I’ve been to Victoria Falls before, about 3 and a half years ago, in a yet-to-be-written post. At that time it was November, and the river flow into the falls was fairly low. Now it’s June, the rainy season has recently ended and there is so much water in the falls that you can see the misty spray from quite some distance away.
The border crossing from Botswana into Zimbabwe was relatively straightforward (and the process has certainly improved in the last 3 years, the visa was handwritten last time, this time it’s a little sticker with a QR code). We arrived at the hotel in Victoria Falls at lunchtime. I had a light lunch as myself and 2 others were going for High Tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel in the afternoon. Absolutely delicious and with the spray rising from the falls as the backdrop – idyllic!
Dinner that evening (my 4th meal of the day!) was local Zimbabwean food cooked by a ladies cooperative. There must have been at least 15 things to try so I only took a little bit of each, apart from the worms!!
Later that evening we enjoyed a local dance show, Simunye theatre, which told a story of community and belonging in Africa. I loved the dancing and the puppetry.
The next morning I went to view the falls properly. Quite a steep entrance fee to the park, $58 USD, thankfully the card machine was working! (Not always the case in southern and Eastern Africa as it turns out…)
There is a walking route with various lookout points along the side of the falls. There really was so much more water here than last time. If I’m honest I was a bit underwhelmed last time but this time definitely made up for it. I was also extremely glad to have brought a plastic poncho with me as, at various points, the spray was so vociferous it was like having several buckets of water tipped over you!!
After getting soaked and drying off, we looked for somewhere for lunch and happened upon a lovely riverside restaurant (Baines restaurant) where we had a nice salad and refreshing mocktail.
After lunch I headed back to the hotel as I was transferring over to the Zambian side of the falls that afternoon, to Livingstone.
This marked the end of the first leg of this trip, all the way from Cape Town. A driving distance of approximately 3,500 miles in 20 days. Whilst a couple of people from the tour were continuing on with me, most people were leaving the trip here.
We crossed over to Livingstone, Zambia in the late afternoon and arrived at our riverfront hotel, where again I could see the mist and spray of the falls in the distance. The next leg of the trip didn’t officially start until the next morning so I spent the evening with a couple of glasses of vino at the riverfront bar.
An early start to meet the new crew in the morning – pre 7am. After some formalities we hit the road towards Lusaka. As we drove east, the scenery changed from bush, to small colourful villages, and eventually some hills. It feels like a long time since I’ve seen hills as what I saw in both Botswana and Namibia was largely flat open desert and savannah.
After a long, bumpy driving day, we arrived at our overnight accommodation just south of Lusaka.
Another early start the next day to beat the traffic as we drove through Lusaka (actually not busy early on a Saturday morning) and continued east along the Great East Road.
The scenery became more dramatic as we entered the Great Rift Valley, and our bumpy ride was increasingly accompanied by lots of fires in the bush and on the hillside as the locals make charcoal. That, along with the dusty roads, started to irritate my throat.
After another long driving day, we overnighted in Petuake as we were continuing east to the main sight in Zambia on this itinerary, South Luangwa National Park.
We eventually arrived at the park after a 3rd long driving day, though we did arrive in time for a spectacular sunset over the Luangwa River. This was the first place on this leg where we were staying for 2 nights, in some actually very solid safari tents with en suite bathrooms, flushing toilets and a lukewarm shower.
The following morning I chose to do a walking safari, which were pioneered in Zambia. We were accompanied by a guide and a young gentleman armed with a gun in case we encountered any animals which may have harmed us. Thankfully the gun was not required! We learned about the trees and plants and termites. And we saw a lot more animals than I was expecting, including wild (painted) dogs which are a very rare sighting. The guide even said that in his 15 years of walking safaris, he’s never seen wild dogs during the safari!
We were back at the camp for lunch and had a bit of time to relax in the afternoon before we had a sunset safari drive back in the park.
A lot of the ‘usual’ animals on our evening drive. We were just about to stop for a sundowner when the driver spotted a few jeeps parked up obviously looking at something. We headed off to see what was happening, and when we got to the other jeeps there was a leopard peeking out from under the front wheel of one of the other jeeps. She was eyeing up a lone impala. We must have watched for a good 20 minutes as the leopard patiently watched the impala, slowly moving into a ditch to remain hidden. I think the impala could sense the danger as it did eventually move out to more open land. The leopard then settled into the ditch to regroup, and we left to have our belated sundowner drinks in the dark.
The night sky, however, was a bonus. Venus, Jupiter and Mercury all visible in a relatively straight line, and as the sky got darker, many more stars appeared. Living in a city suburb with a street light right outside my front door, I don’t often get the opportunity to see the night sky like I have done throughout this African adventure. It really is spectacular to see. And despite having my DSLR camera with me, I’ve yet to capture a good view of the night sky here on camera.
The following day was another pre dawn start as we headed towards Malawi.
I really enjoyed South Luangwa, but you have to be prepared for some long journeys to get there. The roads in Zambia are not the best, lots of potholes which slowed us down considerably (though Malawian roads would prove to be even more challenging!!), but it was interesting to watch the scenery change and to see the colourful villages as we headed through the country.
catsgreatadventure 