Africa Adventure With Grandkids II

Part II: Victoria Falls and Vicinity

We are not big on waterfalls, but big waterfalls are something to put on your travel bucket list. Our favorite (so far) is probably Iguazu (must see it from both Argentina and Brazil). We do have great memories of seeing Victoria Falls with our three girls on our big camping safari across Southern Africa long ago and now bringing grandkids back makes them even more special.

It paid off to take a gamble and fly on FastJet directly from Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. It saved us a day and a transfer in Johannesburg, but we were nervous until we were actually in the air as they had only one direct flight a day and if that didn’t work out we would have been in trouble.

All the worries melted away as we were greeted with a big smile by our local guide Prisca. I mentioned to Izrael, our local agent on our Whatsapp planing exchanges that we try to hire women guides wherever we can and he remembered and delivered. The connection and life information I get from a woman guide is closer and more interesting than what I can get from a man. We also love supporting women who value education and independence. It does often come with a price, though. In high season Prisca only sees her daughter who stays with her grandma in a village far away one weekend every 6 weeks. And that is after an 8-hour bus ride.

While not as cozy and personal as Yvonne’s African Affair we did have lovely accommodations at the Courtney Lodge in a quiet neighborhood of Victoria Falls town.

The lush garden with large trees was enchanting. The kids enjoyed a small pool in the evenings and I relished an hour of peace early mornings with a cup of coffee in the living room…

indulging in the collection of many classic books about Africa.

Knowing we will spend very little time in our bedrooms we opted for two triple rooms with boys having their own and girls our own. That was fun! (At least for us girls.)

Naturally, Victoria Falls was (or is it were?) the star of the show and we saw them from both sides, Zimbabwean and Zambian. Alas, we didn’t get a chance to see the falls from the sky by repeating the thrilling microflight experience we had on our first visit as the winds were too strong every day of our stay.

In local languages, the falls are called Mosi-oa-Tunya (= the smoke that thunders) and the white smoky mist is indeed mysteriously smoking up the atmosphere even in the low water season. The visit in the high water season gives you more water not only from the falls but unfortunately also from the sky.

Upon our guide’s recommendation we suppressed our curiosity and quickly walk on the side path all the way to the end of the gorge on Zimbabwean side as to avoid the influx of tourists. That proved to be a really smart strategy as we didn’t have to jostle for the views and photos at the best vistas.

Zambezi River at the Victoria Falls discharges a staggering eight million (+-) liters of water into the gorge every second. Victoria Falls is the world’s largest curtain of falling water, spanning 5,604 ft (1,708 m). Because of the low rain, our curtain is not continuous but we don’t mind and think the intermittent bare rock nicely emphasizes the gushing single strands or groups of falls.

One can get much closer to the water on the Zambian side which is also less visited.

It entails crossing the Victoria Bridge that has border posts on the approaches to both ends, and paying separate entry fees at combined $80 a pop. (Multiply that by 6!) And that is not a day ticket, just a single entry! Should you want to come again for sunset views you will be charged again. Highway robbery, indeed!

To quell the disappointment of not flying over the falls the two guys get a special tour of Victoria Bridge, which for Mirek, a bridge engineer his whole life, is a very special treat.

Then they meet us for dinner at the grand dame of hotels: Victoria Hotel.

Special sundowners, great food, impeccable service.

We have a surprise waiting for us in Zambia. When Izrael hears my son-in-law is missing a rhino to reach his Big 5 quota he arranges a “walking with rhinos” tour.

It is more like disembarking and letting the rhinos walk around you.

We are thrilled to be so close to these very rare and very endangered animals. We are even more thrilled to see two babies and hear of more pregnancies. In all of Zambia there are 11 white rhinos and 9 of those are here. They are heavily protected by armed guards day and night.

We have one more safari on the books, this time across the other border in Botswana.

For something different in the morning we board a small boat and explore the vast Chobe River. We quietly motor close to pods of hippos wallowing in mud, large crocodiles stealthily slithering from the banks into the water, buffalos drinking and Fish Eagles patiently observing from top braches of tall trees. They look very much like American Bald Eagles because they are indeed related, both of the same species of seas eagles.

and in the afternoon we have a last open vehicle safari to see the river from the banks.

Chobe National Park is best know for the extraordinary large population of elephants. There are an estimated 50,000 Kalahari elephants roaming the park and we never tire of seeing them.

There are also a supposed to be lots of lions in the park and our guide knows that the kids would really love to see them. On the way out she whips the vehicle around a bush (and illegally off the main path) and finaly we get to see one. As is the rule, he sleeps, but then rolls over and looks at us for a second before continuing his nap.

We will have to save leopards and cheetahs for another trip. But hopefully, the safari appetite has been whetted well.

We have been asking everyone to hold back on their shopping as we wanted to take everyone to the fantastic Zimbabwe craft market where we bought some of the Shona sculptures on our first visit.

It is quite overwhelming as there are literary thousands of sculptures of all sizes with vendors/carvers vying for our attention.

I am so impressed with Lilly. She has enough English under her belt that she has conversations with the guys and they adore her. An older gentleman insists on gifting her a necklace to remember Africa.

Her Dad is on the hunt for garden sculpture. Luckily we have an empty duffel bag from donations that we brought.

After much deliberation this one is chosen and carefully packed. It gets cushioned additionally by plenty of dirty laundry. And at the airport I do get called back before boarding by the security and dragged to the loading dock. Luckily I can show them the photo so I don’t have to unpack the sculpture. They load it bitterly complaining about how heavy the bag is.

The boys are exhausted and go home to pack, but we girls ask our guide Prisca to take us away from the tourist shops to the local market

where we buy beautiful handwoven baskets of different shapes and sizes from smiling ladies.

Can’t wait to hang them in their house as a lasting memento of our great African family adventure.