Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe


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Africa » Zimbabwe » Victoria Falls
July 17th 2011
Published: August 5th 2011
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We had to wait in a line that didn’t move for ages at the Zimbabwe immigration and eventually got out of there after an hour and a bit and paying $30 per person for the visa. We drove to Victoria Falls (that’s the name of the town next to the falls on the Zimbabwe side) and had lunch at our hotel, Adventure Lodge. The adventure team then showed us a video and explained all the activities that are possible, including white water rafting, bungi jumping, riding elephants and walking with lions. Unfortunately for us, all of these were prohibitively expensive. That afternoon Patrick drove us all to the Victoria falls park entrance and we all said goodbye as he had been told to drive the truck back to Swakopmund by Monday (it was Saturday) in Namibia.
The actual falls are amazing!! So much water across a large area! As we walked further along the 2kms of trails to different view points we got wetter and wetter as more and more spray came across from the falls. It was beautiful though, lots of rainbows as well. We all spent a few hours there before heading back and meeting Hannas with a minibus from the lodge to take us back. That night we all went out for an expensive but worth it meal at The Boma. It is totally a tourist spot, but it was great. We entered the front garden and there were drummers welcoming us and people wrapping us in cloth to try and look ‘african’. Once inside we had a seat at a long table, then a waitress told us how it all worked, it was a buffet style, with salads and starters (all cold) as well as soup on one side. In the middle of the floor was a giant spit with a lamb on it, and behind against the back wall was a team of cooks using braais to cook ostrich, kudu, warthog, steak, chicken and lots of other things. Then there was a huge selection of yummy looking desserts. There was also a challenge… anyone who ate a Mopani worm (delicacy here, they are worms that live in the Mopani tree) got a certificate, we did it, they were cooked in spices, and actually really yummy.
After we had stuffed ourselves silly, there was a drumming band with a host, and they gave everyone in the restaurant (it was a big place) a small drum to play on and we had to copy his rhythms, really fun! After almost everyone else had left, we were paying our individual bills and the boys at my end of the table just started drumming together and it didn’t work to well but they had fun 
On the way back to the lodge most others got out at a backpackers with a bar for more drinks, but I didn’t feel great and we were tired so we just went back to the lodge to crash. Next morning breakfast was included though they didn’t have most of the items on the menu in stock which was annoying. We went for a walk into town and bought some flag badges for my bag (hadn’t been able to find a botswanan one in Botswana) and some Zimbabwean dollars, so now we are trillionairs too! We got back to the lodge and checked out, then said goodbye to everyone and agreed to meet a bunch of them in no-mans land between the Zimbabwe and Zambia borders where you can bungi off the bridge. We went through Zimbabwean immigration and waited 20 mins at the bungi site for our mates to turn up. They were all so nervous but the 5 of them that had paid for the jump all did it and it looked awesome!! I think watching it made me want to do it more and Dario less. We said our goodbyes and walked towards Zambia. Once there we got our $50 visas and took a taxi to Livingstone. The first backpackers we went to was Jollyoys but it was full so Dario wandered to the other one, Livinstone backpackers and got us some beds and then we took our bags there. We wanted to find out about hiring a car. So we went to the only place in town we were told about but the 4x4 they had was $150 a day plus petrol. But the gentleman there was very helpful and gave us lots of tips about what to see and how to get there without a car. We wandered up through town and got some money from an ATM, went shopping and decided to have dinner at a place called Olga´s. It was setup froman inheritance from a woman named Olga and it educates the orphans and underprivelaged of Livingstone in a trade. The restaurant is run by the previous students and the food is excellent!! We had a woodfired pizza (Dario) and amazing homemade pumpkin ravioli in a butter and sage sauce.
We used the wifi at the hostel before turning in. We had a 4 bed dorm and shared it with 2 americans who came in late and were very noisy.



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