Welcome To Victoria Falls!

---

I made it here and the place is gorgeous. I don’t want to say that getting here had its challenges, but there were a few things…

I was up at 3AM to be ready for the taxi at 4AM. He arrived on time and whisked me to the airport in no time at all. I went through a series of 3 security checkpoints, which is a normal thing at the Dar airport. I don’t know why, but they do it that way.

I got on the flight and immediately fell asleep, missing breakfast and three quarters of the flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. When I arrived, I had to make a mad dash though the airport to make my connecting flight. I had to go through another Customs area and then race to the gate. I made with 10 minutes to spare. I boarded the plane, took my seat and soon met the couple who would be joining me for the 90 minute flight to Victoria Falls.

Everything seemed fine until he started to explain to her the intricacies of Star Wars… the whole series. He explained with Yoda had to leave the Starship Troopers because he was starting to feel emotions and that wasn’t allowed within the Stormship Troopers.. or something like that… 90 minutes was going to feel like an 8 hour flight. The weird part was that she was interested in what he was saying.

I fell asleep again and woke up as we started our descent into Victoria Falls. The airport here is a tiny little buidling, The control tower doesn’t loom over the runway. There is only one runway and a whole lot of grassland surrounding it. We walked into the terminal to check through Zimbabwe Customs and that is where I learned a lesson in patience.

When I booked my ticket, the travel agent told me that there would NOT be a fee for a visitor’s visa. I thought this was weird, but she assured me that was the case, since I came from Tanzania. I took her word for it…. I shouldn’t have.

After standing in a slow moving line for an hour, I got to the front and they wanted $75.00 USD from me. I had only Tanzanian Shillings and British Pounds. I ran out of American money a long time ago. Anyway, after explaining my situation to them, they took me out to the area where people are waiting for us, and he introducesdme to a taxi driver who didn't know me from Adam. The taxi guy, who I found out later is named Wellington, lended me the money so I can get through Customs. I went back in and pay the money. When I was cleared, I went back outside where Wellington was patiently waiting for me. He then drove into Victoria Falls, stopped at a bank, I withdrew money and paid him back. Wellingtontold me that this happens all the time. There are no ATMs in the Victoria Falls airport and the Currency Exchange booth was closed at the peak of the day.

Also, Zimbabwe took on the American dollar as their currency 4 years ago, so Zimbabwe dollars no longer are accepted here. Glad I didn't do the exchange in Dar... Remind me to fire my Tanzanian travel agent.

I got to the hotel and checked-in. The place is very nice. Pools, restaurants, bars, etc. I am sure I can be very comfortable here for 4 nights. It is a resort and there are lots of tourists, but not so many that you feel crowded.

My room is comfortable and the best part is there are crisp white sheets on my bed and hot water in the shower… and the water pressure is great. “Goodbye Tanzania dirt and grime”.

By the way, the porter who took me to my room told me to keep the sliding doors to my balcony closed. He said the baboons would come in and rip the room apart... More about them in the next entry.

---

Photos

The Control Tower
It's so little, it's kind of cute.