Victoria Falls

From Madagascar, we flew to Johannesburg for a quick overnight layover and then flew to Victoria Falls. We got double entry visas for Zimbabwe and headed to the Victoria Falls Rest Camp where we had reserved a tent. It turned out Vic Falls was having a marathon the weekend we were there so accommodation was hard to come by. But we managed.

In addition to the incredible waterfall, Victoria Falls is known for its adrenaline activities. Since we had a week in the area, we had to try some. But the first day we visited the falls on the Zim side (as opposed to the Zam side- Zambia). With the high water levels we couldn’t see the full breadth of the falls, but we were still quite impressed- and soaked! We didn’t bring rain gear so we got drenched, but it was worth it. There are over 15 viewpoints on the Zim side and we spent nearly two hours seeing them all twice.

You can eat all sorts of game meat in the Vic Falls area so we had impala for our first dinner and croc wraps for lunch after visiting the falls.

After  the falls, we were picked up for our sunset river cruise. We sat with a nice couple from Zim/England who were running the marathon. We enjoyed the open bar (Zambezi beer- yum!) and snacks but the real highlight was seeing about eight hippos, including a frolicking baby, two elephants, crocs, and wild birds as the sun set over the Zambezi River.

The next day we went white water rafting. On the ride out we saw warthogs and elephants. After getting suited up, we had to walk down the steep canyn to the boats. Then we set out. It was incredible!  The best rafting I have ever done! We went through 13 rapids. I was in front so I drank a good amount of Zambezi water over the two plus hours. Our boat managed to stay right side up, but about half the boats flipped on the bigger rapids. The hike back up the canyon at the end was brutal, but the ice cold Zambezi beer and hearty lunch at the top made it worth it.

That night we moved to the Victoria Falls Backpackers for our last night. We waited for other guests to finish the half marathon and split a taxi to the border and walked across to Zambia. In Zambia, Livingstone is the town closest to the falls and is about 7 km away so we took another taxi to our hostel, Jollyboys Camp.

We visited the falls on the Zambian side the following day. More of the falls are on the Zim side, but we thought the views were better on the Zam side (doing both is the way to go). After doing the falls viewpoint walk, we hiked down to Boiling Pot dodging baboons along the way.

After the falls, we took a taxi into Livingstone and had lunch at the Cultural Cafe. They dressed us in sarongs for our meal and washed our hands at the table before and after we ate. Next door was the diverse and very informative Livingstone museum so we had a look. For dinner we went to Cafe Zambezi where I had croc skewers and Rich had croc ribs and we were both stuffed and impressed.

Canoeing was our last Vic Falls activity. We were picked up and driven through the game park to the put in spot. Then we paddled downstream skirting hippos and crocs for about two hours. That evening we had sunset drinks and pizza at the Waterfront Hotel.

We shuttled back to the border and walked back to Zim the next morning. A few hours later we were joined by my friend Mish and her friend Ali. Rich and I chilled while they did a sunset cruise and saw the falls. Then we were read to head to Botswana!