Livingstone- Victoria Falls- A natural Wonder of the World

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After arriving in Livingstone the previous night, and setting out on a sunset cruise on the Zambisi River ( sunset cruises mean "booze cruise around here, since it is all you can drink 😊, to get things started off right, i.e. get to see the river, some crocs, some hippos, and make some new friends, I ventured this morning via a hostel shuttle and with my new "travel partner" for the day Josh off to see the Falls. Josh and a number of other Americans who were on the cruise the night before are teaching english in Namibia for a year, and were visiting on their school holiday (just fyi)... just a few of the great people I met in Zambia, but more on that later...
anyhow, back to the Falls!! Are they ever enormous, totally natural, and not a hotel or restaurant in sight... i somewhat almost expected a similar scene to the Niagara Falls, where Wedding chapels and high rises overshadow the falls ... not so in Zambia... the entrance to the national park is a little hut, and once you enter you walk literally through the bush until you get to your first look-out point. We decided to first walk the 693 m to the bottom of the falls and the "boiling point " , then ventured along the rim, stopped for a little picnic, and just soaked in the amazing scenery... actually hard to put in words how powerful and majestic the Falls look. In the afternoon, we felt a bit more adventurous, and so we decided to follow the suggestion of some of the folks at the hostel to walk across the top of the river above the falls (this is very much possible at this time of the year, since the water level is quite low). A local "guide" ( a young guy who wanted to earn a few kwacha) led us over the slippery rocks for about 15 min before we stopped on top of the "Angels Armchair Fall" , here a small water fall builds a nice little pool of water before the water rather slowly rushes down the main fall, so at no time were we in danger to be swept down the fall when we jumped into the pool for a little afternoon swim! 😊, however, just knowing that the water was running down just a few meters away from us was amazing!
So after a short stop at the curio market we took the mini bus taxi back to town and our hostel. Now riding in a minibus taxi in Africa is an experience in itself... minibus "taxis" only leave once full.. which in africa means that really not a single person could still fit into the bus... hence you see minivans with at least 20 people traveling on the road! What an experience,.. certainly not a mode of transport for long distances, but for 10 km, it was worth it (plus it was only 2000 kwacha = 50 cents) 😊
Anyhow, dinner was with all the other teachers in a local restaurant, and another brilliant day in Africa came to an end.

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Photos

Victoria Falls
The Zambian Side

Armchair Falls- Pool
"scouting the Falls from the Top"

going for a swim
taking the plunge!!