After leaving Hwange National Park, we drove the obstacle course of deep potholes on the National Highway all the way to Victoria Falls, in what should have been a 2 hour drive that turned into a 4 hour drive, and did I mention that it was a toll road and we had to pay $3 to drive this obstacle course? I suppose if it were advertised as challenge drive in a theme Park it would have been lots of fun, but it wasn’t advertised as such! Sorry for the rant:
We spent two nights at a Rest Camp in Vic Falls, which was in stark contrast to the wild and exclusive wilderness campsites of the past couple of weeks, but it was a necessity so that Frank and Jane could see the world famous Victoria Falls. The Falls are designated as one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, and for good reason. It isn’t necessarily the largest waterfall, either by height, width, or water volume, but taken in aggregate it is arguably the best in the world. In any event, the Falls are formed by the Zambezi River, one of Africa’s largest river systems, in which the river drops roughly 300 feet over a width of more than a mile into a narrow trough formed along a fault line and then drains through a narrow gorge on its way to the Indian Ocean. It is a truly spectacular natural wonder and one that pictures and descriptions can’t do justice to. Here are several pictures of our visit to the Falls and a very short video.
Here’s a very short 1.5 minute video of the Falls:
Our visit to Vic Falls was, of course, focused on seeing the famous Falls, but you can’t go to Vic Falls without also experiencing the open-air markets that sell every sort of African curio you can imagine, ranging from wood and stone carved figures to colorful printed textiles of all sizes, shape, colors and patterns. Navigating the the marketplaces and fending off persistent sellers can be very overwhelming, and is not for the faint hearted. Nevertheless, it is an interesting, albeit somewhat stressful, cultural experience, and one not to be missed. Plus, you can purchase some really cool memorabilia! I learned that Jane, in particular, is a master at bargaining with sellers to find the lowest, but fair, price for items. All of us managed to come away with several items of interest, and with a few dollars less in our pockets that hopefully helped out the merchants make a meager living. Here’s a picture of Jane surrounded by women in the Women’s Cooperative Craft Market all competing for a sale, a picture of Nancy being wooed by two vendors, and me considering whether this particular mask would be too big to fit in my checked baggage for the flight home.
OK, we are off to Botswana for a little more urban R&R and then back to the bush in Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve. See you there!