Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe

We arrived in Zimbabwe after getting up at 3:30 am to catch a 6:00 am flight from Cape Town. I stayed up way too late updating the blog to be coherent at that hour, but somehow managed to get my act together for the van ride, two flights and a bus to our hotel. I was NOT functioning enough, however, to try to solve my father’s algebraic equation that he posed in our discussion about Celsius vs. Fahrenheit - fortunately for me, Eric was up to the task.

Upon arrival we settled in to yet another amazing location (Ilala Lodge in the town of Victoria Falls) and ventured out for a tour. I had no idea what to expect, except that it must be pretty darn amazing to be called one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. Our drive through the town and into our hotel area had me doubtful that this would be the wonder that we had heard about. But the rooms are beautiful and sitting out on the porch, as I am now while writing this post, we can see the spray from the falls and hear the thunder, so I was excited to explore.

Our guide gave us some history of the falls and and a very interesting geological explanation of how this was all formed and evolving. Then we were off for a hike. After a short shady walk through the woods, with monkeys appearing and disappearing, we turned the corner and our breath was taken away with a view of the most vivid rainbow I have ever seen. That rainbow, combined with the water crashing down with such thunder, made me realize in a split second that I should never have doubted those who named this one of the Seven Wonders.

We continued on many paths along the falls, walking out and back to points with various views and levels of spay. By the time we neared the end of the long stretch, we were quite wet and in awe of nature and all its glory. 

At the end of the walk we reached Danger Point, aptly named for it’s wet slippery rock surface, no railing or wall holding us back, and a view across the chasm to the Zambia side of the Zambezi river. Fortunately we didn’t fall, so we got to see views of the bridge connecting the two countries (Zimbabwe and Zambia) where we could have decided to bungee jump (no, we didn’t).

Back to the hotel for a nice dinner and early bedtime - we were exhausted. We have two more days here and then we head home.