Zambia, Day 2 - Victoria Falls

TJ: We launched our first full day in Zambia by plunging straight into the reason for our visit: an outing to Victoria Falls.  Although only half the height of Niagra Falls, Victoria Falls are over twice as wide.  The curtain of water spreads across for roughly two kilometers and sends a pillar of mist nearly 500 meters into the air.  This may be the beginning of the dry season here, but we still got drenched while crossing the razor bridge at the edge of the cliffs opposite the Falls.

Jess: We’re technically in the dry season as it’s winter here in Africa. I’m glad we came when we did because we were able to see the beautiful rocks and cliffs underlying the Falls, as well as the falls themselves. Apparently in warmer weather when there’s more water, the rocks are completely covered and all you can generally see of the Falls is the mist that drenches you and makes all the paths slippery and quite dangerous.

TJ: We went with a superb guide, Alfred.  When Jess spotted a pair of giraffes grazing as we sped to the Falls [1], he not only stopped the jeep and backed up, but then explained the differences between the local species and the ones we saw in South Africa (in short: smaller giraffes here with less distinct coloring and spots – very hard to see!).

Jess: Alfred actually started our tour of the Falls by walking us along the electric fence of a massive dam that diverts water into a hydroelectric plant (Me: TJ, what was that big water thing called again? TJ: Umm.. the waterfall?). We also saw a war monument. TJ was delighted.

TJ: The Victoria Falls themselves are stunning.  Really.  It takes everything in us to keep from posting every single last picture we took.  Equally impressive as the torrent of water were the two gorges that fed the water into a single rocky maelstrom below.

We had decided early on to spread out our fun across the week, so after the torrential beauty of the Falls, we spent the afternoon reading, sipping gins and tonic, and writing blog posts – in Word, no internet here – while sitting along the banks of the Zambezi River, with only the sounds of the hippos, monkeys, baboons, and occasional lions to disturb. [2]

Footnotes:

 1 – Jess: Our hotel is actually located in a national park, so leaving to go anywhere else involves a mini-safari.

2 – Jess: 45 minutes or so of yoga on our private patio overhanging the river was incredible. The baboon that came to visit seemed quite entertained, as did the various staff members who paused to peer oddly (but discreetly) at the white woman in skimpy clothing doing strange contortions.