Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa - page 13

Bye Bye Botswana Today we traveled from Kasane, Botswana to Livingstone, Zambia across the Zambezi River. We had spent 8 days with wild animals and now we witnessed human commerce at its most competitive. There is no bridge across the Zambezi river but still lots of trade - many trucks waiting their turn for the one-truck ferry, several fast boats for walk-on transfers and some suspicious mocoro dug-outs. One group of dug-outs arrived from down stream and very quickly loaded gasoline, televison sets and other cardboard boxes, then immediately took off paddling fast downstream without any passengers - something looked not quite legal about their behaviour. Our transportation across the Zambezi was a 6 passenger aluminum speed boat complete with life jackets which we were told to put on. On the Zambia side we were greeted ... read more

This was the end of the first half of the tour - half of the group were leaving us and we were being joined by some new people. So for a final night out, we went on a boat cruise (nicknamed booze cruise - it had an all you can drink bar...) which was great fun. The following day some of us went to see Vic Falls - they were quite impressive, but as it was dry season, where wasn't much water. I think it gave us a better view though, because in wet season, there is so much water you can't see anything through the mist! In the afternoon some of our group were doing a bungee jump and canyon swing (not me, for obvious reasons!) so we went to watch. They were jumping from ... read more

Lion walk - the walking part Taking a lion for a walk is not that much different to walking a dog. Like dogs, lions enjoy taking time to roll around on the floor, sniff poo and be a bit boisterous. During our 5 nights in Livingstone we spent a morning doing a lion walk. This is pretty much what it says on the tin. Four lion cubs are being rehabilitated at a ranch and every day they are taken out for a walk through the bush with the guides. So armed with a stick ("show it to the lion if he gets too close") we ambled through the scrub with four excitable cubs. Now, when I say cubs I don't mean cute iddy biddy puppy sized lions. These cubs were 18 months old and pretty much ... read more

Monkey fight outside of our tents. ... read more

Leaving Zimbabwe behind, we re-enter Zambia and head to one of the world’s adventure capitals - Livingstone, and the Victoria Falls. Known by locals as ‘the smoke that thunders’, Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world, and so we’re spending 4 nights in the town. We head straight for the falls on the first morning, crossing over the bridge directly in front of the main stretch of falls. The ubiquitous mist drenches us despite the distance, and the roar is impressive. Two rainbows play amongst the mist. We take a helicopter to see the falls from another angle... the only place to see them in their entirety, both Zambian and Zimbabwean sides. As we fly oput towards Zimbabwe, our South African pilot quips ‘you can see the inflation rising from here’. Our next activity ... read more