Africa Day Nine and Ten - Victoria Falls

Once off the Ra Ikane, we took the van back to the hotel to change our clothes quickly, and then we were back on the van again and headed to Victoria Falls.

We were told to change our clothes because we were going to get wet - so we all got into shorts and flip flops. By the time we arrived at the park, it was full dark and the moon was climbing the sky. Unfortunately, the sky was no longer clear. Clouds were pouring in from everywhere. We needed a good clear moment of moonlight to even HOPE to catch the moonbow, so we were all a bit worried.

As we got out of the van, our driver parceled out rain parkas to each of us. They were very basic - large sheets with snaps under the arms and a cut out for your head with a hood attached. They smelled like mold and feet. We were also handed umbrellas. They smelled okay.

We were all ushered into a building where there were museum exhibits about the history of Victoria Falls, and a single small framed poster about the moonbow.

We waited there for a long time. The park has its own guides and we had to wait for them to show up - and they were presumably waiting for every group that they were expecting to arrive.

Finally, everyone was there, including the ubiquitous Japanese Tour Group. The park guides chivvied us into a long single-file line, and we set out. A few important points - there was a park guide at the back of the line, and a park guide at the front. They were the only people with artificial light. WE were in the middle of the line, where it was pitch black and you could barely see the shape of the person in front of you. The Japanese Tour Group folk persisted in carrying their umbrellas over their shoulders, so that the points were at eye level for anyone walking behind them, and, (this is important), COMPLETELY INVISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE while one was walking under these conditions. You guys, Harley is lucky she's not blind. I was walking directly behind Harley, for which you should all pity Harley because I'm incredibly clumsy even under full-sun conditions, and in the thick dark of that walk I stumbled into her a hundred times. We walked for a while, on a paved trail with surprising inclines and declines, through a forest. Then, it started to patter a bit of rain on our heads. "Oh!" we said. "It's starting!"

We knew the trail would take us along the side of the gorge, and that depending on the direction the wind was blowing, chances were pretty good that we'd be getting rained on by the spume that the Falls flings up into the air. We kept walking under that gentle rain, until very, VERY suddenly, it was no longer a gentle rain, it was a torrential downpour. I mean imagine what it would feel like if someone picked up an entire bathtub of water, way up into the air, and then inverted it directly over you. Now imagine that going on and on and on while you staggered under it in the humid, close darkness. Harley yelled, "I AM THE KRAKEN OF THE SEA!!!" And it was pretty darned funny. Visibility, as previously mentioned, was poor. The sky was full of scudding clouds, and we could barely see anything, much less a lunar rainbow.

We got through the worst of the up-spouting, and our guides led us to one lookout spot after another, but no moonbow. We'd been walking for a very, very long time, I'd managed to stub every toe I had at least once, and probably quite a few of Harley's as well. It was dark, we were all sopping wet in spite of the umbrellas and the parkas, and a little cold now since we were sopping wet, and we hadn't had a real lunch just that nosh on the Ra Ikane, and we'd been up and doing things since before daybreak, and it had been a really, REALLY long day. I was so, so tired. But I wanted to see a freaking lunar rainbow.

It stopped raining.

Then, we were at the very last look out spot, and our guides set us all up along the rim and probably crossed their fingers that the moon would come out from behind the clouds for at least a second, and Sandy got his camera situated and set it for a long exposure, and we all sort of held our breaths.

And there it was.

Here we all were post-soaking, in the van headed back to the hotel for dinner. Wyatt is lofting a bag full of damp clothing, I think.

Like I said, it had been a LONG day.

We got back to the hotel safely, and Sandy took some photographs of the courtyards.

He took a picture of me next to one of my reed-frog pools! I'd gotten changed for dinner.

That night, I ate wildebeest. And I didn't feel the least bit bad about it. Then, there was sleeping.

Morning was coming way too soon.

Sunrise through the spray of Victoria Falls, over the Victoria Falls Bridge

The morning of our tenth day we were up bright and early, (no surprises there), so we could go for one more hike out at Victoria Falls before we had to head to the airport and fly to Johannesburg. At this point my notes get pretty sketchy, because to be frank Man and the Things of Man are not nearly as interesting to me, I guess, as the animals had been.

But for now - Day Ten, and a daylight (hallelujah!) tour of Victoria Falls.

But first, Breakfast!

This little monkey was doing sunrise salutations on the hotel roof...

While on the main terrace by the flagpole there was a woman doing yoga, and a whole troop of monkeys watching her.

And the Falls continued to throw its plume of water up into the air.

I think this is a picture of an African Pied Wagtail...

It's actually possible to walk along a little trail from the hotel to the park, so after breakfast, that's what we did.

Sandy and I are below with the statue of David Livingstone, in which I am modeling the extremely attractive protective rain gear we had been provided. An entire night spent damp in the van had not improved its odor.

This guy was awesome. He was sweeping the paths clean with a broom made of tree branches. I guess that's the "harmony with nature" bit they were going on about in the signs out front...

I've got a lot of photos of the Falls, but frankly I think anything I could say about it would just take away from the pictures. So - enjoy.

At this point, the photos stop being about the Falls, and start being about us getting poured upon. This is the part of the walk that goes right through the spume. Very exciting. Sandy took a different path so he could keep his camera out and take pictures of the rest of us getting soppy.

Meanwhile, Gavin was telling yours truly specifically about how often the park rangers have to yell at Scandinavians for taking all their clothes off and *showering* under the downpour. I thought to myself..."well...when you look that danged attractive, why the heck NOT?" Us Norwegians can't help it if everyone else is jealous of our vikingesque stature. However, I kept my clothes on.

On the way back to the hotel, squelching all the way, we eyeballed the Victoria Falls Bridge.

A Trumpeter Hornbill

And that most esoteric of creatures - the A&K tour bus.

We still had a bit of time before we had to be at the airport, after we had changed and packed and gotten back into the van. So Gavin told us we could stop at a local tourist market for souvenirs. This is one of those places where one is expected to haggle, and I am the easiest sheep in the flock to fleece, believe me. I made a few men there very rich, that day.

On the other hand, they'll barter for items too. T-shirts, hats, and sneakers are symbols of status - so if you've got any extra lying around, and you can squeeze it into your bag allowance, bring everything you've got to unload in Zimbabwe.

Donnie traded something for a large stone statue of two lions having relations, for example. Very special. Sandy traded a Hollow Hill Farm tee for a stone statue of a rhinoceros.

And then we were all off to the airport, now with baggage significantly heavier but since we wouldn't be flying on any more bush planes, it no longer mattered.

We would be flying to Johannesburg for a single day's apartheid touring before leaving on a plane again for Cape Town.

Bonus Footage!

Though I'm not sure when or where they happened, perhaps this would be a good time to add a few of the snippets of conversation that I jotted down during the trip. For example -

When we got to the airport for one of our flights, the following conversation happened:

Nes: Our gate is A30

Tim: It's 8:30

Nes: Our GATE is AAAAA-THIRTY.

Tim: It's EIGHT-THIRTY.

Nes: Oh god.

Or:

Nora: "I have to wear cotton underwear. Because if you're in a fire, your underwear won't melt to you! You never know."

Or:

Nora: "Aren't the SAT questions geared toward Asian males?"

Or:

Harley: "Pinch my wenis* as hard as you can! I don't even feel it!"

*The bit of skin located on your elbow. There are no nerves there, apparently.