Africa Day Nine - Zimbabwe Border Crossing, Victoria Falls

On our way out of the park for the last time, I swiveled in my seat and took a picture of the entrance sign. It was a way of saying goodbye to the Chobe National Park. We'd already checked out and packed up first thing that morning, so all that was left was to drive to the Zimbabwe border crossing, where we would pass through immigrations, and meet up with our A&K escorts. From there, we'd switch vehicles, and all of us, including Gavin, would make our way to the Victoria Falls Hotel for a quick lunch before going to the helicopter service for the Flight of Angels over Victoria Falls itself.

Once that was over, we were booked on a river boat cruise up the Zambezi River, and then dinner was scheduled, after which came the real treat - a moonlit stroll alongside Victoria Falls, to see if we could photograph the Lunar Rainbow - only possible in a place like Victoria Falls, which throws up so much spray. We were all pretty stoked about it - ESPECIALLY Sandy.

Shots taken along the road:

Loved these goats following along without any lead ropes or anything, on the side of a busy highway...

Gavin is a man of many scars. I realize that sounds like a total non-sequitor, but stay with me - he bears many scars. He's covered in snake bites, and spider bites, including one particularly bad spider bite that went so necrotic that even today, years later, he must pat that scar dry carefully with a towel. He mustn't rub it hard, because if he does the scar will split open again. He ALSO bears a series of burn marks on his chest, from a chance encounter with a blister beetle, that had the misfortune to get stuck inside his shirt. This species of beetle exudes Cantharidin from their knee joints when stressed. On human skin, this causes immediate fluid-filled blisters that itch unbearably. Only you must not itch them, because if you do, the fluid will ooze and cause MORE blisters. The blisters must be drained carefully by syringe instead. Ugh.

Anyway, Gavin made the mistake of telling that story to Sandy's sister Nora. Nora, who was seated in the back of the jeep during the drive to the border crossing, managed to get hit in the face by not one, but TWO insects. The first insect was a bee, which died immediately upon impact. We scraped it off the seat and tossed it out the back of the jeep. The second insect was some kind of beetle. Nora FREAKED. Not only was it pretty large, and hit her so hard on the cheekbone that she was bruised, but she was convinced for about 10 seconds that it was a blister beetle, and she just lost it. Once she calmed down enough to realize that she wasn't blistering and itching, so it hadn't been a blister beetle, the whole thing was pretty funny...

After a relatively short drive, during which we all noticed that our cell service, even on the world-activated phones, was completely shot, we were at the Kazungula Border Post.

We all reported to the tiny building off to the right, to complete the immigration and customs formalities, as advised by that green sign above. This took FOREVER. The line was out the door and around the building, and the sun was merciless, despite the fact that we all knew this part of the world was edging towards winter. We knew that. The sun didn't. We were all sweating and wrung out by the time we were able to edge into the shade offered by the interior of the structure. Americans and British are pretty well known, I think, for the way they are able to queu up and behave themselves. Not so, the South Africans. It took some serious elbowing and eyeballing and general tom cat puffed-up-edness in order to maintain our spot in the queu, as family group after family group tried to squeeze in front of us, shoving their passports ahead of them toward the slotted window. Annoying.

Finally it was our turn, and after a fee was paid, our passports were duly scrawled upon, and we were free to enter the country of Zimbabwe.

We switched into our new, large, and very airy A&K transport bus, leaving for the last time our now-familiar safari jeep. I believe the drive was estimated to take around 3 hours, or so? I can't quite recall. But I knew that we were running a little behind, because of how long the border crossing had taken, and I was pestering Gavin to see if we were going to miss our helicopter flight - I really wanted to see Victoria Falls from the air. He thought we would make it, although just. And that was when disaster struck.

A brake pad seized up on the front left wheel - it took the driver of the bus a while to realize that something was wrong, and by the time he did and pulled over, the pad was shot. The whole brake pad and clamp system was totally locked into place - there was no way we could keep driving on that wheel.

It was at this point that my husband, who is normally a pretty modern man, suggested that they all urinate on the wheel. All the women in the group drew back in one solid affronted mass, while the guys discussed the merits of that plan. Evidently the heat generated by the friction of the wheel turning while the brake pad was clamped shut around it was so great, that to use cold water could crack the metal. But hot water was just the ticket to get it to release, yes sir. And the hottest "water" around the place was inside the men of the party.

Ew. Ew ew ew.

Note - not a single woman visible in the group staring at the offending wheel.

After a suitable interval to allow me to get over being so grossed out, I suggested that we inventory what room temperature water we had. Everyone had been carrying a bottle of water on the safari that morning, so they'd been out of the coolers for hours and hours - they were warm. The A&K vehicles always had a cooler of bottled water stuck between the seats, and we had had good hydration drilled into us by Gavin from day one in the bush, so carrying a bottle or two of water was habit. The boys used these to try and release the stuck clamps.

Then Sandy tried to drive the bus a little forward, to move the wheel into a new position so they could attack the stuck clamp with an iron bar that the bus driver had found, and a sledge hammer, but he kept stalling it out. I'm not going to lie, you guys, I totally made fun of him for it.

So there we all were, stuck in the middle of the biggest cell phone dead zone on Earth, next to a totally deserted strip of Zimbabwean highway. We were all mentally kissing our helicopter ride over Victoria Falls goodbye.

I took some pictures of wild flowers.

Gavin wandered by, and showed us this type of grass seed, that had a long sort of spike on one end. If you wet it with your tongue, the spike curled into a tight spiral. He called it Spear Grass. The girls played with those, while the boys got all hairy-chested and banged on things with metal rods, and hooted, and squirted things with water.

A pick up truck passed by, and stopped. Our bus driver implored the gentlemen in it to contact A&K when they got to the border crossing, and he gave them the number to call. They said they would, and drove off again. The sun beat down, the men stopped beating on the clamp with the metal rod and gave it all up as a bad job. Everyone was pretty bummed out.

Sandy suggested cutting the brake line to that one wheel so we could at least continue driving...and everyone was considering that soberly when salvation loomed on the horizon! A tiny white van was spotted traveling our way. When it got closer, we saw the yellow Abercrombie and Kent lettering on it! Hark! Our A&K folk had missed us at the Victoria Falls Hotel, and come to try and find us!

The van was tiny. But by shoving the A&K reps out of it, and literally hijacking their ride, we were able to continue with our trip. Things were tight, especially with all of our luggage in, but we made it work. And we were once again on our way! We promised to send help back to the folks now stranded with our dead bus. Hurrah! We reached the Victoria Falls Hotel in the nick of time, in terms of checking in and getting to the helicopters, but without the spare time for lunch. So it was a very hungry group of human beings, that sped through the check-in process.

After we dropped our bags off, we walked around the hotel a little while Nancy and Gavin finished checking us in. The first thing we saw was a man with a rifle, stalking around the grounds. Suddenly he gave a shout, raised his gun, and fired. A troop of baboons were up on the hotel roof, and they took off at the sound of the gun shot. The guard pursued them at speed.

The second thing we saw was a series of courtyards surrounded by the terraced rooms - these were filled with small, still pools of water, with water flowers floating in them.

They were beautiful, and that night after the sun went down, the reed frogs that made those pools their home started singing and I went crazy with happiness. I was absolutely enchanted. I LOVE reed frogs! I love their little bell-like voices.

The third thing we saw was Mosi-ao-Tunya, the Smoke that Thunders.

Ahahahahahahha! At long last I have my revenge for all the times Sandy has taken stealthy photographs of my behind!

(Shhhhh. No one tell him.)

Sandy, standing with the smoke from Victoria Falls behind him.

The hotel has a gorgeous terrace that overlooks the Zambezi River gorge, the Falls themselves, and the great bridge that spans the gorge. There's a flagpole standing in the center of the terrace, and on the base of the flagpole are some directional signs.

Here's a shot of the bridge...

Note the hanging bungee cords. Bungee jumping here is an extreme sport - you fall 111 meters to the water below when you jump.

And of course, a photo of moi in front of the Thundering Smoke

Behold the notebook clutched in one hand! I went nowhere without that thing, and it has proved very useful during the blogging process, since I'm still recounting the trip nearly a year after we went!!! Many memories have fuzzed in that time, but the notes I took help bring them back.

Seriously people, I mean it. Journal your vacations! Pictures are good, but notes are best!

With no time to spare after that, it was another dead run for the bus, (a new one, delivered by A&K while we were checking in - that is a tour group that means BUSINESS! Nothing is left to chance! They're brilliant, I highly recommend them), and a quick drive to the helicopter tour location where we would take the Flight of Angels over Victoria Falls itself.

The check-in hut for the helicopter tour.

The Flight of Angels tour takes its name from a quote of David Livingstone's, written after he first saw the Victoria Falls:

"No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight."

David Livingstone is presumed to be the first European to set eyes on the Falls. He viewed it on November 17th, 1855 during his tour of the Zambezi River, from the Upper Zambezi to the river mouth. He named them in honor of Queen Victoria. In 1860 he returned to make a detailed study of the falls with a fellow Scot, John Kirk.

There are many rather remarkable stories about David Livingstone, and I recommend further reading to anyone interested. That night, on the walk around Victoria Falls, Gavin told us the story of Livingstone's death, and the courage and tenacity of his native attendants in returning the body to England for burial - it's an inspirational story, for certain, so look it up!

In the meantime, we were due on a helicopter.

Wyatt and Harley on the Helicopter

The Mighty Zambezi, making its way toward the Falls.

There's no hint that a falls could even be possible there - no mountains, no gullies, no warning at all, except for the rising spume of water thrown up by the falls. And then suddenly the basalt plain that the Zambezi has been traveling along gives way to a series of gorges and the water just disappears into a huge slit in the ground.

It's pretty darned impressive.

During the month of April, the flood waters of the Chobe and the Zambezi are at their peak, and thus the volume of water going over the Falls is at its highest point also. The spray from the falls, the "Thundering Smoke" usually reaches a height of 400 metres, and can sometimes reach twice that high during the flood season. It's visible from 30 miles away. Victoria falls is three times higher than Niagara Falls, and twice the width of the Horseshoe Falls. It is considered the largest Falls in the world, not because it is the highest, or the widest, but because the combined height and width of Victoria Falls create the largest sheet of falling water in the world.

At first the helicopter circled the falls in one direction only - and from my window I wasn't able to get a good look at it. As the helicopter circled and then started to head back up river, I felt a keen disappointment. I hadn't really gotten to see anything except for glances stolen over Sandy's shoulder, past his gigantic freaking lens! I nudged Sandy and told him to shove over so I could get a few pictures myself. But then the helicopter made a figure 8 in the air, and circled back over the falls in the direction that allowed me to get some shots, and I was content again. Sandy teased me for being so bossy.

The main streams of the Falls, from West to East, are called:

Devil's Cataract, Main Falls, Rainbow Falls, and the Eastern Cataract.

The Falls are tremendous. They take your breath clean away. While we were up in the helicopter, we saw someone viewing the falls from an Ultralight Aircraft, and Sandy was crazy jealous.

We consoled him by reminding him that tonight was the full moon, and we were to try and get photos of the rare and elusive Lunar Rainbow!

Below, an aerial shot of the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe...

Finally we landed, and hopped out, so that another group of four could get into the helicopter for their turn. When THEY landed, I raised my camera to get a photo of them getting out of the helicopter, only to realize that the lens cap was still on. Gavin totally saw me do it, and proceeded to make fun of me for it for the rest of the night. It wouldn't have been so bad, except during one of the game drives I had turned to him to ask him a question about a bird, while still holding my binoculars up to my eyes, and he had gently reached out, and removed one of the caps from the lenses of the binocular. I had been staring at birds for a half hour with only one side of the binocular working, and hadn't realized it.

I think Gavin suspected I was a bit of a half-wit from that point forward, and me trying to take a picture of our peeps with a camera with the lens cap still on was the last straw.

And then, curses, the video tape that the Shearwater Tour group takes of each group to go up, totally caught me doing it!!! So while the rest of our group was taking their turn, I had to watch a video of myself showing on an endless loop on TV screens all over the inside the check in hut, raising a camera with the lens cap still on, to take a picture, and then realizing the lens cap was still on and turning the camera around with a confused, stupid expression on my face. I took a very, very large amount of mockery from the group over that one. And of course everyone had to buy a copy of the danged video. I've hidden our copy where it may never see the light of day again, (here's hoping).

Moving right along...

It had already been a long day, and stressful, and hot - with all of the standing around under the hot sun at the border crossing. I was feeling the effect of the sun, and a bit dehydrated, by the time we got back onto the bus. I was also STARVING. We'd had a very early breakfast, and no lunch, and it was now mid-afternoon and we were due to catch a river boat called the Ra-Ikane, to tour the Zambezi River, upriver from the Falls.

But since this blog post is already pretty picture heavy, I'll finish Day Nine in the next installment!