Day 8 - 9 Victoria Falls, a glimpse of Zimbabwe

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Photo Album: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

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As soon as I was taken back to the camping lodge where I parked my car, I quickly repacked for crossing the border into Zimbabwe, headed into Victoria Falls.

The camping ground receptions organised a taxi, to take me to the border post, about 5 Km away.

The border post was quite orderly on the Botswanian side, just an exit stamp on the passport, it was not complicated.  But it was a totally different scenery on the Zimbabwean side.

All I saw was a long queue into a small building, as I needed to obtain a visa prior to entry, so I presume that's what the queue was for, as most of them appear to be foreign tourists.

Indeed it was, as I have no intention of going to the Zambian side of the waterfalls, all I needed was a single entry visa, and paid the fee of US $30.  But that was after 30 minutes of waiting for all the procedures to complete. Fortunately, I did not bring my car, otherwise much more time will be spent to do the paperwork for it.

Most rental car companies do not allow their car to cross into Zimbabwe, even if they do, it can only be from here to Victoria Falls, no other border posts or Zimbabwe are allowed. I don't know if it is because of the road conditions or something more frightening.  But my host, Garth assured me that the taxi to Victoria Falls, some 75 Km away, is safe.


Without Garth's repeated assurance, I would have taken a much more expensive option, the $130 bus transfer by various touring companies.  Aside from costs, these buses only operates when there are more than 4 passengers, and there are no regular timetables.  I thought that's a little bit of a hit and miss given that I did not plan to stay too long in Zimbabwe, the return trip may be less reliable.

Out of the border post, a guy approached me if I needed a taxi, seeing that it was the only person approaching me, I followed him, brave me!  The "taxi" really was an unmarked small car, three other passengers were already seated, presumably Zimbabweans.  He assured me that, I am the last passenger to fill, and he would leave immediately.

He asked for US$30, which is way over what Garth's suggestion of $10 -15. We settled on $20, seeing that he's ready to go.

By the way, Zimbabwe, like Ecuador, despite being a very anti-US country, they rely on the US Dollar to run their shaky economy, and had recently abandoned its own currency.  More about that later.

As soon as we were out of the gate, he stopped his car, and let in one more passenger, squeezing into the front seat. What !

A few kilometers down the road, we came to a police check point on the highway, the last passenger left the car after some discussions with the police.....then, the car made a U-turn, and headed back....what-the-%&$##!!

What is more surprising was, a short distance back, before I even had the time to question him what's going on, someone waiting in front of some bushes on the roadside, jumped into the rear.  Upon my protest, as the rear seat would have 4 passengers, he was directed by the driver to move to the front and share the front seat.

The driver told me later that, the last man was a friend of the police, and he was asked by the police to take him into Victoria Falls.

What's there for me to do?!

The road into Victoria Falls is about 70 Km, and it appears to be in excellent condition, as it is a major foreign money earner for the country. 

Anyhow, when we reached the agreed meeting point with Garth, the driver was happy to call Garth to come.  My Botswanian SIM card would not work here.

Garth appeared in less than 5 minutes, and took me to his house nearby.  He was a young and friendly white Zimbabwean, who managed a local tourism attraction, the Bungee Jump on the Victoria Falls Bridge, straddling Zimbabwe and Zambia.

After settling in, and getting a few messages to the outside World of my whereabouts etc., Garth gave me the direction to town, a 1 Km or so walk along the only major road there.  He suggested that I should talk to his employer company about a helicopter flight over the Waterfalls etc.

So I decided to walk into town, Garth assured me that it is very safe in Victoria Falls, the worst I would encounter are hawkers trying to sell things.

So I took the walk...passing Chogm Park, with many iron sculptures on display.  I presume this is to remember the CHOGM (stands for Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting) meeting that was held here in 1991. 

The town center is quite small, mainly occupied by tourism related operators and agencies, and there are indeed many hawkers trying to convince me to buy, amongst other things, large stone sculptures.  

And plenty of them soliciting tours etc. which can be a little annoying sometime. However, at Garth's employer, I signed up for a package deal which included a helicopter flight over the star attractions, Victoria Falls, a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River ( bordering with Zambia, then a Walk With Lions.

At the helipad, funny enough, we have to pay an additional "departure tax" to the government. Flights were departing every 5 minutes or so.
 After the checkin desk sorted out confusions as to which group was which group, I finally boarded with a front seat.  Lucky me.


So here we were, flying over the majestic and awesome Victoria Falls and Zambezi River....

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Zambezi River - Zambia is on the right side.  The long island in the middle is Zimbabwe as well.

Immediately after the helicopter, I was whiskered off to joint the sunset cruise on the Zambezi river.

The welcoming party for the sunset cruise

On a fair sized river boat that can hold a couple of hundred of people, we spent just over 2 hours discovering wild lives along the river atop the hurtling Victoria Falls.

But it was nowhere near as exciting as that of the Chobe River as far as wild lives were concerned.  But the sunset was remarkably glorious.

My original plan was to drive through Zimbabwe from South Africa to Victoria Falls, and see the eastern and central parts of the country.  However, after hearing some reviews about the polices trying to wriggle fines from motorists, by picking on every little things at each checkpoints along the highways, I gave that idea away.  I had enough of that when in Argentina 18 months earlier.

I talked to other tourists who were here with their own car, and had driven through parts of Zimbabwe, they indicated that indeed there were problems with polices, however, there seemed to have a decree from the relevant ministries that tourists do not have to pay any "fine" to the police at the check points if they are over US$20, but at a police station in towns.  I am not sure how this is going to help.  Police check points along highways are 10 -20 Km apart, which is very annoying and time consuming.

Here is a kid having fun with his father's drum at the restaurant.  The food was quite expensive for what it was.

At Garth's place that night, I asked him to show me the way to the Boiling Pot, which is a little known place to tourists, and is quite dangerous to get to, as we shall see later....but with a very unique view of the waterfalls, where all the waters along the breadth of the waterfalls exit.

Early in the morning, I walked to the the Victoria Falls National Park, the waterfalls itself, just on 7 a.m.  I needed to be early as a driver would be picking me up from the falls at 10 for the WalkingWith Lions activity.

And there they were, my welcoming party, a group of very friendly Zimbabwean students on their excursion from somewhere in central Zimbabwe. Probably their first ever trip away from home, somewhere in central Zimbabwe.

I started from the western end of the waterfalls, where it is called the Cataract, where there is a V shaped depression for the water to tumble down, whilst the rest of the fall is more like a overflowing mass of water curtain.

The Cataract

Here are other views at the Cataract end looking into the deep chasm of the water curtain.

And the water curtain along the mid section of the waterfalls.  A raincoat would be good here.

This is the view at the western end on the Zimbabwe side, just above the Boiling Pot where I would be going later in the day.

All the water from the entire length of the waterfalls exit here at the bottom - The Boiling Pot

And the students were there too.

After Iguazu Waterfalls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, Victoria Falls is the second largest in the World by breath.  To experience it close up was just awesome, it is a place worth revisiting. On the Zambian side, there is the famous Devils Pool where one can swim and perch onto the rim of the falls.  That's for the next trip.

The pickup car for Lion Encounter came on time, after half an hour down the highway, we entered the conservation grounds.

It is a site set up to conserve the lion populations, where young lions are either bred, or orphans from the wild, are nurtured and trained to hunt. When they are 2 - 3 years old, just before they develop their own independence, they are then released into the wild.

A few of us were led to play with a couple of 2 year old females, along with a number of guides, two carrying a shot gun.

They were looking a bit dozy because it was late morning when their body clock is about to wind down for siesta.

We were all given a stick, which acts as a tool to show them whose boss, by simply pointing at them when they show sign of disobedience.

We were instructed what to do and what not to do when playing with the lions, all under strict supervisions.

Well, that was probably my first and last close encounter with a lion.

After returning to town, and a quick lunch, the Boiling Pot was my next item on the list.

As I was walking back towards the waterfalls, I was convinced by a kid trying to flog a set of the original Zimbabean currency, when inflation got so high, that they were in billions and millions denominations.  Wonder how much bread can they buy......

Well, I feel like a billionaire for once....what about 20 Billion, and a 50 Billion note, for a bag of flour?

With billions in my pocket, I was blissfully walking to find the path to the Boiling Pot.  After making a few mistakes, I finally located the rusty iron ladder that led down into the narrow gorge of the Zambezi river.

As I was still debating whether to climb down or not, a man cam running along, seems to be in his daily training run, and confirmed to me that the stairs are safe, and yes, this is the way to the Boiling Pot.

Then he quickly disappeared down the ladder.

After about 10 -15 minutes of climb / walking down the various stages of the path, I was walking along some slippery rocky ledges towards the waterfalls, with the border bridge right above me.

The other side is Zambia, and the bungee jump platform where Garth is managing, is right in the middle.

On the Zambian side of the rushing waters, I can see tourists are climbing down too along a gully. But this side it is just walking along narrow ledges.

As I approached a particularly narrow and slippery section with dripping water from above, the man in training appeared from the opposite direction.  He was already on his return trip !

He told me how to negotiate this part, where to step and grip with my fingers etc....Wow, I made it over, but the return trip would be another thing !  I certainly did not want to wet my pocketful of crisp 20 Billion notes @!!

It certainly felt like a very long path by the time I got to here, what I believe is the end of the walk, and here we are....the waterfalls

The end certainly justified the trip, with an amazing and awesome view of the waterfalls and the rushing water trying to empty out from the narrow gorge in front of the waterfalls.

I think this part would be underwater or too dangerous to reach during the rainy season.

After savoring the view for a little while, it was time to negotiate that narrow, slippery and rocky paths back.

With my heart racing and nearly popped out a couple of times, and a sweating hand, I made it back to the ladder leading up.  Whoosh, phew...

After collecting my bags from Garth's place, we bade farewell and I walked to a spot where people would be waiting for taxis going to the border.

There was no one around, save two cars were waiting in the shade with their drivers chatting.  The World is small, so some say, indeed it was. One of them was the same driver who took me in yesterday.

I took him to task about what he charged yesterday and the crowded car.  He was nonetheless smiling the whole time, and promised to redress the situation today.  Whatever that may be!

And he did.

He called on the phone, and arranged for another taxi which arrived a few minutes later, with only two other passengers, and only for a fee of $10....how's that.

In fact, all the people I have met so far since Johannesburg have been friendly and helpful, non-aggressive even in an adversarial situation.

And the hygiene and service standards were well above my expectations, despite some flaws.

At least this part of Zimbabwe, gave me a good impression.


And I nearly forgot about all the chimps running around in the middle of town...

Next Post : Long Drive to Maun ( Okavango Delta )