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Celebrating our arrival with Fanta!
We'd just arrived, got to our hostel in Livingstone, very very happy to be there. We finally drank our fanta pops from way back in Malawi! So, we arrived in Lusaka and a few hours later, we got an early bus that actually left on time! It's quite impressive for the companies there as they can leave as much as 7 hours after predicted! While I was holding our seats on the bus, Mark went to get something for us to eat. It turned out that most of the vendors came into the buses to sell their goods so I didn't too bad just sitting there! We got to hear a sermon and prayer by a bus evangelist which was pretty neat.
After 8 hours on the bus, we arrived in Livingstone. We had expected around 6 hours for the bus journey but no, it would take longer. By the time we arrived, we couldn't do anything but get to our hostel and chill out. It was too late for any activities but we were able to get some ideas of to do's for the next day, Saturday. We only had 1 full day to make the most of Victoria Falls so it was going to be busy! The next morning we got up early and headed to Victoria Falls by taxi. We had told Patrick
Great War Memorial
Just as you walk into the Vic falls, there is this Great War Memorial! and Diane we were headed to Jolly Boys Backpackers and they caught up with us again! They had managed to do the journey to LIvingstone all day from Chipata but only by the second bus leaving a bit later...so they got lucky and we were happy to hang out with them again to share stories. The Victoria Falls are huge right now, you can't see too much of the land borders of the falls but the waterfall is quite amazing. They have a saying about the "Smoke that thunders" which is basically the water that comes crashing down making a huge splash that you can see from miles away. It looks like smoke from a fire but it's actually the water! Mark and I started walking through but the water was soo crazy we were getting completely soaked. I had all my electronics in my backpack so I waited for him to come back and ended up going on a little adventure with Mark after leaving my things with Diane who wanted a break. After a run in the rain, we were completely soaked by the most beautiful waterfall, it was great! We dried off while we waited for Patrick
Smoke that Thunders
Here is a view of the Zambezi river where we did our cruise, you can see the water in the distance, amazing eh? and Diane and just walked around enjoying the less wet scenic points. After our time there, we went back to the hostel and waited for our ride to the helicoptor base. We decided to splurge and really make the most of the day (we'd also heard that the ground views of the falls weren't great because of the water level). It was really awesome to see the falls from the air and they are extremely long, crossing from the Zambia section of Africa to Zimbabwe. After our incredible 15 minute flight, we were dropped on land and got off to our cruise. It was unlimited drinks of soft drinks, wine and hard liquor so an entertaining time to say the least. There was good food and lots of great company to chat with so it was a good ending to a busy day as we cruised down the Zambezi River. By the time we finished the cruise, I was completely done and it was time to get to bed. Mark stayed with the rest of the party people and woke me up at 4:30am when it was time to get a taxi for our bus ride back to Lusaka. We
managed to get there just on time, it cost about $5 cheaper on the way back to Lusaka and also, 1 hour less driving time. Hurray. So, all in all, better trip but the bus horn was the most obnoxious thing I've heard in Africa, super loud, way overused and just plain rude! Anyhow, survived that and got settled back to our hostel, had some nice lunch and overheard a church service going on. I was curious and wanted to try going so I asked about another service time, turned out I could go a couple hours later and ended up going alone as Mark wasn't in the mood. It was a bit of an odd feeling walking around alone in Africa, the guys can really stare (not as bad as South America though). Anyhow, I was the only white person at church and lucky for me, they spoke English 80% of the service! It was amazing because the one guy singer had this crazy good voice, I will never forget how beautiful it sounded and then a few other guys joined in with drums and singing...good worship and then a cool message. I've never got so into a sermon
Victoria Falls
Onsite, up close and personal! with the "Amens" and such. Believe me, you don't go to Africa to sit there and observe! So, I was really blessed and welcomed by the people before heading back to the hostel. Later on Mark and I had a nice big icecream and spent all our leftover Zambian money on goodies.
We were headed to Lusaka airport for the early morning, got a couple things there and waited...our flight left relatively on time and then we sat in Nairobi for what felt like ages (9 hours) and then we were headed home to London where the inflight entertainment actually worked so I got to watch some movies. It was so nice getting back to London and knowing where I needed to go, what I would do, etc. Hope you enjoyed reading about my Africa trip even a tad as much as I did in real life! Hugs, Chloe
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Ranita
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Hi Chloe from Canada
Wow, I loved all your recent pictures and comments.....I was at the Giant's Causeway last year and at the Malahide Castle..... It was all great and I'd love to do the trip all over again. You are having such a great experience travelling all over the place.....oh to be young again....Love from your Godmother.