Victoria Falls

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Hello All!

I have now been staying in Livingstone for a week, and tomorrow I will be flying to Johannesburg for the start of my 3rd and final leg of my journey, in South Africa. It's been a brief stop in Zambia but it's brought some of the best highlights of my trip.

I arrived at Livingstone Backpackers hostel late Tuesday afternoon and instantly ran into a German backpacker who I had met in Lusaka for one night. He told me that he and a group of 3 Dutch girls, a German-Swiss, and an Irishman were heading straight to Victoria Falls for the evening to see the Lunar Rainbow. Every month, when the Full Moon appears, the moonlight is bright enough to light up the falls and cause a rainbow to appear over the spray. I couldn't turn down the opportunity to see such a phenomenon so I quickly dumped my bag in my dormitory and headed out. Because the Sun was still setting, we stopped first at the Royal Livingstone Hotel; a 5-star establishment situated just upstream from the Falls on the edge of the Zambezi River. It has a riverside bar and restaurant where you can watch the sunset over the Zambezi whilst Hippos frolic in the water beneath you and the spray of the falls comes up over the horizon like smoke from a forest fire. If any of you think this sounds like a bit of you then be prepared to fork out $1000 a night. Yes, that is 3 zero's. Luckily a drink on the Sunset Deck is open to anyone, so we ordered in the reasonably priced cocktails and settled in to the evening routine of swapping introductions and travel stories whilst the sun came down on another beautiful African day.

Once darkness came, we made a move to the Falls. We somehow managed to blag the concierge that we were guests at the hotel so he drove us over to the Falls in a golf buggy. Considering I was wearing a ripped pair of jeans and a pair of bright red Nike trainers which had seen better days, it was quite impressive that I had convinced someone that I was a guest at such a luxurious hotel. As we were paying the $20 entrance fee to get into the park, we could already hear the roar of water that was coming from just beyond the trees in front of us. We made our way down the path to the viewpoint, which was fully lit by the moonlight, and were completely floored when the Falls came into view. Before us lay a gorge just over 1.5km long and over 100 meters deep, with water from the Zambezi gushing completely over one side. Opposite the Falls was a stretch of rock which people could walk across, and get soaked by the spray in the process. Victoria Falls is neither the tallest or the widest waterfall in the world, but it is classified as the largest because it's combined height and width mean it has the largest sheet of water flowing over the rock face. The light from the moonlight meant I could see everything as clear as day, and sure enough, a white bow of light stretched out over the gorge unlike any rainbow I had seen before. Unfortunately, my phone camera was unable to pick up enough light to take a good photo, but a few of my European friends had professional equipment which was able to take a good photo of the rainbow. Although it has to be said, the settings required to take such a picture meant that the photo came out looking like we were in broad daylight. It is definitely a sight which can only be seen with your own eyes and I feel incredibly lucky to have experienced it. First arriving at Zanzibar during Eid and now Victoria Falls during a full moon; my timing has been impeccable on this trip.

The rest of the evening consisted of our group sitting on a park bench by the Falls whilst we played drinking games with cheap vodka (it was the Irishman's idea; sometimes stereotypes are there for a reason). We became so loud with laughter and shouting, it was amazing that no one found us and kicked us out. Half of my drinking competitors would be moving on the next morning, but it was another great example of how travelling causes you to create lifelong memories with people you will only spend a few hours with, and will most likely never see or hear from again.

The next morning, I headed back to the Falls again so that I could see them during the day and explore the surrounding area. My companions this time were the German from the evening before, and an Aussie man who must have been well into his 60s at least. He worked as a builder and a property developer back home, but only worked to save up money for his next big trip. He had spent most of his life travelling all over the world, and had no intent in stopping soon. It was a story nothing short of inspirational. As I've said before, there's no uninteresting people in Africa. Our first stop was on the Victoria Falls bridge; a structure which was built 110 years ago by the British across the gorge, and connects Zambia and Zimbabwe. You could tell the bridge's age too. Every time a lorry drove over it, you felt it shake which didn't help with my sense of vertigo. This is also the bridge that hundreds of tourists bungee jump off every month; it made me feel sick just watching them! Especially as these suicidal idiots were paying $160 each for the privilege. Still, the bridge did provide excellent views of the Falls, which I still couldn't believe the size of, and we were constantly bombarded with locals trying to sell us souvenir notes of 50 billion Zimbabwean dollars, which were now literally not worth the paper they were printed on. It's a sad moment for any country when their own currency becomes nothing more than a souvenir, but it did serve as a comforting reminder as to why I decided against going to Zimbabwe when I was planning this trip.

We then walked down to the Boiling Pot; a point in the river beneath the Falls where rapids of the Zambezi river start and the rock formations make it look like the water is boiling. Here, the Zambian climate, and the constant moisture from the falls had created a mini rainforest which was home to a few families of baboons. They stayed there because they were able to rob the many passing tourists of all their food and drink. It has been known for them to run off with a wallet or two as well. Luckily the only trouble I had was when I tried taking a photo of one and it proceeded to shriek at me, so I sharply put my phone away and made a quick getaway.

The rest of my time in Livingstone has been spent exploring and mixing with the locals with Stuart, a Scotsman from Aberdeen, and Fiachray, another Irishman from Dublin (I've come across quite a few of them in Zambia). And yes, I have made them aware that we are one Welshman short of a bad joke. In need of "supplies" for our hostels weekly Friday night out to the nearby bar, we walked over to the local market to search for some bargains. We returned with a litre bottle of Captain Morgan's (110 Kwacha/$11) and a 75cl bottle of Zambian banana vodka (25 Kwacha/$2.50). Fiachray also found himself a deal at the clothes store, buying a horrific 80s tracksuit jacket which made him look like a Glastonbury pill dealer. It was probably put into an Oxfam charity bag in 1984, and just made it to Zambia, to be bought by an Irishman.

It's been a great week in Livingstone, and Victoria Falls is a must for anyone's bucket list, but now I have to prepare myself for the wilderness of Johannesburg. At least I'll now be accompanied by my university friend Taf, a Jo'burg veteran, and Taylor! Solo travelling is now over for me, and I've loved every second of it. I can't wait for South Africa though, as long as I survive Johannesburg.

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Photos

Spray from Victoria Falls
Shot taken from the riverside bar at the Royal Livingstone Hotel.

The Zambezi River
Taken from Victoria Falls Bridge. On the right hand side is Zimbabwe, on the left is Zambia. The platform is where bungy jumpers dived off.

Victoria Falls
This is also the viewpoint from where I saw the lunar rainbow the previous night.

Statue of David Livingstone
The first European to see the Falls.

Pesky Baboons
This chap started screaming at me as soon as I took the photo. I guess he's no fan of the papparazzi.