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May 27, 2002 - Zambia, the Zambezi and Zimbabwe
Zambia. A new country, a new language, another currency and a different overall feel. Most different from Malawi was the the sparse population and the wide expanses of dry savanna. Flying in over the eastern half of the country, we noticed miles and miles of nothing - no villages, no lakes, no mountains. Just vast fields of arid, scrubby trees. Zambia is also slightly more affluent than Malawi, apparent by Lusaka's more modern homes, abundance of cars (which were actually roadworthy), and the wider range of goods on the shelves, mostly imported from South Africa.
We spent a night in Lusaka before heading south to Livingstone, a town named after the famous missionary who first brought his teachings there many years ago. From there, we jumped on the back of a pick-up truck and headed into the sticks. Driving on sandy track through mopane tree bush, we arrived on the banks of the Zambezi River. We hopped (carefully!) into a mokoro, a (very tippy!) dug-out wooden canoe, and were poled out into the river by Godfrey. We arrived on Bovu Island just before sunset. Bovu Island was our retreat for a few days. We camped in a three-sided shelter just metres from the banks of the hippo and crocodile infested water, enjoyed outdoor showers amongst the mopane trees, swung in hammocks and ate delicious food prepared by chef Lulu. Between intense bouts of relaxation, we found time to brave a dip in the Zambezi, wander around the local village back on the mainland, and cruise around in the mokoros to see wildlife and the fabulous Zambezi sunsets. We gained a whole new appreciation for Godfrey's poling skills - fighting millions of gallons of water flowing adamantly to the other side of the continent, he poled us upriver for nearly three hours, taking only minutes to ride the currents back! Hoping for glimpses of hippos and crocs, we were about to give up when, sliding quietly between two small reed-surrounded islands, we heard an ENORMOUS crash just metres away. Apparently we had disturbed some poor hippo's peaceful daytime slumber! Hippos are very 'cute', but besides their formidable size, they can be quite dangerous to humans, especially if you get between them and the water where they feel most comfortable. One can then appreciate our apprehension when our guide pulled ashore and led us on a hippo hunt, following the relatively fresh tracks of said beast (probably the one we had just woken up!). Thankfully, we were rewarded with nothing more than a sighting of the 'bed' of a hippo from the night before - a gigantic patch of sand in which the shape of the hippo and an imprint of his wrinkly skin were clear! For quite a long way, the Zambezi River provides a convenient dividing line between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its most visited attraction is the magnificent Victoria Falls, our destination upon leaving Bovu Island. We were impressed by the falls; 1.7 km wide, very misty, home to many vivid rainbows and remarkably reminiscent of Niagara Falls. Hiking amongst some very entertaining baboons, we were able to climb right down to the "Boiling Pot", the first zig in the zig-zagging gorge of the Lower Zambezi. Earning its name well, this is the point at which the angry water pouring between 90 and 100 metres over the falls first collects and is also the site at which many brave people begin their whitewater rafting adventures. Later in the day, we watched people even more brave bungee jump nearly 100 metres into the gorge from the Zambezi Bridge. On the other side of the bridge, we entered Zimbabwe. Different again, Zimbabwe, especially this tourist town of Victoria Falls, was relatively modern and affluent. Unfortunately though, signs of this countries' hard times were immediately evident. People were desperate to sell us goods and services, including local currency. In fact, official bureaus de change were ignoring the official posted exchange rates and multiplying it by up to 6 to entice you to hand over your much sought after US dollars. The shops and restaurants around town were in various stages of keeping up with this outrageous black market which made shopping around for whatever you wanted essential as some incredible bargains were to be had. Keep your credit card in your wallet though! Victoria Falls is said to be the adventure capital of the world - you can do nearly anything involving adrenalin that you can think of! We thought we were being tame by choosing a horseback safari but we soon learned otherwise! Climbing atop our two lovely looking horses, we followed our guide into the Zambezi game reserve. We immediately stumbled upon two apparently unhappy large bull elephants. With their poor eyesight but keen smelling sense, they smelled our horses but didn't know what they were. Threatened, they trumpeted and charged, knocking down trees and scaring silly several poor unsuspecting warthog (not to mention us!). I think we were lucky to be on horses who had the sense and speed to just run for dear life, and we were lucky to stay on top of them too! After that definite adrenalin high, our guide decided it was time to hunt down some buffalo - along with the hippo, Africa's most threatening animal to humans. Great!!!??? Oliver and I secretly hoped we wouldn't find any but eventually our guide tracked them down and pulled us right up close, telling us that because we were on horses, the buffalo thought we, as a collective, were zebra. Had we been standing on the ground sans horse, we would be dead. Time for something more tame. We handed over the big bucks to fly in an 'ultralight' aircraft. An ultralight is a very small 'lawn mower' powered aircraft resembling a hang glider with a cockpit for two. We took turns flying with pilot 'Orbit' (who swore that was his given name) over Victoria Falls as the sun set. The views were spectacular and we deemed this the only way to properly see the falls in their entirety. I took the second flight and was lucky enough to see the sun setting on the horizon like a quickly dropping pink orb. Having planned a trip on an overland truck leaving later in the week than we had hoped, we had quite a bit of time to kill in Victoria Falls. We took in a display of very scary and poisonous snakes, spent some time bargaining in the craft markets, took a sunset river cruise and visited a crocodile sanctuary. Well, we were led to believe it was a sanctuary but it actually turned out to be a crocodile farm where our guide astutely pointed out the crocodiles which were best for shoes, purses, belts etc. Oh dear. But we got to hold a baby croc! We had also hoped to rent bicycles to tour around the area but unfortunately the horse riding had taken a greater toll on our backsides than we had hoped. So next we head to Botswana with a 6-day tour, then on to Namibia for the last leg of our journey. Only 5 weeks to go! Time is beginning to fly. > See photos from the whole Africa trip. > See photos from Zambia. > See photos from Zimbabwe. > See other Africa journal entries. Back to top |
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