Victoria Falls is clearly set up to accommodate the tourist crowd, and tourists there certainly are. Not just westerners either. For dinner our first night, however, we went down to a local bar and restaurant that served traditional African meals and Zimbabwean beer (best to stick with South African imports). Of course the proprietress thought us crazy, but we assured her Zimbabwean food could be no worse than Rwandan food. In fact, it was eerily similar, but saltier and with more greens.
Our hostel was reasonably comfortable and busy, and any given person you sat down with to share a beer or a meal almost certainly had a better story to tell about their travels. Evan and I later remarked to each other how cool, just cool, some travelers are. One guy, an older man from Holland, had been travelling through central Asia, the Middle East, east Africa, and, when we met him, southern Africa.
Clearly we had to see the Falls, which, true to form, were absolutely stunning. On our short walk down through town to the park, we were greeted by a herd of elephants (enormous!) casually munching on trees less than ten meters from the paved path. Now, for those unaware, elephants are seriously dangerous, and can trample easily. Quiet and slow movements were called for all-around. Following our elephant encounter, we continued on to the park. I will put some pictures up as soon as I get them from Evan (read: stop being lazy), but suffice to say, Victoria Falls is an awesome, powerful natural wonder. Something akin to the Grand Canyon for wow-factor. The mist from the falls wafts over you from hundreds of meters away, and much of the Falls itself is shrouded in a dense vaporous haze streaked with the occasional rainbow. Essentially you traipse around the rim of the Falls on well made paths, viewing it from various vantage (and soakage) points looking back towards the river flowing in immense sheets off the cliffs.
After taking the obligatory tourist pictures and checking out all the angles, Hewsan, John, Evan, and I went back out of the park and along the road leading to the border with Zambia. The border itself splits the Zambeze river and an enormous span bridge clinging to high, steep cliffs. We crossed through the border post, realizing all too late that only Hewsan had brought his passport. The only option was to carry on and hope we weren’t stopped or arrested trying to reenter. My three companions all decided to bungee off the bridge, but I had no inclination to do so. (Like Jinja, I just have no interest in bungee jumping; plus, it’s Zimbabwe…come on). In any case, things went off without a hitch, and Evan said it was much wilder than Jinja. Sure, whatever.
Getting back in to Zimbabwe proved to be easy, but only because Hewsan had brought his passport. Thankfully there wasn’t a cock-up on our part, but it surely could have been; crisis avoided. We cruised back up to the Fall entrance, then continued on past it down a paved then dirt road leading to what signs described as “The Big Tree.” Sounded promising since there are numerous great, big, bulbous, spiky baobab trees sprinkled throughout Victoria Fall’s surrounding areas. However, the further we trekked without seeing anything particularly remarkable save for warning signs not to feed dangerous wildlife or venture off marked roads and trails, the more foolish we thought. Perfect, I thought, classically stupid tourists get ravaged by wildebeest or consumed by ferocious Tiger…er…I mean…lion. I could see the headlines forming in my mind as my head swiveled to and fro scanning the bush for the first sign of danger. John was likewise disposed but Evan and Hewsan, perhaps as their own defense mechanism, twittered away. Fortunately, as we had thus far managed, nothing happened, although I can’t claim to have seen anything truly massive in the tree department. There were a fair number of specimens, plus the danger we had placed ourselves in, so that was fun.
That night Evan managed to arrange us a shoe-string driving safari for early the next morning and we thoroughly enjoyed (almost) our western fast food pizza and fried chicken (save Hewsan, who, having already decided to trade some of his t-shirts for a small wood carving, proceeded to eat an entire box of chicken and pizza, then overdose on Ciproflaxin).
The next morning, in the chilly early morning dawn, we waited for our driver to pick us up. Par for the course, we waited, waited, and waited some more. Eventually he showed up, and it became clear the middle man we arranged through really shafted the guy. However, we refused to budge, and ultimately prevailed, although we felt terrible because our driver really got the short end of the stick. Perhaps karma, and less-than-stellar planning, caught up with us.
As we rolled down dirt tracks through yet another national park within a few minutes of Victoria Falls, the cold wind buffeting our faces and feet beneath musty blankets passed around by our guide, we hoped to see a wide range of game Zimbabwe is known for. To make a long story short, we basically saw the ass-end of the animal kingdom, and not much else. No lions or other cats, no elephants, no crocs, and a few giraffes only from the remotest of distances. We did, however, see lots of warthogs, guinea fowl, an extremely large stork, troops of baboons, and a fair number of deer or antelope types. Literally everything ran away at the first sign of our presence, leaving only their backsides for us to photograph mostly. In any case, it was a risk worth taking, because you just never know. Plus it was a hell of a lot cheaper than our rather boring makoro trip in Botswana.
With the Falls, bungee jump, Big Tree, and game drive wrapped up, we prepared to leave Victoria Falls. Our return trip to South Africa was planned via Bulewayo, first by overnight train and then overnight bus back to Pretoria. Another update coming tomorrow…hopefully.
Ramadan ends tomorrow with Eid ul-Fitr (often just Eid), and we have the day off. A fair number of our students are Muslim and they rightly deserve the day off (plus, fasting for weeks is tough, especially for young students who are already malnourished). As one of Islam’s holiest days approaches, take some time to think about the state of Islam, and religion in general, in the United States, just as I will do here in Rwanda.
Cheers
Zach
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