Pootle off to the local market in Livingstone. Told not to take photos as the natives are a bit restless. Ramshackle wooden framed stalls with tarpaulins slung over to protect from the sun. Pretty grubby but there’s anything and everything on offer. Woman pours a liquid into wine bottles. Is it the local brew? No. It’s paraffin. Local man asleep on the kerb but something disturbs him and he throws a rock at a taxi. A scuffle ensues until things calm down. He’s the local crazy by the looks of things.
Diversion around the courthouse as it’s now in session and the road in front is closed. Tour of the Livingstone Museum which has an excellent display about Dr Livingstone.
A highlight is seeing letters written by Livingstone on Newstead Abbey letterhead. It’s not too far from where I live and quite odd to be here in Africa but reading something written close to home. He actually wrote one of his books whilst staying at Newstead Abbey.
See the falls for the first time. Wow. Not much water flowing on the Zambian side so you can actually see the gorge in all its glory. The border between Zambia and Zimbabwe is the river and the only way to cross is over the 1905 bridge. Hot. Very hot. Humid. Very humid.
Time to cross the border. Stamped out of Zambia in a matter of minutes but my photo needs to be taken by Immigration for some reason.
Enter no-man’s land and are able to walk across the bridge into Zimbabwe. An amazing view of the falls and the downstream gorge.
Some nutter is zipping across the gorge on a wire a la Swallow’s Nest in Yalta. You can also pay exorbitant sums of money to hurl yourself off the bridge into the gorge below on a bungee. Not suicidal so refrain from all this exertion.
Midway across the bridge is a sign “You are now entering Zimbabwe”. Have always wanted to visit Zimbabwe. An overriding memory of news during my childhood in the 70s was Rhodesia and Ian Smith. Those of a certain age will remember John Craven’s Newsround and this was the main source of the young Taurean’s interest in Rhodesia. It always seemed to be in the news and what I remember most about John Craven’s Newsround (that and the Challenger disaster – what was the name of the old grey haired science reporter….Reg something (??)…..answers by email please). A colleague’s father was a Professor of Agriculture and was seconded to Harare University in 1996.
Remember when his father rang him at work from Harare one day and the conversation went along the lines of, “Dad….Dad….what was that? Dad…can you hear me……Dad…..(pause)……oh….it’s gunshot……(to us in the office)…..there’s shooting outside his office.”
Short drive to the Zimbabwean border post and told not to discuss anything political in public. You never know who is listening. Don’t argue with border officials. Just accept what they say. Otherwise we’ll be there a week waiting for passports.
Hand over passport, USD70 for a double entry visa and entry form. It could take 2hrs. But the passports are collected en masse for processing and told we can go through to visit the falls whilst they do the processing. Enter Zimbabwe technically without passport or visa in our possession. Hmmm.
As the buses have to clear customs which could take hours it’s a short walk to the falls visitor entrance.
Immediately obvious that this is all a bit upmarket compared to Zambia. The trail starts at the far end of the falls by the Livingstone monument and parallels the falls on the other side of the gorge. Wow. Wow. Wow. Amazing views. Rainbows. Mist. Water. Rock. Hot. Very hot. Humid. Very Humid.
Thankfully the falls are at low water flow so not drenched. Apparently at peak flow you can’t see your hand in front of you. Shall let the photos do the talking.
Passport and visa handed back. Took 2hrs to process. Rail station is a neat little affair set in a park. Everything seems clean. Probably due to the fact there was a recent UN Tourism conference here. There’s a relaxed, chilled out feel to Zimbabwe. Not like Zambia.
Evening sunset cruise on the Zambezi river to finish the day off. Local beer is Zambezi so enjoy a Zambezi on the Zambezi whilst wildlife spotting and watching the sunset. All rather relaxing. Snacks include kebabs of crocodile tails. Tastes like hedgehog.
