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Wet Wet Wet- every inch, every piece of clothing, camera lenses steamed up, pruney shriveled fingers and toes and soaked from every single drip of rain and waterfall spray that battered us! This basically summarises the start of our honeymoon travelling from Livingstone in Zambia, over the boarder into Zimbabwe, through to Botswana and South Africa and ending in Cape town (basking in glorious sunshine!!). So, our initial plan was to fly into Livingstone and cross the border after a couple of days there, and then cross over to Zimbabwe and join our tour group, however thanks to a flight change, none of our connecting flights would have married up and we had to fly into Victoria Falls airport, then cross the border (by foot) into Livingstone, then cross back. Also, as we were advised that getting over the border is a headache in a car, we decided to book a hotel on the Zimbabwean side for ease and then head back and forth grabbing visas along the way if need be. A lot of to-ing a fro-ing. Not fun in the teaming rain which ensued!
So, as a result of the monumental flight disaster we ended up having to
spend a night in Johannesburg in a stunning hotel- we were super lucky that we got upgraded to a colossal suite and were presented with gifts and champagne and all sorts- amazing! The next day we flew to Victoria falls and got a double entry visa (as we were going into Zimbabwe, and out to Livingstone, then back in again. 75 dollars each later we were in a taxi and on our way to the amazing Elephant hills resort- which has wild animals roaming the gardens and a stunning view of the smoke rising from the falls. Bags dumped off we set off to cross the border. It was a wonderfully sunny day and we strolled merrily through the cute little town of Victoria falls, chatting to the locals on the way. We reached the first part of border control and exited and as we reached Victoria falls bridge and started to enjoy the amazing scenery, the heavens opened....and didn't stop. It was such a shame as Victoria falls bridge is a spectacle in itself and utterly fabulous, the views from this are glorious! At that point it was rain that I had never seen before (wait for the Okavangko
Delta) teaming town- as Forest Gump would have said it was rain that seemed to come up from underneath! Awful! Still, we trotted on over the bridge soaked to the skin, rain ponchos only serving to direct rain down our tops. We got over the bridge and a lovely Zimbabwean/Zambian man grabbed us and pulled us into shelter! Relief! After sheltering for a good half hour, we progressed to the border where again, I have the pleasure of shelling out 30 pounds to enter Zambia (James was free on account of being Irish), and in the rain, soaked to the skin, we went to see the amazing 'Smoke that thunders'.
Now the first thing about Victoria falls is all that can be seen is a stunning haze of mist coming up from where the millions of litres of water and gushing into the gorge, as well as hearing an incredible roaring as the water crashes down. The rain still hadn't stopped but we figured we would carry on. At this stage my converse were swimming in muck and my knickers were soaked through, I couldn't even use my camera it was so wet! before we actually saw the falls
we visited the boiling pot, which is where the water in the Bakota gorge swirls around aggressively and resembles, as the name suggests, a boiling pot. A half hour hike down through a very wet jungle and into the gorge brought us to our first stop- it was wild and wet and magnificent, looking up at the bridge from this height and watching the locals fish and swim in this was incredible! I looked forward to what was ahead. Back up again, we got to watch a family of baboons playing, and one mother baboon nursing her baby literally at the side of the path. Amazing to see.
After a huge climb back up to the top, absolutely battered by the rain, we continued on the see the falls. Wow is one of the many words that could be used to describe the falls. They were magnificent from this side, absolutely incredible, and the sheer size of them truly is spectacular! It is a colossal, immense expanse of roaring, gushing water stretching along for what seems like infinity, and if we hadn't been soaked from the rain we sure as well would have been drenched through by now- the
spray back was something else! Exploring along the path opposite the falls at every view point an even more impressive sight was present- and crossing the knife edge bridge was absolutely hilarious- like a ride at one of natures most impressive theme parks- being whooshed and sprayed by water from all directions- the spray was so dense and thick the falls couldn't even be seen but this just added to it. Amazing!
We then went and checked out the falls from the 'river side' and saw the cusp of the falls at which point the water descends- we had really wanted to do the devils pool but the flooding on the day we went meant this wasn't possible, but still, nest time. The views from this side were equally as impressive as it gave an even greater scope to the size and power of the falls! Unbelievably stunning place! Thankfully the sun then came out and wee got the chance to dry off a little while strolling around the village nearly, but in all honesty the hassle we endured was really very intense so we retreated back over the border again.This was pretty straight forward and we got the
chance to check out the baboons stealing things from lorries as well as seeing a few stowaways pegging it away from under the tarpaulin when a person of authority came past! It was an amazing day and it is a shame that circumstances lead us to not being able to enjoy as much of the Zambian side as we would have liked, but still, what we saw was incredible and as always, I look forward to an opportunity to return again and see more of this fabulous part of the world.
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