Victoria Falls ~ Where are the Jays

Victoria Falls is a town and one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is not the widest nor the deepest waterfall rather it is the combination of width and depth/height of the falls that makes it so special. We would spend 2 nights in a lovely truly old hotel where you could hear the falls and see the mist from them. Our rooms were in the former stables building, but still quite quaint and old. For example, our bathroom had a true clawfoot tub in it. This hotel is on the Zimbabwean side of the falls so a new country for us. We wandered around the hotel some, it is truly an old Victorian era British hotel. As we wandered the hallways, we saw pictures from when the Royal family visited, lots of old travel posters pushing South Africa and relics and skulls. We would have tea on the terrace the next afternoon. There were also gorgeous murals around the bar named after Dr Livingstone the European founder of Victoria Falls. Then it was time for our Zambezi River cruise.

Banded mongooses

We had a boat just for our tour group. Jeff said he felt like he was back on the Mississippi River as we gently glided down the river. However, we saw a hippopotamus and a huge crocodile not exactly common on the Mississippi. We also had a very nice sunset on the river. According to my phone and T Mobile I also entered Zambia - bonus!

After the boat ride, we had dinner at the hotel's outdoor restaurant that was a buffet which includes some live dancing and singing by members of a local tribe. Guess who found themselves up there dancing. After dinner it was time for bed so we could get up in the morning and go to the falls. It wasn't as early of a wakeup call as on safari, but still no sleeping in for me especially since I was looking forward to seeing the falls.

Jeff taking a bow

The falls are something you hear and sense before you actually see them. The natives had named the falls "the smoke that thunders" which is appropriate because you can hear the roar from them from quite a distance and as you can see from our photos from the hotel the mist that rises from them rises so high that it is visible from a distance. Also, all that mist forms many rainbows.

I believe both Zimbabwe and Zambia have national parks along the falls. We visited the Zimbabwe park. There was a path to follow that was 50 feet or so from the edge with about 15 spots where you could walk up closer to the edge. Our guide gave us just under 2 hours to explore and Jeff and I used every minute of it and would have loved more time there (especially me). We saw the falls from the side where there is a smaller outcropping of one fall/cataract on its own all the way to the infamous bridge. We got wet at times from the mist, we had incredible views and we enjoyed it immensely. Oh right before the bridge there are adventure options such as rappelling or in a video I saw zip lining. We passed on all of that and simply walked. Hope you like all of the photos.

I should mention the bridge a bit more. It is considered an engineering marvel. It was built in England and then shipped to the falls where it was installed. At first the local engineers thought they had made a mistake because the 2 parts were not quite lining up with one piece above the other. However, after they let it sit overnight the 2 sides slid together. The engineers had correctly calculated what the temperature changes would do to the bridge. This bridge carries, people, cars and a train. It can only handle a train or cars at a time since it is the same roadbed for both. I believe people have a separate area.

After we were done at the falls, we headed to an elephant sanctuary. The hotel had an article on how to photograph Elephants in a Travel & Leisure publication, so Jeff tried out a few of the tips.

Note the veins in the Ears, African Elephants have larger ears to cool themselves.

There foot pads are wrinkly and act as shock absorbers

Such long eye lashes

After the elephants, we had time to explore the town and/or the hotel. Jeff and I visited the market in town, but they really cater to carvings and figurines which are not something we need. We did however wander into a couple of very nice art galleries and a jewelry store. No purchases made, but many things appreciated. I might note here that after the economic turmoil Zimbabwe had in the early 2000s, their current currency is the US dollar. There have been a couple of attempts to return to their own currency, but so far the attempts have failed. The people are very nice and polite well except for all the hucksters trying to sell you something, but it is a country with a troubled near past and it shows in some ways. As our guide said many things are held together with duct tape.

That evening was our farewell dinner with Tauck. We had a cocktail hour in one room - the Centenary Room (had to point out for my Centenary friends) and then a sit down multi course dinner in a neighboring gorgeous room. The room had silver ensconced dental molding on the ceiling and lots of inset fabric wall sections - very nice. It was sad to be leaving all these people who had been such a part of our lives for the last 2 weeks and who were all quite nice.

We made new friends and enjoyed the company of our fellow travelers

We weren't quite finished with the falls. After our guide mentioned the opportunity, Jeff, Kathy, Scott and I decided we wanted to take a helicopter ride over the falls. We booked one for 8am the next morning before we left for Johannesburg. Very wise decision on our parts. The ride gave us another dimension to the falls. We had heard that the falls had been moving backwards for hundreds of years - over time the water weakens the stone and a huge chunk falls and the falls/cataract moves backward to the calmer portion of the river. Flying over the falls you could see how narrow and deep the gorge was. Our pilot pointed out an area where they go white water rafting and Jeff and I both noticed a hydroelectric dam. We also flew over the ground near the falls where I saw our hotel. Then we saw hippos at the end of a small island in the river and finally giraffes near a watering hole inland a little bit. It was a great ending to a great trip.