PanicVantura to Hot-lanta to Jo'BurgWelcome to South AfricaVictoria FallsFirst SafariMicrolightsChobe Safari LodgeChobe Game DrivesMoremi Game ReserveCape Town, South Africa
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Livingstone, Zambia
We woke up at around 7 and the hostel owner Rob took us to the airport. We were able to head to the Kulula airlines desk and switch some flights around to accommodate the flight FUBAR by Air Botswana. We then tried to check into our flight to Zambia. The carry on limit for the flight was 8kg. The checked baggage limit was 40kg. My pelican case weighed around 15kg so they were not going to let me carry it on. But it also put our checked baggage over the combined 40kg limit. At this point, the conversation went something like this:
Clerk: “What’s in the case?”
Cody: “A camera and some other stuff”
Clerk: “WHAT?!?! WE CAN”T CHECK THAT!!! IT’S VALUABLE!”
Cody: “Ok”
Clerk: “Can you take the camera out?”
Cody: “Yeah, but the case with the rest of the stuff in it is still valuable and it will still be over the limit (takes camera out)…see.”
Clerk: “Ok, go show the empty case to the guy at the customs desk.”
Cody: “Ok, (goes to customs). Hey customs guy, check out this empty case.”
Customs: “Why?”
Cody: “I don’t know, they want your opinion on whether or not I can carry it on.”
Customs: “Umm, ok…nice case.”
Cody: “So I can carry it on?”
Customs: “Sure, why not? (shoots a wtf? look and a wave across room to clerk at ticket desk)”
Cody: “Ok, thanks. (goes back to ticket desk)”
Clerk: “Ok, you can carry them on separately”
Cody: “GREAT!”
As soon as we rounded the corner out of sight, we packed everything back into the case and had no trouble from there on out. On our way to the terminal, we picked up a South African power adapter (three round 1/4 inch lugs arrayed in a 1.5 inch triangle that could probably handle 480V 3 phase), a Nestle “milky”, vitamin water “Revive”, 2 dry meat sticks “1 Spice Wurst, and 1 BBQ Dry Wurst”, some bacon flavored Pringles, and a Nestle “Bar One Nougat”. We reached our gate and nobody was there, but we met a very well dressed business traveler from Dallas TX who was waiting for the same flight we were. The guy was probably gay (he was wearing very expensive shoes, bright red dress socks, tailored slacks, very fashionable glasses, and a fancy blazer with some kind of embroidered crest on the pocket), but he was good conversation. We chowed down on our meat sticks while the guy recommended basically all of the stuff that we are already planning on doing for the rest of the trip.
We eventually boarded a bus which took us out onto the tarmac so that we could board our plane via a classy staircase. We were flying on a very new Airbus A319-200, and for some reason they had put us in business class! The plane was only about 25% full, so we had the front all to ourselves. For the next hour and a half we lounged in double money wide butt leather Recaro’s, while we were pampered with Schweppes lemonade and “mustard beef” sandwiches. We landed at the tiny Livingstone airport in Zambia, stepped out into the beautiful warm sunny afternoon, and were eventually picked up and whisked off to the Fawlty Towers Hostel, where we were greeted by the gate guard and some soldiers with AK’s slung over their shoulders. Despite the name, Fawlty Towers is a very nice place (as I write this, I am lounging on the slate deck of a shade dappled swimming pool). We checked into our room “Miombo” (which I think is a kind of tree or bush), and settled in.
After preparing for the afternoon, we walked across the street to the ATM and took out a cool 1 Million Kwatcha cash (about 50 bucks). We then caught a taxi to the Victoria Falls Park. Victoria falls was incredible. As with most everything, photos really don’t do it justice. We first took a path that led us out to an island formation directly across the gorge from the falls at the same level as the top where the water runs over the edge. We laughed as we passed a “poncho rental” hut along the way, thinking to ourselves “why the hell would we need that? It’s hot and sunny outside”. About 10 meters further down the trail, we encountered a light mist. Slightly further on, this turned into a full blown hurricane driven horizontal rain! It literally felt like standing in the middle of a team of guys spraying you with pressure washers. So much water falls with so much force that it vaporizes upon impact and is shot straight back up into the air. Along the way, it condenses into rain while it is being blown straight up out of the gorge and about 100m into the sky. You can actually see this from several kilometers away from the falls. It looks like the falls are constantly under really weird low clouds.
We crossed the single file steel “razor bridge” out to the island, and were at this point completely soaked through. From the island, you couldn’t even see the falls a few meters away because of all the mist blowing around, but you could still hear them pounding like crazy. It was pretty incredible.
On our way back across the razor bridge, we came upon a group of local teenagers in their underwear who would run full speed at the bridge barefoot and try and slide all the way across. Next, we took a path about a kilometer long and several hundred meters straight down, which led us down to the bottom of the gorge to the “boiling pot”. Here the river makes a 90 degree turn and forms crazy whirlpools. On the way down, we saw some sort of crazy giant rodent with about 4 feisty babies (probably a “Greater Canerat”). We hiked back up out of the gorge, and then took the third trail along the cliffs edge on the side of the gorge opposite the waterfall. On our way, we encountered several baboons grooming on the side of the path. They were not at all phased by us as we walked by, and one of them even had his tail laid out across the path. We had a great sunset view of the river, and we were able to watch crazy people bungee jumping off of the bridge over the gorge connecting Zambia to Zimbabwe.
We hiked back to the park entrance where our taxi driver picked us up and drove us back to FT. We changed clothes, dried off, and then each got a half hour leg and back massage (life’s rough!). After this, we showered and headed across the street to a recommended African food restaurant named Ngoma Zanga, which means “my drums”. I am not sure what language this is in, because as the taxi driver explained to us, there are over 73 different languages in Zambia alone. Even though he was born about 100km away, the language is totally different. The food at Ngoma Zanga was good. Nic had “Inkoko Yakamushi with rice, kandolo, and impwa” (basically, chicken in a tomato onion sauce, rice, sweet potato, and wild eggplant). I had “Beef Mama Africa…beef in mama’s secret ingredient” with Nshima (a blump of some kind of rice or grain meal), Kandolo, and dry beans. While we ate, the place lived up to its name as two rockin marimba players put on a great live show. After dinner, we headed back to FT and hit the sack.
So far, Livingstone in Zambia reminds me of a giant “Off Road Survivors, Piney Creek” trip. It’s kind of like camping only there are buildings around. It’s weird. The streets are pot-holed pavement or washboard dirt, the buildings are mostly concrete block construction, the air kind of always smells like a camp fire, and there are dirty toyota trucks everywhere.
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