Victoria Falls
April 19, 2012 in Zimbabwe
Thursday 19th April – Into Zimbabwe
Since this was a free day, many of our group had chosen to participate in one or more of the many adventure activities available in Livingstone. These include helicopter flights over the falls, lion and elephant encounters and many more. For me, I was just content to have a slow morning to catch up on my note writing and savour the views out over the Zambezi.
Later that morning 9 of us gathered together for the trip across to Zimbabwe in order to view the falls from the other side of the river. We crowded into a mini bus designed to “carry 6 passengers”. With its cracked windscreen and broken speedometer there is no way it would have passed a roadworthy in Australia but Herbert, our gentle driver made up for the lack of comfort by his great assistance in helping us through the border formalities.
The actual border between Zambia and Zimbabwe is halfway across the Zambezi Bridge and there is a line drawn across the carriageway to mark the transition from one country to the next. The procedures at both the Zambian and Zimbabwe side are shambolic to say the least. You also have to run the gauntlet of all the eager salespeople who have decided that this is a great place to peddle their wares.
The bridge itself offers superb views. From one side you can look back up the river to the Victoria Falls and on the other side you see straight down the Zambezi Gorge. This bridge is the site for several adrenaline packed adventure activities including bungie jumping and swing diving across the river. Just a couple of weeks earlier a young female bungie jumper was lucky to survive when her bungie cord broke and she was sent crashing into the Zambezi River.
After clearing immigration and getting even more stickers and stamps in our passports we paid another USD $30 entry fee to the falls themselves. The infrastructure of the park on the Zimbabwe side is even less developed than on the Zambian side. There is a network of walking paths to view the falls from various vantage points however I was surprised to find that there were no safety fences at all. The only thing between the viewer and certain death was a tangle of small branches that had been laid along the edge.
It did not take long to get a complete drenching from the spray but this time I had paid $2 to hire a raincoat from a vendor at the entrance. It was worth it, although I felt that I must have looked like a yellow munchkin. The actual Falls themselves are certainly an incredible sight and it is no wonder that David Livingstone was so captivated by them. Unfortunately for him and his staff his adventure did not have a happy ending for all of them eventually died from Malaria.
The sheer volume of water from the Zambezi as it cascades over the falls and into the Zambezi Gorge is hard to comprehend. I stood for some time just staring at the spectacle and vainly trying to firmly imbed it in my memory bank. Sometimes it is best to just put the camera away and just drink in the experience instead. In this case I was literally drinking in the Zambezi because its waters were streaming down my face and running off my chin.
After spending a couple of hours at the Zimbabwe Victoria Falls we recrossed the bridge and caught a taxi back to our lodge. Late in the afternoon I joined a sunset cruise on the river. The boat slowly cruised around the huge expanse of water above the falls, allowing us to gain a firsthand view of the river and its associated wildlife. In the back of mind I could not help but wandering what we would do if the motor stalled. Images of the boat being carried over the edge of the falls fleeted in and out of my imagination.
Fortunately, no such mishap occurred, and we all returned safely to the lodge. We enjoyed another evening meal by the side of the river. This time there was no entertainment apart from the continuing roar of the falls. I had to admit that this would be a marvellous place to spend some more time at however we were due to move on to Botswana in the morning.Read more
