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Published: October 31st 2006
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Vic Falls Public Library
Forgot to mention this in the journal. Very excited to see this library and meet the librarian. It was all on card catalogue! And it was very busy. I think that I can now claim this trip on tax? Any accountants out there know if that is legal? James and I decided that because there was no water on the Zambian side of the border, we would investigate the Zimbabwean side. This, however, was not the only reason. We had also booked a jet boat trip and visit to see lions, which we were both super excited about. Our excitement waned considerably when we discovered that the jet boat was cancelled because there was not enough water (same old story!).
Although the lion thing was not until 3pm, we caught a free shuttle to the border at about 10am. The border crossing itself took about 30 minutes, after which we were fair game for all the touts and taxi drivers waiting just outside the border gate. Already, we noticed the difference between Zim and Zambia - the touts are more persistent/desperate. James received offers for his shoes twice within ten minutes (they wanted to swap them for a copper bracelet).
After visiting the Shearwater Activities office to get a refund for the jet boat trip, we wandered around Victoria Falls town, dodging the many offers for money exchange, rafting trips, t-shirts, wood carvings, taxis and anything else you can imagine. We visited a couple of shops and
purchased a requested souvenir for my brother (different colour this time, Martin). Following this we grabbed a quick bite to eat at a cafe (delicious!) and then headed to the Falls.
I was already excited as you could actually see the spray rising above the trees. As we entered the Falls park, you could hear the roar of the water. Mosi-Oa-Tunya is the local name for Vic Falls and it means 'the smoke that thunders'. Perfect name. We visited every vantage point for the falls, standing in awe at the massive amount of water falling just under 100m to the base of the gorge. We relished the spray and the cool air that came with it as the temperature rose to about 37 degrees. (No sunburn yet, Mum). The Zimbabwean and Zambian sides of the falls are a stark contrast, but it gave us an opporunity to see the effect of the water on carving out the rock and the gorge.
We spent about an hour and a half staring at the Falls, then headed back into town and waited to be picked up for our 'Lion Encounter'. We were driven to a private game park about 20
minutes away, where we were briefed on the Do's and Dont's of interacting with lions. The four lions that we would meet were juveniles, between four and eighteen months old. They had been rescued as cubs and raised to be semi-tame. This means that they would never survive in the wild and regarded humans as a normal part of their environment, but still retained their hunting instinct. Therefore, one of the rules was 'Don't run' as this would instantly mean that we would be recognised as food.
Five minutes later we began our walk and were soon joined by the four lions. It was fantastic. They just wandered amongst us as we walked, then loped off to stalk something in the bush. As they brushed past us we would pat them. Awesome. There were some specific photo opportunities where we could sit with them or stand near them as they climbed over a tree branch but most of the time we were just in awe of being so near to them.
Throughout the walk, the sky had turned black and the thunder rumbled. This set up a great atmosphere, but you know what usually happens with clouds, thunder
and lightening? Rain. Just at the end of our walk it bucketed down, with the wind blowing it sideways. We were soaked in an instant, but still ran towards the shelter. It was exhilarating, running through the African bush, being pelted with driving rain, with lightening flashing knowing that lions are still around. I laughed like a crazy person and would have done a Tim Kirkegard style dance (sorry for those who don't know Tim, someone who enjoys dancing in the rain but not the fractured collarbone that comes with it) but knew that I would have probably crashed into the rest of the tourists thundering along behind me.
Happy, soaked and slightly hungry (go figure), we all piled into a room to watch a video of our encounter, then drove back (in an open top game viewing truck - cold wind!) to town. We were dropped at the border at about 7pm, got our stampes, then hitched a ride with an overland truck back into town.
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Andrew Hall UK
non-member comment
WOW !
Hi Great to see what you have been up to what an experience ! Chatted to your Mum today Karen, they all seem well. If you are passing through UK do call in !! God bless Andrew