Victoria Falls and a Train to Bulawayo

After staying one night at the lovely Lusaka Backpackers Hostel (and enjoying a good sleep without being jostled around on a train) along with our new and dear friends Ross and Margaret, we took a coach bus from Lusaka to Livingstone.  This was about an 8 hour journey and was so comfortable!  After some rickety trains, cramped buses and other such forms of transportation we felt spoiled on our Mazhandu Family Bus Services which had air conditioning, shades, and leg room. We were even served a soda plus some crackers along the way!

Dr. Livingstone, we presumed.

We arrived in Livingstone and took a short taxi ride (later realized we could have just walked) and got settled at the Jollyboys Hostel where for $8 we could pitch our tent on their back lawn (as Joe mentioned in the previous post).  We cooked up some dinner with Ross and Margaret, enjoyed many laughs as we reminisced about our 4 day train adventure together (I think Margaret had the best quote: "we got a whole extra night on the Tazara train, for free!") and chatted about plans for the next day to see the famous Victoria Falls!

Victoria Falls is advertised as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, and situated half in Zambia and half in Zimbabwe.  Livingstone is where we stayed  the first night and about a ten minute taxi ride from the falls on the Zambia side.  By the natives, Victoria Falls was called Mosi-oa-Tunya (Tokaleya Tonga: The Smoke That Thunders), a very descriptive and mysterious name that makes perfect sense when you finally see the falls, but it was re-christened by the famous Scottish missionary/explorer David Livingstone when he arrived in 1855.

Our own private view of the lower Zambezi for an hour.

This time of year is the end of the dry season in the lands of the north Zambezi, so the falls themselves (especially on the Zambia side) are actually kind of pathetic in terms of flow volume. This makes the thunder and smoke less impressive, but actually allows people to be able to walk a kilometer across the top of the falls over to Livingstone Island. Furthermore, there is a natural depression just on the edge of the falls on the Zimbabwe side of the island which has been called Devil's Pool, where you can actually swim around and sit on the very edge of the falls, although not without a guide (and 230 Kwacha each). 

Joe and I tried to sign up for this walk at the backpackers hostel, but sadly all the walks were booked.  Knowing that most everything in Africa is negotiable though, we decided to just show up at the place where the walk was starting on the next morning and see if perhaps we could talk our way into the excursion.  So, we said our goodbyes to Ross and Margaret the next morning (who, with a bit more time to kill had made plans to stay in Livingstone a few more days and see Chobe Park in Botswana) and found a 'shared' taxi (these just wait around Livingstone until full and then head to the falls. A good deal for seven Kwacha, but you could end up waiting a long time if no one else happens to be heading that way) to the park entrance. I must give credit here to Mom Schweichler for always teaching her kids to be persistent and try, even when initially told something is all full. It brings back many memories of flying standby as a family of 5 and desperately trying to get seats. Always wait until the door is closed before leaving the gate!  Anyway, it turned out that they had one available spot on the tour and the guide offered to call his manager to see if he would approve an extra person on the tour.  Apparently he said YES and we were both able to go. Yeah!

The best infinity pool ever, but probably named appropriately.

The walk was so cool!  We journeyed across the edge of the falls only crossing a couple places where water was pouring down over the edge (I stayed as far from the very edge as I could, as it's about 80 m down!) and crossed Livingstone island to a place where the Zambezi river was flowing quite slowly and then swam across.  We were then led into this small pool which is five meters deep in the middle, but right on the very edge of the falls (only in Africa, right)! The water was super refreshing but also a bit frightening at the same time, and as usual I was glad to have Joe as calm as ever to enjoy this swim with (and cling to!).

After our dip in the Devil's Pool, we ventured back across the falls and at this point realized our guide was up to something a bit sneaky and did not actually call his manager about us coming on the tour but instead snuck us in so he could pocket our money.  Basically, as we were heading back across Livingstone Island, he quickly ushered just the two of us towards the "Loo with a View" (bathroom) as his manager was passing by.  Joe and I were a bit confused as to what was going on.  He then privately told us to take a small detour back around some big trees and then wait for the rest of the group about a quarter mile down the falls near a big clump of trees out of view of his manager.  Woops! We didn't know we were headed on this tour under the radar, but just acted ignorant (which we were) and were simply glad to have the chance to join in.

After the lovely tour finished, we climbed down to the "Boiling Pot" which is an area with a lovely view of the Zambezi river, and enjoyed a nice relaxing rest in the shade watching bungee jumpers throw themselves off the bridge.

Back at the Jollyboys Hostel we gathered our things and took a taxi to the border and into Zimbabwe!  We walked across the Victoria Falls bridge on the way from the Zambia Immigration office to the Zimbabwe one and got to see where the crazy bungee jumpers leap off the bridge. There was an older fellow there agonizing about weather to jump or not as we passed by (not sure if he ever did, but he didn't look very excited about the whole thing)!

Carol hanging out in our Victoria Falls Backpackers hut

On the Zimbabwe side of the falls, we stayed in a grass roofed hut at another lovely hostel called the Victoria Falls Backpackers.  We enjoyed some dinner + dessert, hammock swings, a dip in the pool, and a game of chess on the giant outdoor chess board where Carol had the former manager of the entire southern African railroad system (a wonderful guy named Phil, who shared some fun stories about the glory days of the African railroads) on her side for part of the game. This was definitely a very relaxing place to spend a couple days.

The next day, we saw the falls from the Zimbabwe side (which was very cool and well worth seeing!)  The Zimbabwe side is where the highest volume of the falls flows, and had a massive amount of water even during the dry season.  As we ventured across the Zimbabwe side, we got to the farthest point we could go and enjoyed the view across (about 200m or so) to the Zambia side.  We were just turning around to head back, when we heard someone yelling loudly.  It was our friends!!! Ross and Margaret, way across on the Zambia side of the falls waving at us!  It was such incredible timing that we both happened to be looking out over the chasm from opposite ends at exactly same time and that they were able to spot us from the distance to wave hello!

Carol, wondering why she is on yet another African train.

While we were out we also purchased our tickets for an overnight train from Victoria Falls to Bulaweyo, Zimbabwe.  You might be thinking at this point: you got BACK on a train after just getting of a 4 day train trip??? YES, we did.  I'm not exactly sure what we were thinking, since someone told us the train ride could take up to 19hrs and the bus ride is only 5 hours and comfortable, but alas... we did.  So, that evening we loaded back onto an African train and shared our 2nd class compartment with a Dutch gal named Mary and 21 hours later, arrived in Bulaweyo =).  The train may have been long, hot, cramped and dirty, BUT we got to see warthog, wildebeest, and some gazelles along the way!  And, we were happy to journey slowly and enjoy the scenery.  I was realizing that at home I always seem to try and get from A to B the fastest possible way, but it's nice being on this trip and having the time and freedom to actually choose to take the slow route to really soak up the scenery!

Needless to say, we were very happy when we arrived finally in Bulawayo and overjoyed to see Autumn's good friend (from her Regent days) Renee, at the station to pick us up and take us to her lovely home.  More about being here in Bulawayo to come!

As always, thanks so much for reading and following along and for all the prayers for us.  They are so felt!  Goodbye for now!

In His Peace,

carol and joe