Zambia promised to be interesting. Other than a day trip to the Zambian side of Victoria Falls 5 years previously we hadn’t visited before, and also I hadn’t done much research for Zambia prior to arrival as I have for other countries.
Through happenstance we had a friend joining us for a stretch in Zambia. With our schedule a mystery we had previously decided not to have anyone join us as the logistics would be too uncertain to plan when and where to meet or finish a get together. In this case Christian had some airline credit he had to use up, some free time from a different cancelled trip that happened to line up okay and most importantly he was good with our plan to drop him off anywhere in the bush when the time came that he had to head back and he would figure out a way home.
I’ve taken to calling Christian “The Zamerican”, as interestingly he was born in Lusaka in the 70’s to American parents who lived there for a few years. He returned to California as a toddler and this is his first visit back, so he was excited to become aquatinted with his country of birth.
We met up in Livingstone and started with a day trip to Victoria Falls the next day. The waterfall lies on the Zambian side of the border, but are best seen (I suppose open to debate, but in our opinion) from the Zimbabwe side of the border.
Jenny and I had spent a few days there in the dry season a before, but now Mosi-oa-Tunya, The Smoke That Thunders, as the waterfall is referred to in the local language, is a different animal! It has been a big rainy season, particularly upriver, and the Zambezi is in full flow. Driving out of Livingstone the road points straight at the falls and you can see the spray from the waterfall rising like a huge cloud of steam into the air, 100s of meters high, from 4 kilometers away.
The border and the falls are only a few kilometers out of Livingstone, so they lie within easy day excursion distance. We drove to the falls in the cruiser, and parked right at the border, walking distance to the falls in both countries. There are people everywhere and we struck up an agreement with one of the parking minders that hang about these sort of places to look after the car and we would tip him when we get back. One never knows how this is going to work out, and it always makes us nervous to leave our vehicle unattended for so long in a hectic place, but we feel you can’t miss things for this so we just go with it.
Customs and Immigration only took a few minutes, they are used to people walking across the border for the day, and we had been issued the “Kaza” visa, in Kazungula, which is a multiple entry visa for both Zambia and Zimbabwe, so there is no extra charge and no filing out visa forms to go back and forth for the day. Christian had not been given this, even though it’s the same price, so ask at immigration if you’re going into Zambia.
Walking from immigration there is the usual border messiness, with trucks parked all over the place, seemingly camped while waiting for customs or paperwork or who knows what else, and this brings its own little activity of small food vendors and other industries. There are also men on bicycles, piled high with cargo, cycling back and forth across the border, somehow immune to the usual border formalities and crossing the border without stopping. We were told they were smugglers, but not very sneaky, and we couldn’t figure out how their business model must have worked.
On top of this is the tourists, of which we saw few today, but I think that was unusual. There are trinket sellers and cold cokes and hawkers all pestering you for a sale, and this is the first time we had been at all given a hard sell on our journey. Really it was the first time we’d seen souvenirs at all for sale, but at least they were all pretty friendly, knowing it was a game of who would wear you down till you caved, but not to push so hard as to make you angry.
All of this activity happens just a couple hundred meters from one of the great natural wonders of the world, which is roaring away in the background and today was sending a fine mist down over all of this, the smugglers and the truck drivers and the touts and tourists all getting a slight damp shower, all the time.
Walking through the no mans land between the Zambia and Zimbabwe border, after 100m or so you get to the Victoria Falls Bridge, built in 1905 in just 14 months. It spans across the gorge, and you have the first view of the falls, and they were going off with an endless thunderous white amazing roar, the spray generating a perpetual rainbow across the chasm. We were impressed.
On our previous visit in the dry season almost two thirds of the falls, the part you see from the bridge, was dry, or nearly so. This eastern side is slightly higher, so water funnels toward the western end, and water is also siphoned off by the nearby hydro-electric power station. Thus in the low season there is little water east of Livingstone Island, an island the sits on the precipice of the falls, a bit west of the middle. We were able to actually walk out to Livingstone Island before (escorted, this is not allowed to go on your own) in the dry season. Now this would be completely impossible.
Drag the slider to compare high and low water levels. Photo 1: The falls in the low season, November 2013: Photo 2: The falls in May 2018
After continuing along the bridge we made our way through Zimbabwe customs, a bit hectic but only 20 minutes or so and we found ourselves in another country, just like that.
Zimbabwe is a fascinating country, and the town of Victoria Falls, is one of the longest visited tourist attractions in Zimbabwe, with people coming to see it not long after it’s “discovery” by the first European to set eyes on it, David Livingstone.
Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler Robert Mugabe, president since 1981, has just been deposed last fall and a new man, Emmerson Mnangagwa, from the same party and one of Mugabe’s old henchmen, is in charge. Zimbabweans and Africans are holding their breath a bit to see if change is in the air, or if he will be just the same with a different name. We weren’t able to talk to any Zimbabweans about this, but in South Africa many seem skeptical, but to me it almost seemed self protective, to insure against hope being squashed again, and there is a quiet underlying sense of optimism about the future.
Another ½ km or so past the border and we found ourselves at the entrance to the park for Vic Falls. Entry is $30 USD pp for Americans (less for SADC members or Zimbabweans), which seems steep, but considering that Vic Falls is a one of a kind is well worth the price of admission. There is a decent curio shop, small cafe and restrooms near the front of the park. After that it is on to the falls.
Depending on which portion you are along the falls are about about 100m high, and are a staggering 1.7km wide. So they are not he tallest falls, but with these dimensions and water continuously hurling itself into the chasm it is hard to fathom the scope of what we were witnessing. It’s also completely impossible to see it all at once from the park, as the spray is so thick and so high that at this time of year it obscures the view of the whole falls from any one point.
There is a thriving helicopter tourism business going as from the air is really the only way to take in the sight of the whole falls at once, but they are so successful that all of the town of Vic Falls and the parks on both sides is perpetually subject to the whine and throb of helicopter and ultralight engines, which becomes annoying after a while.
As we walked closer to the falls the vegetation becomes denser and greener and there is a mini rainforest that has developed along the edge of the falls, fed by the continual blanket of spray. The spray also continuously showered us. In the beginning it starts like a wet fog, then a fine spray. We got our first view of the western edge of the falls and it is a heart stopping wonder to behold, and we had seen it before. Christian had gone to the Zambian side the day before and was very impressed, already thinking that the view from this side was much better.
As we went along the face of the falls to each viewpoint we became subsequently wetter. The fine mist became spray, then spray became rain. Then the rain came from all directions, from up and down and sideways, as the huge volume of water drives swirls of air out of the gorge. At one point the spray is driving up at you from below, like a shower head pointed up, and after that we got so wet it was comical. At the various viewpoints sometimes we had a good view and sometimes it was such a wall of spray that you cannot see anything, not even the edge a few meters away, like being drenched with a fire hose.
We were laughing as we went along, as we couldn’t have been more wet if we’d jumped in a lake, so we squished along in our shoes and wrung out our shirts and laughed and enjoyed the spectacle. There were not many other tourists, and some were in a partially effective rain coats, getting wet with their sweat in the humid conditions instead of the spray from the falls, and others just as wet as us.
Thoroughly soaked we were ready for a bite to eat and to sit down, so we thought we’d attempt to have lunch at the Victoria Falls Hotel. The Vic Falls Hotel is an institution, the oldest hotel in the area, and with deep colonial roots has been visited by the Queen, other royalty, heads of state and no doubt an endless list of celebrities. It’s upmarket but also old fashioned, so not the chic eco chalets you can find throughout safari destinations. A colonial outpost in the very west of Zimbabwe in Victorian style. With it being so classy and us being dressed in now soaking wet t-shirts and shorts we weren’t sure they’d let us in, but it seemed worth a shot. No one gave us a passing glance, no doubt in part due to our white skin, a somewhat uncomfortable privilege.
The sprawling lawn was before us, and behind that the Victoria Falls Bridge, the perpetual rainbow from the spray and the huge tower of mist above the falls were all visible as we sat on the verandah in front of the hotel, and we had one of the best gin and tonics I’ve ever had (Botanist gin, Fitch and Leeds tonic, with lime and a thyme spring, but perhaps it was just the setting?). Spectacular. Lunch was excellent, and expensive, and we finished with a similarly wonderful coffee. Feeling rested and fortified we headed off on our walk back across the border.
There is a trail from the Vic Falls Hotel towards the falls and the border, and when Jenny and I had been here before 5 years ago a security guard from the hotel had escorted us along the trail, to shoe off hawkers and provide security. On that walk, about half way down the trail we came around a corner and he said “Elephant. Run!” I didn’t see it at first, and responded “What?” Looking around, I spotted the elephant at the side of the trail about 10 meters from us behind a bush, and the guard had already run into the bush, leaving us behind. So much for security! But it was good motivator, and Jenny and I dashed after him and the three of us hid behind a bush as the guard told us that “This one is an angry one.”
We waited a few minutes and a local came coasting down the trail on his bicycle and the guard shouted out a warning, in the local language so we don’t know exactly what he said, but judging from the cyclists reaction it must have been something along the lines of “Lookout dumbass, you’re about to be killed by an elephant!” With a surprised look on his face the cyclist promptly crashed his bicycle, left it in the trail and ran for cover to hide with us behind the bush.
It seems the locals have a fear of elephants, and this is justified. We learned that within the last year where we are camping a security guard had been killed by an elephant on the way to work, and in a separate event two tourists had also been killed, probably by the same elephant. I write this in no way to reflect poorly on Maramba River Lodge, but to illustrate that these animals are indeed wild and need to be accorded respect and caution, and also to show again the difficulty of coexisting in an area where wild animals are so prevalent. We enjoy this un-sanitized arrangement where we need to be responsible for ourselves, and we certainly don’t want wild animals to be culled on our behalf. For our part we’re prepared to be alert for their presence and to retreat to our vehicle or behind the closest handy tree to give them their space. I should also note that most elephants are peacefully munching on vegetation, not attacking people, but occasionally an angry old bull or a mother protecting her young will act aggressively. This normally results in people retreating, accomplishing the elephants goal, but on occasion there is a more violent outcome.
This time our walk down the trail yielded no elephant, and we made our way towards the border. Along the way a hawker joined us trying to sell trinkets. He introduced himself has Tomato (pronounced “toh-mah-to”) and proceeded to give us the hard sell, dropping his prices the closer we got to the border. It became tiresome and he was incessantly patient in hearing our refusals and persistent in continuing his offers. For about the seventh time I made another refusal to buy, saying something along the lines of “Look Tomato (foolishly pronouncing it in the American way, To-may-to) we aren’t buying anything” and he laughed hysterically, “My name isn’t To-may-to, it’s Toh-mah-to” again, laughing at my foolish error. It was pretty funny, and it took him awhile to get over this, and he kept giggling about it, but he then returned to his hard sell. Finally he gave up and attacked another group of tourists, and we were free.
Border formalities on the return were swift, there was no one else there, and at the end of our trek our vehicle was where we left it, unmolested. We retreated to our campsite at Maramba River Lodge and planned our next leg, to the Lower Zambezi National Park and surrounds.
Logistical Notes:
-Livingstone Guest House – Christian stayed at the Green Tree Lodge in Livingstone before meeting up with us, host’s name was Andrew. He was extremely knowledgeable and helpful, and a fantastic cook. Restaurant at the lodge was fantastic, including home made desert pastries. Bungalows were ~$80 USD per night, great low key place if you need a guest house.
-Camping – we stayed at the Maramba River Lodge, between Livingstone and the Falls. Great place, icy cold beers and a nice campsite right on the river. Good food though the menu was not all available. Camping was $15 pp/pn, I think. Firewood was extra, but reasonable. Power point and lights at the campsite. Ablutions were a bit of a walk, but clean and nice w/ hot water showers.
-Nico Insurance in downtown Livingstone was able to sell us COMESA, which may or may not actually cover us as a South African registered vehicle. This insurance business is messy and still a little uncertain, but here is what I know:
-We have primary comprehensive coverage for the vehicle through TuffStuff/Ream Insurance in South Africa.
-We are still required to purchase 3rd party liability in countries other than South Africa, though as I understand it in Namibia this is covered via a fuel surcharge, so is not an issue there.
-In Botswana 3rd party insurance is paid at customs and is easy.
-At the Kazungula border on the Zam side we bought 3rd party insurance, at the fixed price of 162 kw from an insurance company that I’ve forgotten the name of. They said they could provide COMESA as well, but after finishing most of the paperwork they made a call and said they no longer sell it to South African vehicles. This was somewhat annoying, the bait and switch, but I had read that it may be the case that SA registered vehicles cannot be covered by COMESA, so perhaps that was proving to be true.
-We went to Nico insurance in Livingstone and they would sell us COMESA, but only as a sort of “rider” on their own 3rd party insurance. This meant that if we wanted the COMESA coverage we would need to purchase 3rd party cover a second time. I was concerned about finding insurance in future countries, and so it seemed worth the extra cash now to avoid hassle in the future, and also reportedly COMESA is very common in the rest of East Africa and thus police officers are expecting to see it, so we hoped this would speed our passage through any checkpoints.
-COMESA coverage is based on duration and number of countries covered, so we paid for “3+” countries to maintain flexibility for 60 days of coverage, coming out to 330 kw (roughly $33 USD).
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