Tag: Victoria Falls

VICTORIA FALLS

WIKIPEDIA: While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, Victoria Falls is classified as the largest, based on its combined width of 1,708 metres (5,604 ft) and height of 108 metres (354 ft), resulting in the world’s largest sheet of falling water. Victoria Falls is roughly twice the height of North America’s Niagara Falls and well over twice the width of its Horseshoe Falls. In height and width Victoria Falls is rivalled only by Argentina and Brazil’s Iguazu Falls.

This was the next stop and our first “Non-Safari” part of the trip since we left Nairobi. We flew into Zambia and were driven to The Royal Livingstone Hotel which sits right on the edge of the Zambezi River and the top of Victoria Falls. We got there during a relatively dry part of the season so the Falls were not at the fullest. This was good because when they are you can barely see the falls for all the spray and mist it produces and you need to wear rain gear to go anywhere near it. As it was there was all the water, mist, thunder, and majesty you needed to see just how big Victoria Falls is. One of the evenings we were there we were treated to a ride on the Zambezi on the AFRICAN QUEEN, a local replica of a Paddle boat. It was a pleasant evening with abundant wildlife along the shores and a mild breeze to compliment the sunset. We had met two people earlier on our tour, J.D. and Julie, both from Santa Fe, so we shared the evening with them. They were doing essentially the same tour we were with Kensington so we had the pleasure of meeting up with them frequently at different stops … both very nice people to spend time with. Wildlife roamed freely around the hotel so it was not unusual to bump into a Zebra or an Ostrich while walking to your room. One of the features of the hotel was that during the low flow season you could walk out to nearly the center of the Falls, at the top, where you could swim in the ultimate infinity pool right on the edge of the drop (see Pictures). We found the Zambia side of the Falls to be difficult to tour so we told our guide we wanted to see the other side in Zimbabwe. He was hesitant as this would require a border crossing and he would have relinquish his job to a guide from Zimbabwe. We persevered and did the border crossing and picked up a new guide. The Zimbabwe side is definitely more impressive.

  • Approaching the Hotel
  • The lobby
  • Front gate
  • Tea on the Back Deck of the Hotel and the Zambezi River
  • Sunset Over the Falls
  • Our Room
  • Bill’s Tea
  • Friendly Locals
  • Nancy & Julie
  • Out On The River
  • Add J.D. & Bill
  • A Model of the Falls
  • The Falls from the Zambia side
  • An Aerial View
  • Dr Livingstone I Presume?
  • The Victoria Falls Bridge
  • Rafters Below From The Bridge
  • Trucks waiting to Cross the Border
  • An opportunity well Missed …. Bungee From the Bridge … withOld Cords!
  • The Border
  • Local Entertainers
  • Post Carvings
  • The Falls From the Zimbabwe Side … Much more water
  • Can You Hear It?
  • It Roars
  • the Livingstone Infinity Pool
  • From Farther away
  • From Way Away

Pretty spectacular!! Timing is quite important visiting these places so make sure you know what you want to see and go there at the right time to see it. A long way to travel to be disappointed. From the falls we proceeded farther into Zambia along the river and ended up in a wonderful lodge near the Chobe National Reserve.

AFRICA – AUGUST 2015

This was a trip of a lifetime. Nancy and I had talked of going to Africa on a Safari like trip for years … now we went. As I discussed earlier, we are not into big tours or big cities so we wanted to do this, more or less on our own, but with help. We booked our trip through Kensington Tours (you can find them on the internet) with the help of a couple of their travel experts.

Where We Wanted to Go

Rather than load all the pictures and narrative into one post I am going to split this trip up into several portions. I think that will allow them to load easier and faster and be easier to read. There will be pictures and more narrative in each of the subsections. It is difficult to comprehend how big Africa really is so I present this map, in which everything is to the same scale, as an aid to help understand.

Africa on Scale … Big as The U.S., China, India, and Most of Europe all Put Together!!

Our trip took us from our home in Florida to Nairobi, Kenya via France. From Nairobi we traveled by a Safari Vehicle out into the Maisai Mara which can best be described as a huge grassland area somewhat like our Great Plains in the Western U.S.

From the Maisai Mara in Kenya we crossed into Tanzania which hosts the Serengeti (which more people are familiar with). After saying Good-Bye to our Guide from Kenya, we processed through the border and entered Tanzania we met our Serengeti Guide. Each country licenses its own guides and to keep their people employed, they do not allow guides from other countries to work in theirs. Consequently, even with the same company, we switched guides. This was not bad thing and both guides were excellent. They did offer different ideas, opinions, beliefs, and stories so we enjoyed them all.

From Tanzania we flew, over Mount Kilimanjaro, to Zimbabwe where checked into the Royal Livingstone Hotel by Victoria Falls. We spent two days in Zimbabwe and Zambia touring the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls and traveled down river to Botswana and spent several days touring the Chobe National Reserve. While there we also crossed briefly into Namibia.

The Maisai Mara, The Serengeti, and The Chobe all were incredibly populated with animals. No cages, no bars, no barriers, they were just there, right in front of you … living, hunting, playing, killing, sleeping … it was incredible. From Botswana we flew to Cape Town, South Africa to end our Safari trip to Africa. We spent several days in Cape town and then flew out to Johannesburg and connected to a direct flight to Atlanta and home.

Where We Went

So now you have the outline of our trip. Please select Nairobi, The Maisai Mara, The Serengeti, Victoria Falls, Chobe National Reserve, and Cape Town posts to get the details and see the pictures. Thanks.