Date of Entry:November 17th 2016
Date of Writing:April 9th 2017
The day starts off in a very difficult way, in that it doesn’t really start. The truck that is. And nomads is far from helpful. It’s incredibly frustrating as were just 100 or so kilometers from our final destination of Victoria Falls Zimbabwe. Turns out Nomads has been aware of the issue since the night before, and has been promising mechanics ever since. Blessing and Honory just want to drive the truck anyway but they are told they’re not allowed to, so despite waking up early we’re left to sit around camp for about 3 hours waiting for the mechanic to show up.
He never does and so 3 hours later nomads decides to say “Oh okay just drive, no big deal.” The most frustrating thing about the whole thing is that nomad drivers aren’t allowed to contact the mechanics or anyone else to find out where they are, they can only call the nomad head office area and in turn get very little information. Quite a silly system which leads to much frustration with everyone, especially since today we’re headed to Victoria falls.
So around 930 am we’re off and heading to theZimbabwe border where we all have to stop and buy visas. Unfortunately as Canadians are visas are much more expensive than anyone else since we make it so impossible for people from Zimbabwe to come see us. Thanks Canada. At any rate Trig Matt and I pay our 75 american dollars and then we all wait outside. Luckily the border is quicker than Honory has led us to believe and a little more than 30 minutes after we’re on our way to the nearby border town of Victoria falls, named after… well you might be able to guess. We don;t even waste time going to our hotel, after a brief stop at the somewhat overpriced activity center (you can book rafting, helicopters, bungee jumping, gorge walks and much more but nothing is cheap here) we go straight to the parking lot of the attraction where Honory buys our entrance tickets (around 30 USD) and then we’re left to roam free.
I hurry in on my own through the irrepressible heat. This is one of the reasons I came to Africa, I’ve seen Niagra, so many other waterfalls around the world, been blown away by Iguazu, and dreamed of going here for years. It’s unfortunate that it’s low water season, but still I’m lucky to be here, and as I round a corner and catch my first glimpse of the falls, happiness floods over the frustration of the morning. I wander further, away from the main falls at first to help get some solitude there later and find a single local fisherman above the falls.
Eventually I head back towards the main set of cascades I’m knocked off my feet all over again. Supposedly now, in the heart of dry season, the waterflow is about 10 percent of peak capacity, my mind can barely fathom what that might look like, except for thinking of Iguazu in flood. Because now, at 10 percent, it’s incredible, huge flows of water plummeting down between 50 and 100 meters into a narrow gorge.
As I stand marvelling at this wonder of nature marking the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe I snap some pictures of my friend and shake my head at the idea that we’ve been allotted less than 3 hours in this natural paradise. There’s also beautiful red flowers all along the simple but well kept trails through the park. The only problem here is that the trails are all barred off a decent distance back from the edges of the cliffs. I guess when there’s more water there’s probably good reason, but right
As I stand in various places in the epicenter of the falls taking pictures and just closing my eyes and enjoying the time there i decide I do have to get at least one paint me jack, so as norman walks by I snap some photos for him and then get these done.
From here I head on out along the gorge which seems endless. Now in high water season all of these cliffs are covered in cascading water, now though it is still impressive as the rapids in the distance below rush and occasional tiny trickles of water tumble to the stones below. I meet my Brazilian friends out there in the unbelievable heat and we take some photos for each other.
Regretfully my time is up and I don’t wan’t to be running back to the truck. We stay in a hotel tonight, and one with air conditioning, before we say our goodbyes in the morning, so sad as I am to leave, I don’t want to miss the A.C. I head back fast as I can along the trails, encountering a young antelope of some kind and a much older one.. Back at the restaurant everyone has been waiting for me and some are sitting down to eat, so we end up 10 minutes late to the truck anyway. Oh well, at least there’s some velvet monkeys around to entertain me.
Today the morning put me in a bad mood and the tension of sharing a truck with so many people for so long didn’t help my mood. Victoria falls remedied that and it is indeed an incredible place, but seeing it now in low water season, it’s definitely loses in direct comparison to Iguazu, but that doesn’t mean it’s not incredible. Go see it, and I know at some point in my life I’ll get back there when the water’s levels high. More Victoria Falls coverage is coming up in the next two blogs, when I’m feeling more positive and much more adventurous. Stay tuned,
