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Zimbabwe; not the best experience and I would urge anyone wanting to see the falls to do so from Zambia. Ripped off sums it up. Their currency is totally worthless and therefore are only interested in foreign currency. On the frst evening we were charged $18 USD for 2 x cokes and 2 x water. Hmmm. This was based on the "offcial" exchange rate is $1USD to $250Zim.
The following day we managed to get $2000USD on the black market, but then we discovered that noone accepts local currency from non-citizens, so we were left with hundreds of thousands of Zim dollars to off-load before the border crossing with Zambia. So, our last night saw El, Matt, Tony and I dining at a Casino and gambling at the roulette table to try and lose our money. Tony was on a roll and left with 46,000 zim dollars which he kindly spent on beer and snacks for the truck.
Anyway, we did have an awesome 3 days tho'...
We took a helicopter flight over the falls which amounted to the most expensive 12 minutes of my life; beautiful view but I got stuck in the rear seat with a pole obscuring my view in front and El on my right and another passenger on my left. I saw more when we played back the video footage at the end of the day.
We then hoped straight on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi. Wow. Well, when we arrived a busload of annoying youngsters arrived acting really lairy before they even hit the free bar (Musketeers, remember the trucks of arses we bumped into along the African Explorer route? Times that by 1MILL and you will know what I mean.) Fortunately they boarded a boat next to ours. Off we set, 8 of us and oh what a tranquil and civillised time we had; sipping free G&T's whilst slowly making our way down the Zambezi...we saw a herd of elephants (probably about 50 in total) bathing and playing in the river. These animals never cease to amaze. They looked so happy. The cruise, as I already mentioned was tranquil, however there was one creature that could well have ruined this: a big, loud, obnoxious, South African chap. Loud, Estelle, I may call you loud sometimes but he was a foghorn. He would have annoyed me were it not for the fact that he decided to visit the ablutions with the door open, he wanted to "poo with a view" to quote him direct. He had been annoying the hell out of the guide, so the guide well and truly got his own back when he turned the boat around so that he was "poo-ing IN-VIEW"....of a large boat full of >50 tourists, who all roared with laughter. Served the old git right I say.
Anyway, the next day we arose at 5am to go and walk with lions. We had no idea waht to expect, but all was well when at 545am El and I were sat on the back of a truck racing along bumpy roads through a game reserve with the wind blowing in my hair, the sun-rising over the distant hills ahhhhh we were back in Africa! We were a little dubious about taking part in this activity, as you never know how the animals are treated, but these are orphaned lions raised at a sanctury in Harari and transfered here to raise awareness for anti-poaching. After a scare-inducing safety talk, off we went. In a nutshell, for 45 minutes El and I walked alongside 4 lions in the bush. It was incredible to be so close to them and to get to stroke them. they were so beautiful and cute that I just wanted to go up and grab their heads in my hand and give them a big cuddle. Probably best I rememebered they were not domestic cats ;) It is hard to capture in words how the experience felt. We felt privaliged, happy, excited, in awe etc etc.
Straight after this we went on an elephant-back safari. Again totally awe-struck. Their ears are like leather on the back and their skin is so thick, but then I guess if we spent that much time in the sun we would be wrinkly and leathery too!! Riding an elephant is much smoother than I thought it would be and I have to say I did have a wee moment of glee when I realised at that very time if I were home I would be stuck on a packed central line tube...hehehe.
Later that day, back at the campsite, we had the mother of all storms and were thus confined to the bar...
The next day El and I got up before the crack of dawn and walked down to see Vic Falls. The Zambian side is MUCH better. All we say was masses of white mist, of course it was amazing, but seeing it from the air or Zambia gives you more detail and a better perspective on the whole thing.
11am and were were on our way to Botswana...
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