Victoria Falls Tour

This morning we drove the short duos table to the falls for a walking tour. From quite a distance you can see the "smoke" from the falls. We were warned to be prepared to get wet so we brought the waterproof camera and jackets.

The first four viewing points are for the most part dry and we had great views of the thundering falls. As we progressed along the walkway through the further viewing points things got progressively wetter. There were places where it was "raining" a downpour that rivals our west coast rain and wet we got! The "rain" is spray from the falls that is shot up high above the falls from the crashing water only to come back down in pouring rain. Seeing the shear size of the falls and hearing the thunder is an unforgettable experience!

After the falls we returned to the hotel to get dried off and then we went down to the viewing deck to watch the feeding of the local vulture population. We were led right down to a covered seating area and the vultures started flying in as they knew that food is coming. As soon as the meat was thrown out, the vultures went into a feeding frenzy! There were hundreds of them, two different species of vultures and the odd marabou stork also trying for scraps. The sound of the wings and the smell in the air was unlike anything we've experienced.

We left the vultures and were driven back near the falls for a helicopter flight over the falls. The helicopters held six passengers plus the pilot and the flight lasted about 13 minutes which gave us enough time to circle the falls one and a half times in each direction so that everyone got equal opportunity to get photos of the falls. We though it might be hard to see the falls due to all of the smoke (spray) but we had excellent views and it was really exhilarating to fly over and see the views.

We returned to the hotel and had a short nap and then met up for our Boma dinner experience. Dinner at the Boma is a buffet and barbecue of every kind of game meat imaginable. We had kudu stew, warthog steak, crocodile, eland meatballs and we each tried a small bite of a mopani worm, which was pretty disgusting! The highlight of the evening was when everyone in the Boma (which was a couple of hundred) were all given hand drums and we were taught some rhythms and played together. It was really awesome fun!

We got back to the hotel and had a wick drink in the viewing deck where we saw three elephants wander down for their evening drink and then headed back to bed for the night.Read more