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Published: November 14th 2007
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On the top of Vic Falls!
In wet season, this area would be full of water (and we would be over the edge!) Leg three: Southern Africa. We spent our first week in the self-proclaimed adrenalin-junkie capital of Zambia, Livingstone town. The backpackers here was great - pretty swimming pool and bar area and lots of chill-out zones with pillows. In between working hard at doing absolutely nothing, we also managed to fit in some of the area's many activities. Top of the list is a visit to Victoria Falls. Only after we arrived in Zambia, however, did we realize that, as it is the end of dry season, the falls were not exactly at their peak. In fact, in many parts the mighty Vic Falls looked more like the not-so-mighty Vic Trickle! The advantage of this was that we actually got to walk along the top of the falls and look down over where the water is supposed to be falling! Luckily, we did a quick overnight jaunt into Zimbabwe, where the falls are at their best in dry season. We got the classical view of the curtain of water, viewed from a beautiful rainforest, created purely because of the spray created from the falls. Beautiful!
Our main motivation for visiting Zimbabwe, however, was to do the "Lion Encounter" trip. The brutal
It's a long way down!
Looking down Vic Trickle! 5:15am pick-up was worth the reward - 45 minutes of walking in as game reserve alongside 5 lions (consisting of four 6-month old cubs, and one 18-month old male). It was an amazing experience. We got to follow the lions as they roamed and played. The four small cubs were Ok to handle, but we had to keep a bit of a distance from the larger lion - it is still a wild animal afterall! At the end of our 45 minutes, we were sad to leave, but happy for the experience.
While in Zimbabwe, we also spent an evening at the famous "Boma" restaurant. This was a similar concept to "Carnivore" in Nairobi, but 10-times better! As you entered, you were given a traditional-style sheet robe to wear and later had your face painted. The exotic foods on offer on the buffet included impala, kudu stew, worms (no, we didn't try these!), water buffalo, crocodile, ostrich, and my favourite, warthog. I know it sounds strange, but as the saying goes, "When in Rome..." The evening was made complete with the frequent traditional dances and even a drum-playing jam session, with everyone in the restaurant being given their own
That's more like it!
Vic Falls from the Zimbabwe side. drum!
Another main activity back in Zambia was white-water rafting the Zambezi. After the Nile, I was a little nervous, but it was so much easier. Scott even claimed it was a "cake-walk" - not sure I'd go quite that far!
Finally, we did a day trip to Botswana to visit the Chobe National park. This trip included a game drive in which we saw 10 lions and a huge family of elephants. Following the drive was a river trip. As we were the only ones signed up for this, we got our own boat complete with a table for two for lunch. It seemed quite luxurious, I have to say! We spent a pleasant afternoon eating and sipping cool beers whilst floating past elephants, crocs, and hippos. We might have popped the free botte of wine had it not been for the fact that they forgot the wine opener - a convenient mistake?!!
All in all, the Victoria Falls has been an excellent start to Southern Africa, one we are afraid will be hard to beat...we'll let you know!
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