Practically un-slept we descend the so called luxury bus from Namibia as we pass through Zambian immigration for the second time in one day, luckily this time we're don't experience the mess of hands and passports when we came in. We hitch our bags onto our backs, fronts and sides, pass through the gates and start walking to the Zimbabwean border. You can see the cloud of off spray from kilometers away and as we cross the bridge we catch the first glimpse of Mosi-oa-Tunya (The Smoke that Thunders), or as Dr Livingstone coined, Victoria Falls.
We bought a coke on the first day of our trip for $2,250,000,000 and when we left a few days later the price had increased to $5,500,000,000, no wonder the banks had run out of money. We all exchanged some billions for souvenirs and took photos of them, but under the humor it portrays the current political situation that's facing Zimbabwe at the moment. Victoria Falls town is an isolated pocked of the country, hiding in the corner with access to food across the border, and relatively safe from the disasters of that are plaguing the rest of the country. There are posters for the opposition on street posts and the people are optimistic about the future, it's hard not to when you can't imagine things getting worse, but worse is exactly what has happened since I left yesterday. The opposition has pulled out of the run off elections due to be held next week, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he didn't want to be a part of this illegal, bloody election saying "We in the MDC cannot ask them (the voters) to cast their vote on June 27, when that vote could cost them their lives", especially if the result wont be implemented. With regional governments, especially South Africa refusing to intervene and the UN being blocked by Russia and China, we can only hope that Mugabe and his stooges will die before the rest of the population will, as this looks like the only way there will be any progress.
We felt bad for little Botswana as we had bypassed her en-route to Victoria Falls, but we managed to do a little day trip out to Chobe National Park and I'm really glad we did. A river cruse on the Chobe River followed by a safari drive along the reserve bordering the river saw us face to face with a heard of Hippos digging themselves into the mud and basking in the sun. We saw three Lions sleeping, the cubs paw resting over his mothers, as well as Giraffe, which run in the most unusual way. They run fast, but it appears as if they are running in slow motion.
The Zambezi River and consequently Victoria Falls forms the international border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. It's not the highest or widest falls, but at 1.7km long and 108m high it has the largest base, creating the largest sheet of water in the world and outputs a phenomenal 1,000,000 liters per second! When Dr Livingstone first discovered the falls he wrote in his journal "On sights as beautiful as these, angels in their flight must have gazed" so it figures that it is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The spray from the falls can be seen from kilometers away as it can reach up to 400m in the air, and when it comes back down to earth you can get saturated. It pelts down harder than Melbourne rain.
The unusual form of Victoria Falls enables virtually the whole width of the falls to be viewed face-on, at the same level as the top, from as close as 60 meters, because the whole Zambezi River drops into a deep gorge.
We viewed the falls from both sides and they both complimented each other, although if I were to choose, it would defiantly be the Zimbabwean side. The Zambian side is a lot closer to the falls (and consequently a lot wetter) and you can view them parallel to the falls. The Zimbabwean side is a little but further away which gives you perspective of the falls. It's also a lot larger, so you can view different sections of the falls right the way along. It's also close to Victoria Falls town; where as Livingstone on the Zambian side is a good 10kms away.
Every turn you make sees you in front on yet another spectacular rainbow, but the mother of rainbows was when we attended the "lunar rainbow" in Zimbabwe. For the first few hours after the sun has set and moon rises, you can see a rainbow created by the full moon cast over the mist of the falls, a sight I shant forget any time soon.
Next Stop Lusaka, so until then "Fambai Zvakanaka"
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_zimbabwe
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