Day 7
The action packed day continued and we hit the road after a game drive and breakfast in Chobe National Park. We quickly reached the Zimbabwe border. Will and I got in line to obtain a combined visa for both Zimbabwe and Zambia. The joint visa would save us money and possibly time at the next border. The boarder officers informed us that the computer for processing the joint visas was down so they could only process the Zimbabwe – oh well. We left our passports and money then waited. About 10 minutes later, the officers told our tour guides they had the computer back up and running. We gave them the additional $20 USD fee and the joint visa was issued about 15 minutes later. Hello Africa!
About an hour later, we arrived to the town of Victoria Falls. Both Jojo and Nash (our tour guides) are from the area so they had lots of great information on what to see and where to shop. After the quick drive through the town to get our bearings, we were sat down for a briefing on optional activities including whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, and helicopter tours. Both Will and I agreed that nothing seemed worth the cost. As everyone arranged their tours, we wondered if the 1:30 flight into Vic Falls was on time and how long the immigration lines were – three of our family members would soon be joining our journey!
Next, we drove down the road to Vic Falls park. Jojo warned us that we would get wet then said to meet back in about 3 hours. We worked our way down the trail which parallels the falls with 15 lookout spots. We started on the west end working our way towards the Victoria Falls Bridge which crosses over the Zambezi River just below the falls. With the afternoon sun behind us and the mist lifting from the crashing waters, we saw rainbows the entire length of the walk. The views were stunning especially at the few lookouts without engulfing mist creating mini rainstorms. The walk ended at a view of the bridge where we watched an Aussie from our safari group bungee towards the river below. Will was immediately jealous of her adrenaline rush.
Will and I walked straight back to the entrance and stopped at the information signs about Victoria Falls. The local name is Mosi-o-Tunya or the Smoke that Thunders. The falls are one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Considering a combination of height, width and water flow, it’s the largest waterfall in the world. The water essentially falls into a crater created on a fault line. We learned that the falls are slowly moving upstream. In ten thousand years it is predicted the falls will progress upstream to the next fault line. Previous locations of the falls can be seen from areal views.
The safari group reunited and we all headed to the Rainbow Hotel. Will and I were extra anxous to find our family. We arrived and went in the lobby to check-in for a two night stay (the tour actually included this must needed break from camping in tents). We asked the front desk if my mom, Sam, or my cousins, Erin and Carolyn, had checked-in. After some language barrier confusion, we learned that Carolyn’s flight was delayed until the following day but Sam and Erin had arrived and were currently touring the falls. We must have just missed them! While waiting for them to return we headed to our room to get cleaned-up.
When we received a knock at the door, we knew they found us! It was so wonderful to see my mom and cousin. It seemed like we had so much to catch-up on and so many plans to make – it felt a bit hectic. They joined our safari group for a buffet dinner at the hotel where impala and croc were the main dishes. That night, I stayed up late working on the hotel’s free wifi updating our website and posting on social media.
Day 8
Many countries in Africa have rolling blackouts to ease electricity use and this day was Vic Falls’ turn to be dark. At 6 am, Will and I were woken to a loud hum of generators keeping the hotel powered for the day. Luckily, Erin and Sam’s room were far enough away that they could recover from traveling over 36 hours to reach us. We had breakfast with the safari group and said goodbyes. None of the travelers from our first group would be continuing with us – although we would continue to travel with the same truck, Jimi, and same guides, Jojo and Nash. But first, we all had a free day in Vic Falls.
Because Carolyn was not expected until the afternoon, the four of us headed to the local markets. On the walk there, we were approached by several guys walking down the road trying to sell goods they were carrying in their hands. They were extremely persistent and pushy. At one point, there were about 10 guys surrounding Sam and pressuring her to buy items she didn’t want. We tried to explain that they needed to stop harassing her and we led her away from the situation. We increased our pace to a market recommended by Jojo which has restrictions on vendors selling to other shop’s customers (ensuring your only talking to one vendor at a time). We all ended up with great deals on souvenirs – Will and I even bartered a shirt for a wooden baboon.
We got back to the hotel just in time to see Carolyn checking-in. She got situated then we all boarded a free shuttle to the falls. Carolyn planned to walk the park while the rest of us headed towards the bridge. For the previous 24 hours, Will could not shake the feeling of wanting to jump off the Vic Falls Bridge. I think he was most excited about capturing the moment in an awesome video.
As he signed up, I peered over the edge and the 100 meter drop made me instantly worried. I started having thoughts about the possibility of something going wrong and came to the realization that I would be destroyed without him. I have never been so nervous in my life. But I didn’t want him to know how I was feeling so I tried to hide it. As he walked to the edge, I was distracted by taking video which helped. His 3.1 second free fall looked exhilarating but I was just glad once it was over. I ran over to meet him on the side of the bridge where I let him know about my emotional roller coaster. We concluded that I was more nervous than he was!
That night, the five of us had dinner in town while we anticipated the coming weeks on our safari adventure. Our family will stay with us for three weeks when we all finish our Africa adventure in Nairobi, Kenya. First up, we’ll meet travelers making up our new safari group and we travel to South Luangwa.
