibly expensive pasta from 7-11, mostly treated by Anke. Afterwards went back to the market and internet to spend my last $500,000 with Jules and then we made our way back. Anke made dinner for everyone, another yummy dish. Had to repack my things as the next truck is stressfully different and smaller inside - no lockers or special places to store things, so am a bit worried about how it will shape up with a full truck. Went to bed early to catch up on some sleep.

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