Day 18 – Victoria Falls

Today was another fairly early rise. A breakfast buffet greeted us when we came downstairs. Shortly thereafter we were met by the now familiar Thompson’s van to take us on a tour of the Falls. Victoria Falls is one of the 7 modern natural wonders of the world along with the Grand Canyon, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Harbor in Rio de Janeiro, the Northern Lights of Alaska, Mt. Everest, and the Paricutin Volcano. It was HUGE and very impressive, and our guide knew all the great vantage points! What a wonderful morning! We last visited this in 1980 and our memories of that time were not nearly as vivid as it appeared today.

After the Falls we went by the old Victoria Falls hotel, which was built in 1913. It was built by Cecil B. Rhodes, as was the rail line and the bridge that separates Zambia from Zimbabwe today (back then it was the bridge between Northern and Southern Rhodesia). The hotel was situated so that it had a clear view of the falls out the back veranda so folks could take their morning and afternoon tea, not to mention their evening gin and tonics, while taking in the grand view. We had stayed here in 1980 and took our Christmas card photo there. It has been refurbished to its colonial day splendor and was like stepping back in time a hundred years or more.

The afternoon was spent doing “guess what?,” going to the curio market! These guys were ruthless in their desire to sell stuff and in the open air market we were set upon by vendors who would not leave us alone long enough to even look, so I hired some “tourist police” to go with us and protect us. In this manner we were able to make several purchases of masks, walking sticks, carvings, traditional eating/serving plates/bowls, etc. The eating bowls are an interesting custom. They required that before everyone could eat from the communal serving plate (a wooden platter with bowl edges) for dinner that they had to make peace with each other. If brother and sister were fighting they either did not eat or were forced to reconcile before they did. It is not a bad practice, actually.

That evening we had reservations at the BOMA, a restaurant on the grounds of the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge. It was about a third of a mile away, but at night you were required to take a van. It appears that predators are out at night and it is not safe to walk, even on the ground! When we arrived we were greeted by a ceremony where they gave us a traditional covering and issued us inside to our table. It was a wonderful open-air boma with a thatched roof to protect from the hot sun and possible rain. The evening consisted of wonderful traditional food, face painting, fortune telling by a witch doctor who threw bones and chestnut shells, singing, dancing and drumming lessons. It was really quite fun! Reese was the first to lead off in dancing and he did an admirable job!

We returned to the main hotel, had a night-cap and went to our rooms to read. As this area was a potential malaria area, we were forced to sleep under mosquito netting at night. It was not hardship as the four poster bed with the netting was quite romantic! Now this was an exciting day!