Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa

AFRICA JULY 13 – AUGUST 8, 2022 This trip was very different from others I have taken. I usually just decide on a country, buy the tickets and go. I have traveled to Indonesia, Europe, and Central and South America. But for Africa, I was a little nervous. Africa is a continent. It is huge. And everything would be new. I thought a tour might be better this time. I chose one offered by Rosy’s Responsible Travel. These tours include sightseeing, tourist activities, and opportunities to learn about the country's culture and cities being visited. The tour, led by Sunway Safaris was a 15-day interactive camping trip in Africa at a really reasonable price. I love to backpack, and I like hands-on experiences. I did not want a tour where you get off a big, crowded ... read more

There are no phones or alarm clocks at Toka Leya. Instead, someone walks to your suite, which, by the way, are all connected to each other and the main lodge via elevated wooden walk ways. This protects you from the wildlife. When it gets dark, you must yell out for someone to come get you and then they escort you to where you need to go. We had a great breakfast and then were driven to the Zimbabwe border where we went through customs again so we could tour Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The United States has one, the Grand Canyon. The falls are massive and even though they were at low flow as this is only the start of the rainy season, we still got damp from the ... read more

We had to depart Zambia in the early afternoon so we started out at 6am for our final river cruise with Godfrey. We still hadn’t seen any elephants so Godfrey said we might see them crossing the river in the early morning hours. Boy was he right. We saw three different groups of elephants for a total of 16. They are great swimmers and cross the river by sticking their trunk out of the water where it is deep. They pretty much stay in single file and sometimes rest halfway through. Once upon the shore, two juvenile males played in the shallow water. On another bank, a large male tried to scare us by folding out his ears and trumpeting. We knew we were safe in the boat but I did gasp a little. We were ... read more

20 July 19 - We arived in Livingstone after a short flight from Johannesburg, to stay two nights at the Avani Hotel located close to the Falls. We were able to quickly get our visa for both Zimbabwe and Zambia on arrival and were out of the airport and at our hotel by midday. We decided to take a tour on the river in the afternoon, another couple joined us in a small boat to explore the narrow channels and islands above the falls. We sped over the rapids before stopping at a small island on the zambezi to have a picnic. One of the crew checked there were no elephants, crocodiles or hippos on the island before we were able to go ashore. The two man crew set up a little table for drinks and ... read more

This turned out to be one of the busiest days of our trip, with so much to do from beginning to end. Zambia - Victoria Falls Today was the day to cross the border into Zambia and see Victoria Falls from the other side. We took our shuttle bus to Victoria Falls and then started our walk to Livingstone, Zambia via the Victoria Falls Bridge. We quickly got our exit stamp from the Zim side and walked along the bridge, each taking a photo at the border sign in the middle as well as some photos of the falls themselves, though the angle of the sun was not great. At the border office at the Zambia side was a huge line and we had to wait a good half hour to get our passports stamped. Unfortunately, ... read more