We spent the second week of our trip in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. When landing in the airport, we had to secure visas for both Zimbabwe and Zambia since we would be flying out of Zambia at the end of the week (that counts for an extra pin in the map, right?). What a horrendous process! I think it took us nearly two hours to get through the line and we were fairly close to the front. A long wait, but that’s all part of travelling!
Victoria Falls is a fairly small city that is safe. They say there is minimal to no crime there. Other than the locals walking alongside you and relentlessly trying to sell you things, it did feel incredibly safe and it was nice to see a little of how people in Africa live. We saw many women carrying bundles on their heads; some even carried Eskies! I considered taking a photo but it seemed disrespectful. It was incredible to see though. They also tell you that the local animals often walk along the city streets, even elephants. We didn’t bet lucky enough to see that, but we did see this…
Victoria Falls is located on the Zimbabwe/Zambia border and is known for…wait for it…its waterfalls. Due to the massive drought, we were told that the amount of water in the river and flowing over the falls was only at about 50%. When you see photos of Victoria Falls with full water, it is quite magnificent and similar to Niagara Falls, just longer and curving along a narrow canyon. I actually found it quite beautiful with less water.
After walking along the falls, we wandered to a little café for lunch where the baboons and monkeys were on high alert waiting for their opportunity to sneak a little treat. They were quite entertaining to watch!
Later that day, we headed off on an evening dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. What an experience! The cruise and dinner far exceeded our expectations. When we arrived, they welcomed us to the upper deck for appetizers and drinks. As we travelled along the river, we saw hippos in the river, elephants swimming (I had no idea elephants could swim!!) and giraffes grazing. After enjoying some wine, we headed downstairs for a gourment meal over candlelight. It was truly a perfect evening.
The next morning, we headed out to the Wild Horizons elephant sanctuary, an experience Rob had planned as a surprise for me. It’s a gorgeous place with lots of space for the elephants to roam. The sanctuary was created in 1992 and since that time, it has rescued 37 elephants. The sanctuary started after culling of elephants in the area resulted in young elephants ending up on small farms that they quickly outgrew. The sanctuary continues to take in orphaned and injured elephants in need of a safe environment. The sanctuary does its best to rehabilitate these elephants and put them back in the wild. When elephants can’t be re-integrated in the wild, they become part of the sanctuary’s program focused on educating people about elephants and the importance of conservation. As part of this program, you can walk alongside them, touch and feed them. What an experience!
Our final day in Victoria Falls was a relaxing one, spent wandering the markets, and enjoying local craft beer. It was then on our way to Zambia to catch our evening flight to Nairobi, Kenya.
—- TO BE CONTINUED —