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Vacation part II: To Zambia it is! Livingstone & Victoria Falls
First of all: sorry for the extreme delay with this follow-up from our trip in July. It has been seriously hectic times ever since that with both the university, social happenings and, at times, our work with ANSA (and all of this combined with both our laziness and internet-access problems).
The last blog entry ended where this one is starting. The Intercape bus to Zambia from Windhoek in July (about 21 hours long) took us through large parts of Namibia, including the Caprivi strip which is all the way up north, bordering Angola in the north and Botswana to the south. It is about 400 kilometres long, and Germany exchanged the area for Zanzibar -together with Helgoland - with the United Kingdom in 1890. The roads have since been upgraded from mud/dirt-roads to the tarred highway that is there today, dramatically increasing the access to exciting destinations in Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Since we took the evening bus we drove out of Windhoek just as the sun was setting over the city, so for the first part of the trip we couldn't see much. Yet, this was no crisis as we already drove much of the same way in our car when we went to Etosha, and we had some good books to accompany us. The night was freezing cold in the bus, especially because me and Siri was upstairs (it was a double-decker) all the way in the front, where the aircon basically consisted of a hole in which the outside air came straight through. But upon entering the Caprivi strip at early morning, as soon as the sun was setting it became scorching hot through the big windows. From having 3 sweaters and 2 blankets on we were now sweating in our t-shirts and shorts. But the drive was enjoyable nonetheless because the scenery changed from the extremely dry parts of Namibia to more lush forests. The Caprivi has no fences around it and borders a lot of national reserves, so we were kind of expecting to see groups of elephants or other wild animals alongside the road, but all we got to see was what they left behind - piles of s*** and broken trees. Nonetheless, the scenery was fascinating, with groups of traditional African villages situated alongside the road. These villages usually consist of 10-20 small thatched houses, with bonfires spread around and where the men is herding the livestock and women preparing the food. Alongside the road, as is the case almost anywhere you go in rural Africa (at least the places we have been to) we saw people of all ages walking in the middle of nowhere, often with a huge water-can or other large objects on their head. It is still amazing and unbelievable to see how the Africans are carrying all sorts of things on their head, seemingly without any difficulty at all...it would undoubtedly be useful to learn that skill.
Arriving at the Zambian border, where the border controls and immigration was in an old, tiny wooden house, we had to pay 50USD each for the visa. Just as we paid we remembered how we had read earlier that this entry could be free if only we had brought some of our used World Cup tickets. A bit annoying that we forgot, since 100 USD is a lot of money for us poor students...But it must be noted that we used a lot less time here than in most of the other borders we have gone through the last years - they were polite and effective, and it was basically no hassle at all. Back on the bus, we started by driving over the Zambezi river bridge - and Zambia immediately looked a lot different than the dry Namibia. This we have noticed in many of the countries we have been to - it is weird to see how the landscape and surroundings seems to change as you cross the borders. Anyway, we did not have to drive far before we could see the spray from the Victoria Falls (which typically is over 400 metreshigh!!), and after a few hours driving on the Zambian side we finally arrived in the historical city of Livingstone. The city itself is named after the famous Scottish explorer, David Livingstone, who became the first European to arrive in 1855, and today the city has about 100 000 citizens with tourism as the main industry sector.
We had a short but heavy walk in scorching heat from the bus station to the hostel where we had booked accommodation in advance; Fawlty Towers (!) which was based at a pretty central location, and which turned out to be a great choice (although there was no sign of neither Basil or Manuel). A tranquil and peaceful place with a nice garden and a swimming pool to relax in, decent rooms and friendly staff. What more can you ask for? It was already afternoon upon arrival, and after a great tip we got from a fellow Canadian traveller we decided to just drop the bags off in the room and take a taxi to a spot where we could enjoy the sun setting over Victoria Falls. We ended up sitting just at the waterfront of the Zambezi river at one of the most luxurious hotels we have ever seen - the Royal Livingstone. A man was playing his violin in the background with great skills setting the mood for images of older times, while the hippos were swimming not far from us on the river, and the amazing scenery and colours all blended into one of the most perfect 'pictures' and sunsets we have ever seen, further enhanced byus enjoying a cold Mosi Lager with the sights (local beer, named after Mosi oa-Tunya - the original name of the falls, which means 'the smoke that thunders'). We ended the evening by going out to a Mexican restaurant (yes, they do have those in Zambia as well) next to our hostel, having a nice dinner whilst enjoying the bronze final of the World Cup - Germany beating Uruguay.
Early morning on day two of our Zambian experience, and we decided to make the most out of the day. After having seen the Falls only from the topside last night, we were eager to gain a full experience of it, and we jumped on the free transport offer from the hostel. After having walked briefly around the entrance area, we bought our tickets and walked through the gate. Victoria Falls is seen as one of the seven Wonders in the World and it is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The national park was also a lot bigger than we thought initially, as we believed it was mostly coming in and then you could see the falls, take a few pictures and head back home. But we were amazed of both the size and the beauty of the whole national park, and we ended up spending the whole day! Firstly, we decided to walk on the side furthest away from the falls, alongside the Zimbabwean border on the one side, and a steep and deep rainforest valley on the other. Only a simple fence separated the park from the border control, and 5 metres from us where sitting busloads of Zimbabweans trying to get into Zambia. In not long, we suddenly met an American guy coming the opposite way, telling us that some Zimbabwean immigrants were jumping over the fence and into the park. And what do you know - two minutes later we run into one of them who wanted to sell us some things that he made. Fair enough, and he was polite enough as well, but still it is kind of surprising to see how bad the security between the borders are...Anyway, moving on we immediately recognized the sounds of some furry creatures we have come to know so well from Namibia and Harnas. We heard a hell of a fuss, and in a matter of seconds we had huge baboons running all around us, trying to attack one of their own which must have done something horrible to end up in this situation, as the gang chasing him undoubtedly had blood in their eyes. The commotion ended after a while, most likely (and sadly) with a lethal faith for the targeted one, but we kept on meeting baboons as they where everywhere around us here. They did not seem to mind us at all, and it is only natural that they are accustomed to people as there are thousands of tourists walking through everyday, however, you would not be able to approach them either as they were clearly wild in the righteous sense. We enjoyed their company in any case, as having baboons all around whilst wandering down through an impressive and magical rainforest ending up at the bottom with the fascinating Devils Cataract just adds to the experience
Proceeding back up the steep walk through the rainforest we continued now on the paths taking us closer to the actual Victoria Falls. We could hear the 'thunder' and feel the spray of the falls from really far away, and the closer we got, the louder and wetter it became, fuelling our excitement. Finally we arrived at a spot where you can rent rain-ponchos, which comes in handy at this part of year when the Falls are at its highest water levels- which means you will get W-E-T! These looked pretty funny on the both of us to be honest - more like huge green tents than anything else, but what the hell - at least they did their purpose! This became pretty clear when we had to walk over a hanging bridge between the gorges, where the power of the Falls was literally hitting us in the face - it was like a constant rainstorm, and those too cheap to hire the ponchos probably regretted this at their first step on to the bridge! Safely and relatively dry over on the other side we walked around the 'island' and tried to come to terms with the amazing sights we were now experiencing. We find it hard to describe how magnificent the views were. Sometimes the scenery is simply taking the breath from you, leaving you there gazing at how beautiful the world can be, so maybe then it is best to lend some words from David Livingstone himself. This is how he described his first meeting with the Falls:
"the whole scene was extremely beautiful; the banks and islands dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of color and form…no one can imagine the beauty of the view from any thing 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".
We spent quite some time at each of the many lookout points, trying to capture the magnificence of the Falls on camera. But no pictures can really justify it, so hopefully the images will be imprinted in our memory for a long time ahead! Nonetheless, the hours flew by without us noticing, and eventually it was time to head out. Before jumping on the transport back to the city of Livingstone (which is about a 15 minutes drive), we decided to spend some time in the classic African market just outside the entrance gates, to see if we could find some nice artefacts to bring back home. After the usual 'hustling and bustling' with the different salesmen we ended up with a pair of really nice traditional Zambian wooden masks - but as usual we didn't really think ahead - the masks were gigantic and we were now faced with the problem of bringing these back with us to South Africa on the plane But to hell with it - as we also have figured out during our travels, it usually turns out good in the end, as there is always a solution, and so it did this time as well
Arriving back at the hostel we did not have too much time on our hands as today was the big day - the World Cup final!! We wandered up the streets of Livingstone, first having dinner at a very African restaurant and watching some of the ceremony, before we eventually ended up in the Cinema where rumours said 'was the place to be'. In the ticket-line a few guys in front of us turned around after hearing me and Siri talking. Turned out it was these three crazy Norwegians, cycling from Norway to the southern-most point of Africa: http://www.aftenposten.no/reise/article3865825.ece. We had a brief chat with the guys and went inside the cinema to find a seat. However, the atmosphere was not what we was expecting - quiet and boring! So we got out of our seats as quickly as we sat down, and decided on heading down to the bar in the same Mexican restaurant we went to last night. That turned out to be a great choice, and we got to watch a thriller of a final where Spain got the winning goal just minutes before the penalty kicks.
The next morning, on our third day in Zambia, we considered doing one of the extreme amounts of activities on offer around the Zambezi river and Vic Falls, but decided against it after acknowledging that our student accounts would not be too happy with us- pricey! We will have to come back at another point when our wallets have less flies and more greens in them. However, we did decide to hop on what is called a sunset cruise - a colonial style experience on the Zambezi river. And what a fantastic experience this turned out to be! Seated at the upper deck on this open boat we had a panoramic view of the river, sipping to magnificent (and FREE) cocktails for two hours whilst watching hippos and crocodiles in the water, and herds of elephants and giraffes along the riverbanks, and with an excellent guide telling us all about the surroundings. The only negative side of this was our company on the deck - a filthy rich Russian family that cared more about their new Iphonesthan the beauty of what was happening around them. Still, it most definitely did not ruin our experience (one will meet fools wherever one goes), and when the sun started setting over the mighty Zambezi it was almost an out-of-this-world experience. Once again, for the third day in a row, this place provided evidence of how stunningly beautiful the world can be at its best! Upon arriving back at the shore we decided to continue the great night by enjoying a dinner at the hotel where we departed from. And after the dinner we continued to have an eventful night in the bar. A group of middle-aged French men was quite tipsy when we got there, and they got funnier for every minute that went by. They started doing magic tricks (as supposedly all drunk French people do) which was more humorous than impressive, and suddenly they all started cheering for Siri to come up to the 'stage' (aka the bar), where they used her in one of the magic tricks to Roger's great amusement J All in all, it was one of the great nights that will be remembered!
Our fourth day was more uneventful than the last ones. We decided to sleep in a bit after last nights events, and used the day to relax and just walk around in Livingstone, getting to know the town a bit more since we were leaving the next morning. We met some interesting personalities, amongst them an old South African man running a weird little souvenir shop, telling us some stories from the apartheid-days. He was desperate for a sale, and we decided to buy some Zimbabwean dollars from the worst days of inflation which he had stocked up. With that making us billionaires (one of the bills is 'worth' 100billion dollars), we went out and enjoyed a nice dinner at a resort situated in one of the 'canals' around the more secluded parts of the Zambezi river, with baboons running around as they were saying goodbye on our last Zambian night
Our last morning in Zambia started out good - we packed our stuff and had a nice breakfast whilst waiting for the transport to the airport. However, when we arrived at the security check at the airport we noticed something was wrong...the security guard asked us which plane we were on, with us answering "the flight to Joburg that leaves in 2 hours". He just shook his head and told us that this plane was about to leave now and the check-in counter was closed long ago - what a shock it was when we realized in that second that Roger had mistaken the departure time with 2 hours! But as written earlier in this blog entry - it usually works out in one way or another - and so it did in this case. We ran through security with our enormous Zambian masks and pleaded the guy behind the counter to let us on to the plane, which was basically ready to take off. We did not have our hopes up, to be honest. But after 2 intense minutes where he argued with his manager, we were to our great surprise allowed to run on board!! The Zambian people had during our whole stay amazed us with their friendliness and laidback attitude, but this was just the final confirmation - Zambia is an amazing place, and we are pretty sure we will come back!!
For those of you that managed to read through all of this - congratulations And for the future we will try to keep our stories a bit shorter! We will post pictures from our experiences in Namibia and Zambia this week, and we might be able to squeeze in a summary-blog from the last months in Stellenbosch as well.
We hope that all of you are doing good and enjoying life - feel free to let us know how it goes, that would be much appreciated
Until next time,
-Roger & Siri-
- comments
papsen Dere er kjempeflinke å fortelle, nesten som vi var med på reisen. Nå gleder vi oss til å komme på besøk om noen uker.
the curly one e savner ettermiddagsdatene på logen siri, og roger som kom når han var ferdig på jobb ;) klem
Heidi Er helt utrolog å lese dere er så flinke.:) Gleder oss masse nå til å treffe dere igjen,og farte rundt;) Sess veldig snart klemmer fra meg her heime i kalde kalde NORGE.....