Livingstone and Victoria Falls, Day 1

Last weekend, I finally took a trip to Livingstone and Victoria Falls. I say finally because it's really one of the tourism highlights of Zambia, and folks here had been constantly asking why I hadn't gone yet.

On Friday, October 3rd, I left work at about 10 to head to the airport. When I arrived, I bumped into DJ and Malia from the Embassy. Malia is theU.S. Consul in Zambia, and DJ works in facilities management at the consulate. They were flying down so Malia could give presentations to U.S. citizens in the area about voting registration and some other issues. They were then going to stay the weekend.

The hour-long flight down was on a small prop plane that seated about 30 but was only half full. Malia and DJ gave me a lift to the Protea hotel where we were all staying, saving me about $10 in cab fare. The Protea in Livingstone is brand new and relatively nice; they clearly cut a few corners to save money (cheap masonry, cheap doors, etc.), but the design and colors in the room were slick and the common areas were attractive and relaxing. It probably would have been better to stay in a lodge in the national park or on the river, but I hadn't had time to do a good search (I planned the trip a week in advance) so the Protea was simple and cheap ($150/night) compared to the other upscale hotels (the Zambezi Sun and Royal Livingstone at $350 and up per night). The free internet and breakfast were nice additions. The photo at right is my room, sorry for the crappy lighting (I suck at this photography thing).

I had lunch with Malia and DJ and heard more about the Consul's job (interesting!) and about how the Foreign Service works in general (hmmm...), then got a cab to the falls. On the way there (about a 10 minute ride), we passed over a small bridge, and about 20 feet from the side of the road there was a herd of about 20 elephants bathing and drinking from a small stream. I wasn't quick enough to take photos, but it's a pretty common site around Livingstone so I wasn't too worried.

After arriving, I paid the $10 admission fee to the park and spent the next 2 hours walking around the paths and trails to stop at all the observation points. The photo to the left is of the bridge between Zambia (left side) and Zimbabwe. In the center of the bridge is the hut run by bungee jumping company.

I had originally thought I could walk out onto the bridge from the paths in the park so I could check out the view straight down and talk to the bungee guys and possibly make a booking for the next day. Turns out I couldn't get to the bridge, so I just took in the views and walked back the way I came. On the way back I was startled shitless by a few baboons that I hadn't noticed, and then got stared down by a huge male (probably close to 200 lbs.) who decided he didn't want to make way on the path to let me by. The big males are scary as shit because they could easily kill you, but if you stand your ground and chase them away they'll back down.

I was greeted on the path by one of many guys who walk through the park and try to scheme musungu like myself with their unofficial guide services or trinkets to sell. The guy who started following me was named Patrick, who first tried to impress me with his knowledge of U.S. history; I had to give him credit there because he knew all the U.S. presidents in order. He then told me his sad tale about rough life in Zimbabwe and tried to sell me a couple copper bracelets. I'm not that good at saying no or negotiating prices yet (though I'm getting better), so like a sucker I paid about $13 for two bracelets after he sweetened the deal by throwing in some Zimbabwean currency for free.

The currency was what I really wanted anyhow, though the bracelets will be nice gifts. Because the Zimbabwean economy is in the shitter, inflation is running at 40 million percent per year. The bill denominations I got from Patfick were $100, $50, and $25 billion dollars. Yep, BILLION. They were issued in May and July 2008, and the they expire at the end of the year. In August, the government removed 10 zeroes from the currency in order to simplify calculations, but my bills were printed before that. I was hoping to find a $250 billion note, the highest they printed before the consolidation, but I didn't see any all weekend. Zimbabweans have switched to a barter system for many goods because of the horrible inflation issues, caused by the horrible and unstable government, and it's really a sad state of affairs.

After getting hosed by Patrick, I walked back to the other side of the park to the observation areas closer to the falls themselves. It's currently the dry season in southern Africa, so the falls aren't very impressive at the moment. The photo to the left is the only one here I didn't take, and shows the falls at fuller strength during the rainy season. You'll notice that in the rest of my photos, they're really just cliffs about 360 feet high (over twice the height of Niagra Falls) over a gorge and small river at the bottom.

The gorges were nonetheless impressive as you can see, but I do want to come back during the rainy season at some point and see the falls then. During their height, you can't even walk anywhere near the park without getting soaked head to toe from the mist the falls kick up, and after comparing rainy season photos to the scenes I saw, I imagine it's breathtaking.

During the dry season, you can actually walk across the top of the falls out as far as Livingstone Island, but I decided to save that for the next day. I left the park and walked through the gates to the Zambezi Sun hotel, as I was told they have zebras and giraffe wandering the grounds. I didn't see any of those, but I did see about a bajillion little spider monkeys all over the place; apparently they're a HUGE pain for the hotel staff, and are bold enough to jump onto cafe tables and steal sugar packets and food from off people's plates.

The zebra and giraffe weren't out, so I walked down to the side of the river and wandered from the property of the Sun to that of the Royal Livingstone. The properties are owned by the same corporation, and had the river bank protected from wandering hippo with a jagged rock bed and electric fence, so I was relatively safe in my wanderings. Honestly, the two hotels were nice, but aside from their location right on the Zambezi river, I didn't think they were any nicer than the Protea, so I was happy with my choice. I stopped and sat on some of the lounge and swing chairs they have on the lawn and took in some views of the river. I saw a few hippos about 100+ yards away, but nothing more interesting than that. Lastly, I watched the rich people having their sundown dinners and drinks on a large wood patio restaurant over the river, and then roamed to the edge of the complex before walking back.

I was tired and sick of walking at this point, and a bit sweaty and dirty from the heat and dust, so I decided to forego the restaurant recommendations from my guidebook and just head back to the hotel. I was about 2 bites into the buffet when I got a call from John AG, a CDC'er who came out for the weekend also but on a later flight. He joined me for dinner and a beer at the bar, and after that we crashed for the night. More tomorrow!!