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So the most magnificent thing I have seen while in Africa, by far was Victoria Falls. We were lucky to get there at dusk and be told that that night was going to be a fully moon. Full moons are great by themselves but when combined with the largest waterfall in the world they creat a LUNAR RAINBOW!
Who knew that rainbows could happen at night?! Not me, that's for sure.
When we got there we took our time walking along the park and watching the sunset. The park in Zambia is great. It only contains 1/3 of the falls, and because of all the mist I couldn't even see the entire falls. The paths are slippery and many don't have railings...just a drop off! I was shocked. After winding our way around I followed Mike and Meg (toure guide and photographer) and a few friends to the farthest point of the park. It's litterally in the middle of the falls.
At one point we crossed a bridge that was being swallowed by the mist of the falls. We were soaked and didn't care! It was so much fun to skip (carefully) and splash water everywhere. It didn't matter how much
we splashed, Victoria Falls already won by instantly soaking us with her power.
Our camp site was a few miles up the river and from the riverside we could still see the mist of the falls. It was amazing. Walking into Zim I got a glimpse of the full size,and the sound was amazing. The power of water is amazing, and it made my entire body shake from the pressure.
Zimbabwe was interesting. I did not know what to expect. We went in for the day to go to the market. I packed a bag with clothes that I had planned on bargaining. As the menue shows (with pizza at half a million zim dollars) money doesn't buy much so we were told that products are good to bargain with (anything from toiletries, clothes, and especially shoes). Everyone I offered things to wanted money to go along with it. Sadly I only had Kwatcha on my (Zambia currency) which is worth little. They wanted US dollars. It was so hard to explain taht I just don't carry dollars around when I'm in Africa.
One of the most popular suiveniors from Zim is a necklace, statue, walking stick, or any
depiction of the Zambizie water God. It's the god of the Zambezie river which Zimbabwians used to worship and is now helped to benefit the tourist industry.
The hardest thing about the market was turning people down. Their price would be too high and I didn't have much money. I ended up giving some shirts away for little exchanges. As I was leaving the market a man who's shop I didn't even go to ran by saying "This is your shirt" I laughed and said "Yea! enjoy!" they claim the shirts or whatnot are for their family but really they end up selling much of the stuff. It was crazy to see a lot of the same stuff in Zim and Zambia at the markets as is here in Cape Town. It really showed me how commercialized selling a culture has come.
While standing on the bridge watching bungee jumping a boy was selling trinkets saying "made in township" my friend looked at the product and realized tha the plastic fish would not have been handmade by his family/friends in the community. Much of the stuff was beautiful, and buying it will help the merchants out but much
of it is not "authentic" whatever that means. The high priced tourist shop outside the market had much of the same stuff being sold in the market... only for twice as much and less of a personal feel to it. I don't know if it matters who you buy from otherwise...where the money really goes.
One thin about the market that struck us as odd was the seperation between the men and women. The women were in a small building, with little space and hardly any light. The men were outside under a small roof but for the most part in fresh air. The women also were more desperate and miserable looking. they were quite easy to bargain with, whereas the men would hollar at you to come "look and touch" their "nice things" they were sticklers on bargaining. the men also had much more elaborate gifts. Is that a reflection that if the mefchants did in fact make their stuff that the women couldn't possibly make a chess set, or that the men due to superiority get pricier things to sell because they're hte head of hte household.
I don't know, but it's something to think about.
My life is complete now that I have been to Victoria Falls. they had many adventure activities we could do,a nd get a good adreniline rush from, but seeing the falls was enough for me. And Easter Sunday church in Zambia with the amazing music and 15 procession of gifts really was the best way to end my holiday. Even though Zambia dn Zimbabwe have nowhere near the wealth as Bots, or SA (Botswana has a large diamond bases and therefore the pulla is worth more then the SA Rand!) the people in Zim and Zambia, atleast along the falls are so proud of what they have and eachother. Community is so important whether it's a rich or poor nation, it's just reassuring when that is so visible to short term visitor.
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