Our final morning in the lower Zambezi valley dawned bright and clear with little wind. A perfect day for a two-hour flight in a small airplane. After breakfast there was plenty of time to organize things and pack before leaving camp in the Land Rover to go to the nearest airstrip. We were supposed to be picked up there at 10:30, so we planned to leave the camp at about 10:00.

We said our goodbyes to Annerita, as Niel would be driving us to the airstrip. We had really grown to like this couple.

In case you're wondering about the spelling of their names, here's the story. As we were writing this series of chapters about the Zambezi River, there were so many people whose names we didn't remember, or of which we weren't sure of the spelling, that I sent an email to Tinus in Zambia asking for help. He sent back a few days ago a very nice reply correcting my spelling and helping us with the names of some of the staff members of the different camps.

He also told us that the river was now down to its normal level allowing them to clean up and use Kulefu, the camp that had been flooded during our stay in the area. They found it undamaged and only had some cleaning to do. Interestingly, during the recent (June, 2001) total solar eclipse that passed through that part of Africa, Tinus told us that people flocked to the Zambezi valley to view it and that all their camps were fully booked! Anyway, I will go back through the earlier installments and name the various people correctly!

We bounced along on the tire tracks for less than 30 minutes before arriving at the Royal Airstrip. The plane had not yet arrived, so we unloaded the vehicle of all of our baggage (yes, including my Masai spear, still wrapped up in the cardboard and duct tape we had put around it in Camp Michelle back in the Serengeti a long time ago) and proceeded to the departure lounge. The picture below shows Carol there, waiting for the plane.

The tree provides air conditioning (shade) in the departure area.

After using the departure lounge rest rooms (a nearby bush), we wandered out by the main runway (the only runway) to watch for the plane. This is what the runway looked like.

Not much traffic in the pattern this morning.

There were baboons in the trees on the other side of the runway, screeching and making a racket. Les made a noise that was a cross between a scream and a roar, just to see what effect it would have on them. They quieted immediately, apparently listening. He made the noise again, and it was answered, probably by a male who felt this was a challenge. One of the baboons climbed a tree to get a look at what was making the noise. Whatever Les said (in baboon language) must not have been an invitation, because none of them chose to come across the open runway to investigate. They soon lost interest.

After about a forty-minute wait (we were on "Africa time") the airplane appeared. It was a six-place Cessna, single engine high-wing model with an extra luggage carrier underneath the passenger compartment. As the plane whizzed past us on landing rollout, we noticed that the pilot had awfully long hair. My stereotype was shattered when the plane taxied over to us and stopped - the pilot was a young woman! This was a charter that had been arranged in advance by Journeys International and their Zambian operator with a charter flying service in Lusaka.

She hopped out of the plane and was all business. Introductions were made all around, then some bags were unloaded that were to be delivered to one of the other camps nearby. Niel offered to drop them off, evidence of the local custom along the river of "everybody helps everybody else," so we loaded them into the back of his Land Rover. Then we all helped put our baggage into the plane as directed by the pilot, thanked Niel for his hospitality, and climbed aboard. Les sat in the right front seat beside the pilot, Carol and I took the two middle seats, while Linda shared the two small rear seats with a pile of luggage.

After a careful preflight inspection, the pilot climbed aboard also, made sure we were all properly strapped in, started the engine and taxied out. We wondered about the load limit, but evidently we were OK as the pilot impressed us all as being very competent and professional. Les and Linda are both licensed pilots, and own a Cessna 172, so they had a good basis for making that judgement.

We lifted off with plenty of runway to spare and turned West, leveling out at 8,500 feet and about 125 indicated airspeed. The weather was very clear with a few puffy fair-weather clouds around. At that altitude everything was smooth, and we had an excellent view of the countryside. Our route followed along or close to the Zambezi River for most of the two hours, and from time to time we could actually see groups of hippos below in the muddy water.

Our destination airport was actually Livingstone, Zambia, which was located on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. We were then to transfer by vehicle across the border - there was a bridge across the gorge just downstream of the Falls - and spent the next two nights in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. About a half-hour into the flight we asked the pilot if she would be able to circle the Falls for us before landing. She told us she would ask for permission over the radio once we got there, but that normally that had to be arranged in advance. We were really hoping she would get permission and be able to give us some good aerial views (and possibly photographs). One of the activities we had considered was taking an ultralight flight over the Falls to get some good photos, but they were a bit pricey and you never really knew about quality control in Africa. We were a little leery of trusting our lives to some local ultralight operator not subject to FAA regulations. We envisioned ourselves going down into the river above the Falls and experiencing them from much closer range than we wanted to!

We started our descent about 60 miles away from Livingstone. The clouds here had increased in sky coverage and in vertical development, and the air was bumpy as we descended through them into the thermals below. At roughly 40 miles from the airport, the pilot pointed out the plume of spray from the falls, looking like a distant grass fire producing white smoke. When Dr. Livingstone first saw these falls in 1855 he recorded that the locals referred to them as "Mosi-au-Tunya" ("Smoke that Thunders"). With the river at flood stage, it was pretty impressive!

We're approaching the Falls from the East. The river is about a mile wide as it plunges over this cliff.

Our pilot spoke briefly on the radio with the local airport control tower, and was given permission to circle the Falls! She made two complete trips around it, giving us a fantastic view and some pretty spectacular shots. Your aerial tour of Victoria Falls, one of the world's most spectacular waterfalls, begins below. The pictures are not necessarily in the order taken, but a composite of all we have from two complete clockwise circuits. Remember, all of these were taken through the airplane window!

Note the zig-zag gorge downstream of the falls with the bridge crossing into Zimbabwe in the center. The small white sphere
in the upper right corner is shown closer below. The airplane's wing strut is in the lower right.


This is a tethered balloon - one means of getting an aerial view.


As we came around the end there's a good view of the narrow discharge of this wide falls. The shot below is a closer view from the same angle.


The water drops 355 feet in the center of the falls. Definitely thunderous "smoke."


Zooming back out from nearly the same position shows the road and bridge, and the narrow gorge the water falls into.


Zooming in close gives a feel for the volume of water flowing.


Now we're directly in front of the falls with a great view of the bridge. We later walked out onto that dark green round point
of land at right center. Can you see the little foot bridge against the spray?


That blue spot is the bungee-jumping platform! Really! No, we didn't try it! Below is a closer view.


Facing lions was no problem, but jumping off of this…


This view shows the left (Zimbabwe) end. The next day we walked along the cliff-top in the foreground and took more pictures
from ground level. A closer view of this part of the falls is next.


Pretty impressive!

 
Two views from the end looking back toward Zambia. The upper left of the right picture is where we walked and took pictures after the plane landed.

The lower left corner is the Zambian side. You can just see the walking trails near the water's edge.
The next picture shows where we later stood and took pictures of each other.


The arrows are where the camera pointed. The circle points out a prominent rock you'll see in one of the ground-level shots.


After two trips around, we headed for the airport to land. Looking back toward the Falls, Carol got this last aerial shot.

We were met at the airport by Raphael, a local man with a Toyota mini-van. This had been arranged in advance by Journeys. Before we left the airport we thanked the pilot profusely. Les and I each gave her a $20 bill as a tip, telling her that she had saved us much more than that by making the ultralight trip unnecessary.

Raphael made it clear that he was at our disposal for the rest of the day, and for a negotiable sum would tour us around the town or the Falls. The amount he first mentioned sounded awfully high, so we told him to just take us to our hotel on the Zimbabwe side and we would decide later what we wanted to do. The price quickly came down! Ultimately we allowed him to take us to the Zambian side of the Falls. He showed us the Falls from that side, which later we were very happy to have seen. Some of the views from that side were better than some of the views from the other side, and there would have been a fee to pay (each time the border is crossed) if we had wanted to come back to this side later.

Raphael took us to a parking lot from which we would walk to the Falls. Expecting to get wet from the spray, I put on a pair of rubber "beach shoes" and we wore our rain hats. Good move, we later learned!

First we went to the bank of the river right at the end of the falls and walked upstream away from the falls for a few hundred feet. Here's what the falls looked like from ground level.

Right over my head is the rock we keep mentioning. Looks like I'm about to go over, but I'm actually on dry land.

Carol is standing where the lower arrow was pointing.

This was just a few yards up stream. She wouldn't get quite as close to the river! Smart!

The picture below is one of my favorites of the Falls because of the framing. At this point we have walked just past the end of the Falls and are about to walk out onto the point of land with the tiny footbridge mentioned in one of the pictures above.

Right at the end of the Zambian side.

This was the last picture we could take because the SPRAY was about to get us!

Thus far we still had not felt much of the spray. As we walked out on the point in front of the Falls, the wind began to blow the spray over us. I was surprised that it was not just a fog-like mist as I had assumed, but was actually large drops like a very hard rain. We were totally drenched in seconds! I had not adequately prepared for this drenching, and my wallet, money, and everything in my pockets was soaked.

We crossed the little foot bridge under a pelting of large drops of water. The bridge was narrow - only about three feet wide - with a surface of smooth steel. And, it was not level, but was higher on one end than the other. Some local boys were taking advantage of this, using it as a water slide. Wearing only short pants, they would run a few steps and flop down on the steel surface (which was actually under about a half-inch of water from the spray) at the higher end and slide all the way to the other end. This seemed to be great fun, as they would then run back up to the higher end and repeat the process.

Because of all the spray, we kept the camera under wraps and took no pictures from this point of land. We made our way back to the mini-van, wrung out our socks, and climbed in to cross the bridge into Zimbabwe.

I had forgotten about passport control and customs at the border! Before actually crossing the bridge we were cleared out of Zambia. Then, on the Zimbabwe side, we had to obtain visas and go through the process of entering a new nation. And Carol and I were still dripping water! I guess the border officials were used to this, as it didn't seem to faze them, even though we handed them damp money to pay for the Visas.

Actually crossing the bridge we thought we'd get another really good look at the Falls from the center, but it wasn't all that dramatic. We did get a decent spray rainbow near one end.

You can JUST see the Falls through the spray. When the river is lower, this is a good vantage spot.


Pretty rainbow; ugly bridge railing.

Raphael took us to the Sprayview Hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. It was reminiscent of a large motel here in the States, and probably the least "Africa-looking" of all the places we stayed, except possibly the Lake Victoria Resort Hotel in Entebbe, Uganda. But it was clean, the shower worked well, and the fact that the swimming pool was green with algae didn't bother us as we had no plans to use the pool anyway! By now it was nearly 5:00 PM, and we were thinking about dinner and our schedule for tomorrow.

At the hotel we met a lady named Wendy, who was supposed to help patrons of Kiambi Safari Lodge (as we had been). We told her that we would really like to get in one more game drive in Zimbabwe, close to Victoria Falls so we wouldn't have to drive all day just to get to a park, before we left Africa for good. We only had tomorrow plus a half day the next day before we flew to Johannesburg and on to home! The trip was actually almost over.

Wendy contacted a man named Sam, who met us and agreed to take us on a morning game drive tomorrow. We only needed a half-day activity as we still planned to see the Falls from this side of the river, and we all wanted to do some final souvenir and gift shopping in the local markets before heading home. We paid Sam cash in advance, then wondered about the wisdom of doing so. We knew absolutely nothing about him, and if he hadn't shown up the next morning to take us, there would have been little we could have done. But we had Wendy's assurance that Sam was OK, so we trusted them and figured, Oh, well!

We discussed changing some money into Zimbabwe dollars, and Wendy immediately offered to take care of that for us saying she would get us a better rate than the official one. We agreed, not knowing what to expect. The official exchange rate was 55 Zimbabwe dollars for one US dollar. Wendy offered us 100 to 1, nearly twice the official rate! We said, "Sure!" Little did we know what a good deal that was, but we soon found out.

We were ready to eat dinner, and had passed a fast-food hamburger place (Wimpy Burger) about a mile down the road from our hotel, so decided that hamburgers would make a nice change from all the big meals we had been eating. Wendy advised that we really shouldn't walk around town after dark, so we asked the hotel concierge to call for a taxi. Within a few minutes he arrived, so we headed for Wimpy's.

The taxi driver's name was Clifford, and he was very talkative. Soon we knew his life's story, and as he dropped us off he gave us his telephone number so that if we ever needed another taxi we could just call him. When we added 200 Zimbabwe dollars ($2 US) to his fare as a tip, he was MOST anxious that we call him! He even agreed to stop back by the Wimpy's in about a half-hour to take us back to the hotel!

After he pulled away, we crossed the street to the Wimpy's, only to find that they were closing for the night at 6:00 PM! It was now 6:05, but the grill was getting cold and the employees were ready to leave for the day. Clifford was nowhere in sight, but we could see a large, fancy hotel-casino just down the road, and decided to walk to it and look around for a place to eat.

As we walked the two blocks or so, we were immediately approached by street vendors trying to sell animal carvings. The asking price for a 4 to 5-inch long wooden hippo was $5 US. Or, they would take South African Rand. But they really didn't want Zimbabwe dollars! If you said "No, thank you," to the $5, the price was immediately $4. We kept telling them "no," until finally Les agreed that he might give the man $1 for it. Sold! Now Les had a hippo he didn't want. I wondered what the bottom price might have been.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, is a tourist town, period! Using the Falls as a drawing card, they have fancy hotels, shops and even a few casinos. This one was called "The Kingdom," and it obviously cost some investors some hefty money to build and operate. Not quite like Las Vegas, it was opulent to say the least. Inside, around the actual gaming area, were several restaurants and shops. One of the restaurants (you're not going to believe this!) was called "The Thunder Cloud Spur Restaurant," whose specialty was Tex-Mex food! Yes, enchiladas, tamales, quesadillas, and all the rest! It smelled good, so we decided, "Why not?!"

The special for the evening was a combination platter with a steak, enchilada with mushrooms, green pepper, onion and cheese, beans, rice, lettuce and tomato. The price was listed in the menu as 220 dollars. That would have been cheap at the official exchange rate, but at 100 to 1 it was ridiculous! I figured the steak would be about 2 inches square and 1/4 inch thick. Wrong! It was 1 inch thick, flame broiled and delicious! And the Mexican food was actually not too far from what we are used to in Texas! We were totally stuffed, for $2.20! Unbelievable!

Les and I got a real kick out of tipping the waiter with a couple of 100 dollar bills! At $1 apiece, why not? And the waiter seemed really pleased with the tip. We wandered around the inside of the casino a bit, but none of us was in the mood to lose money gambling. There were hardly any patrons there at 8:00 PM on this Monday night, and Les commented that this place would probably not make it financially if things were typically this slow.

We found a telephone and called Clifford to bring his taxi and take us back to the Sprayview. He was overjoyed! He had gone back to the Wimpy Burger to get us and found it closed and us gone. He was SO glad we called him. We added another 200 dollars (Z) to his fare, and he urged us to please call him again tomorrow if we wanted to go anywhere!

Although stuffed from our steak and enchiladas, etc., we showered and went to bed to get ready for one more early start in the morning, and our last game drive!

NEXT: Day 25, Our last game drive. Pictures of the falls with rainbows!

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