Zimbabwe part 2: Victoria Falls

When we left Chipangali, Nicky gave us 8 bottles of frozen water (some of them to bribe the cops with), 10 sandwiches, 4 eggs and 4 apples for on the road. She said that we would get hungry while driving towards Victoria Falls (Vic Falls). After a couple of hours we understood why she said we would get hungry, there simply wasn’t anything to buy on the road. The drive to Vic Falls would take us about 5 to 6 hours and there were no buildings or shops during the whole road. So thank you Nicky!

We arrived in Vic Falls safely and found the way to our hostel. The rate of our room at Victoria Falls Backpackers was US$50 a night. After we saw our room, we understood that prices in Vic Falls would be way higher than the rest of Southern Africa, like Western touristic places high. We had a nice dinner for around US$60, which really tasted good. It was steak for me and François had crocodile.

That night we called John, the taxi driver who always drove the Chipangali volunteers whenever they are in Vic Falls. He brought us to a local bar/club where no tourists come. The bouncers told us that if we would have any troubles with anybody, they would help us. (Yes, we were the only white persons and they didn’t know if we would get into trouble.) Luckily nothing bad happened, we had some drinks, dances and conversations. Most of them just wanted to talk a little bit, others just asked for a beer. We had conversations with Trymore for almost the whole evening/night in local bar/club. Very friendly fellow he was. He explained to me that in Zimbabwe 70% of the population is female and also 70% of new-borns are girls. His name also came from this (so he said, not sure if it was a joke or not), when he was born, his parents wanted to “try more” to get more boys. I can’t recall if it actually worked or not.

For the next morning we had planned a trip for only US$98 a person (yes, Western prices.) So we went (yes, with hangover) to the Devil’s Pool at Vic Falls to have a swim on top of the waterfall. We went into Zambia (yes, we’ve officially been to Zambia) with a taxi. Then from a resort, where the zebras, some species of bok and giraffes walked in the garden and crocodiles and hippo’s chilled in the river, we went with a boat (yes in that same river) to an island on top of the waterfalls. There we first had a swim (yes in that same river) towards the so-called Devil’s Pool. Here we could swim in a small area where there was a current, but it wasn’t that strong. It was about 3m deep and at the edge there was some space to pose for a photo. It was like a cold in-river bubble-less Jacuzzi, but then with a current that could take you 100m off the waterfall, if you let it take you over the edge. This was as dangerous as it sounds; the edge really was, the edge of the waterfall. The guy who took our pictures was walking that same edge to take the pictures, like he was walking the sidewalk. No fear at all, while we almost shitted ourselves when only touching that same edge. An incredible experience without a doubt!

In the afternoon François went to jump off a cliff (70+ metres) on a kind of bungee cord, but then a swing motion (after a free-fall of 70 metres). He really liked it so it had been an incredible adrenalin boost for him. Since I am not tired of my life (yet), I skipped this one.

For dinner we decided to have another fancy dinner, because the next day we would head out into Botswana’s Chobe Natioal Park. It was a good call, because in Botswana, we would return to camping again.