It was probably close to 70 years ago that I first read the famous words spoken by Henry Morton Stanley upon locating David Livingstone in Africa, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume”.
Since then, there has been a lot of water flow over Victoria Falls, but it still remains one of the World’s 7 Natural Wonders. I had already seen three of the other Natural Wonders, and it was on my bucket list to see this one. So, it was off to Africa for my fourth time. They say that “traveling is not for the weak” and I did not look forward to the 14-hour flight from Toronto to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the three-hour wait for the next flight of four hours to Lusaka Zambia, but everything was right on time and my Lusaka guide met me at the airport without any issues.
Zambia is a progressive democracy with an economy based on copper mining and other minerals just as it was when the British colonialized it more than 150 years ago. The city of Lusaka has a population of 3.2 million with all of the attributes and warts of other large cities. The two days there that followed were spent seeing the city and visiting museums and learning some of the history of the country with my excellent guide. Oddly enough, while leaving the National Museum, my guide and I ended up in the middle of a press conference with the Zambian Minister of Tourism making an announcement of investment in the museum. I suggested to my guide that, if possible, I would like to meet the Minister. A few minutes later the local TV cameras were on us, and he and I discussed my visit, He asked me my thoughts on what I had seen and what I expected during my visit. Yes, I did make the 6 o’clock news.
A few days later, I found myself at a beautiful resort on the Zambesi River less than a mile above Victoria Falls. The city of Livingstone is close by, and the resort carries the famous Doctors name as “The Royal Livingstone” resort.
The property is a few hundred acres and is fenced in and houses many non-predator animals. Giraffes, zebras, impalas, etc. all wander around freely on the lawn of the resort and in the adjoining woods.
For larger view, click on image
The next two days were spent doing a Zambesi River cruise seeing lots of animal life along the banks and in the water including crocodiles, elephants, and a variety of others. And of course, a visit to the Livingstone Museum. One night, dinner involved a short train ride in a 1950-style steam-powered train that parked on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border bridge which was closed at the time. Here we saw the sunset over the Zambesi River.
The next day was the big challenge for the legs of this “octogenarian”. The morning started out with my Zambian guide and I hiking on the trails in front of Victoria Falls on the Zambian side. At this time of year, the views from this point are not as spectacular as they are in the months from March to June. This took us about an hour and a half, and we had some great views. The afternoon involved us going to the Zimbabwe border.
You are probably aware that democracy in Zimbabwe continues under real stress, and the results of the National election again appeared to be obviously flawed as they have been for a number of years. With this still being debated and protests still happening, I had decided to not go on into the Capital but just cross the border at Victoria Falls and get the spectacular views available there.
My visa to enter Zimbabwe was $50 US to enter and it lasts for a month. At the border, my Zambian guide stayed in Zambia and my Zimbabwean guide stood on the other side and I crossed over to join him. We entered the border station which was in chaos. My guide and I went to the only place that had no lineup. Few words were spoken, my passport was stamped, and we entered Zimbabwe leaving the chaos behind.
From there it was on to the Zimbabwe National Victoria Falls Park. Again, there was a long lineup and again we went to a window with no line-up, and two tickets were handed to my guide. The trails were long and busy with sightseers viewing and taking pictures of the spectacular views. I do consider myself most fortunate to have lived so close to Niagara Falls and to have seen and visited Angel Falls, the highest in the world in Venezuela, and now to have spent time at the most spectacular falls in the world, Victoria Falls.
The hour or so that I spent in Zimbabwe after visiting the falls would take that long to totally explain but here is the mini version and it involved my introduction to a word we have all heard and wondered what it really meant.
I got to witness “hyperinflation”. My guide suggested that I do not take any pictures as I would be expected to pay the folks for including them.
Shops and stalls selling wonderful handmade goods. Wood carvings were made from teak and mahogany and very attractive handmade jewelry. Vendors with their hands full of paper money notes. Most of the notes were each for 250 Million Zimbabwe Dollars. Each one of them is worth 10 cents US. Yes, the one Trillion Zimbabwean Dollar note is worth $0.40 US.
I did spend some US dollars but bartered hard on four beautiful hand-carved teak and mahogany gifts for a friend and for my granddaughter.
They want US money so bad BUT also welcome the very stable Zambian Kwacha which is the popular currency used for trade in the Victoria Falls area. Apparently, it is the same where Zimbabwe borders with Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa. Do not touch the Zimbabwe money.
Transient traders cross the border on bicycles with boxes loaded with goods to trade and/or sell just to get stable money.
So that was my visit to Zimbabwe. On the way back, my Zimbabwean guide and I got caught in a traffic jam when a transport truck was having its load inspected right on the road and I snapped a picture of it. The affected traffic was a mess.
We all have seen “chaos” but do not ever believe that there is nothing that you have not seen before.
It takes about 35 hours to fly from Livingstone back to Toronto, but the total trip met all my expectations and I have to admit I learned a lot that I did not know.
This trip had its challenges but was well worth doing. Our world is a wonderful place but there are always “surprises” along the way.
