Dad was quite surprised that we encountered no wildlife on our 450Km drive to the border with Zimbabwe at the Zambezi River. It just appeared to be miles of flat scrub and bush.


This section of the Zambezi River and the Zimbabwe border post is at the meeting of four countries, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia . We could reach Victoria Falls via either Zimbabwe or Zambia and had decided on Zimbabwe for the following reasons (despite Bob Mugabe’s excessive UK Visa charges). The crossing through Zambia involved an over crowded and expensive ferry with long queues. The road in Zambia to Livingstone is notoriously bad. The views of the falls from Zimbabwe are bigger and more spectacular, especially in this season. And finally Dad was in Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe in 1988 and was keen to revisit.


The journey up to the border was uneventful and through vast expanses of bush scrub. Surprisingly we encountered no animals despite the slightly historical road signage warnings. We completed Botswana customs with ease as we were the only people and entered into Zimbabwe underneath a decaying “Welcome to Zimbabwe” concrete arch. The customs post on the Zimbabwean side could not have been more of a contrast. Gone was the nice tarmac road and parking area and new customs post . In its place was an old prefab building, bizarre queuing system and tall customs officials hiding behind dark sunglasses. Under an ever gazing photo of President Bob, long forms were pushed at us for completion and officials gazed at us over the rims of their sunglasses. Eventually a more senior customs official emerged when it was apparent that we would have to pay more for our visas as we were British. Despite the 30C plus temperatures, he wore a huge grey full length woollen trench coat and looked like he had stepped out of a hollywood WW2 movie set. He also lacked a sense of humour, although once he had grasped our $50 bills he did seem slightly happier.


More forms followed, cross referencing and some sort of computer form was produced. Finally were allowed to proceed, but only after one last official (in his early 20s) had examined all the paperwork again in front of some rusty old iron gates.


Onto the road to Victoria Falls we proceeded and it was - completely devoid of traffic . Impala and Ground Hornbills were seemingly oblivious to our presence as we scurried along the narrow tarmac track. Concrete road signs and no road markings were reminders of the countries impoverished past.


Eventually after a hour we drove into Victoria Falls. It looked to me like it was from a different age with wooden street lamps fixed with ancient steel lights, crumpled buildings and not much else. Dad added “well at least its improved since I was last here!”  We went straight to the municipal camp ground in the centre of town which was plagued by large groups of Vervet monkeys and large trucks carrying teenagers on trans-African booze journeys. The camp group was large which was good, so we could avoid both of these loud and boisterous residents. A Warthog sauntered past as we were putting up the tents.


Actually the camp site was good, despite the noise and despite the strange cold nights that descended on us during our stay . Luckily we found an excellent local cafe (The Africa Cafe), set up in the Elephant Walk Craft Centre serving great locally produced food from their own gardens. The craft centre was equally interesting with a great local shop, Matsimela, complete with a very friendly owner specialising in soaps, shampoos moisturisers and the like from indigenous African plants. Dad had a foot massage there. There was also an excellent gallery (the Prime Art Gallery) run by two identical twins, both well over six foot tall, showcasing great paintings and sculptures from the famous Zimbabwean artist, Dominic Benhura. Finally there was the Ndau Collection jewellery shop specialising in creations based around African beads. The owner was very interesting and showed us around her workshop and her antique collection of African Beads. These included Merano Beads, Czech Beads, Ethiopian and Zimbabwean beads amassed over many years. I had no idea how important these beads were to trade and African culture and was fascinated with the Merano beads dating back to the 16th century .


Our first venture outside the town was for a Zambezi sunset cruise on an old flat bottomed river boat which was close to 100 years old. This 12 seater was less for the booze cruise trade and allowed us to get really close to the animals. A fact that was underlined by the way it was designed, so it could stay afloat after a Hippo attack (reassuringly). Actually Hippos were the first animals we encountered and one duly yawned when we approached allowing me to get some great snaps from all of five meters. Crocodiles, herons, monitor lizards, storks and just as the sun set a Giant Kingfisher made the trip most memorable. We were also able to see the spray from the falls, quite a way down stream.


Next up was a flight over the falls. This expensive excursion was recommended by everyone we had met, especially as the volume of water going over the falls this time of year was so great that the best view we could see would be from the sky. Taking the flight from the Zimbabwe side seemed somewhat foolhardy, but when we arrived the helicopter looked new enough and the outfit seemed most professional. There were mostly English booked on our flight, but as we waited for the helicopter to return from its first foray with another group, we were informed that it had had to abort its flight and come back after just 5 of the allotted 14 mins due to a mechanical fault. The faces of my fellow passengers looked concerned now, so I thought I would cheer everyone up with my bad recollections of Ryan Air and other awful aircraft experiences.


When we did eventually lift off in the replacement helicopter, the short flight was most memorable. I will never forget the views in the distance of the columns of spay emerging from the chasm of the falls as we approached. The sight from above was breathtaking and a rainbow came out over the falls to further enhance the experience. This was an expensive treat I would definitely recommend.


That night we ate at a local Lolas Spanish Tapas Restaurant run by a couple from…. Barcelona (surprisingly). Our short experience of Zim was certainly living up to my expectations of friendly locals, efficacious police and customs and a picture of Bob on every corner. Life was though obviously tough for most people. There seemed to be little food (except for that earmarked for the tourists), little work or prospects and a general sense of hopelessness from what I saw in this short visit. Many people admitted it was much better now (since the government adopted the US dollar as the currency) than it was in 2008. Many locals were still selling their 50,000 Billion Zimbabwean Dollar bills as souvenirs. It was also a little reminiscent of Cuba in a strange way. Especially because the government was charging the tourists as much as possible to raise money. This was an expensive experience.


The next trip was to the Falls themselves. The three hour walk along the edge of the chasm afforded fantastic views, the inevitable soaking and an amazing sensory experience. The roar was incredible and I was soaked to the skin right through my waterproofs. The spray excluded any close up views of the waterfall, but we had expected this. We ended up gazing at the Victoria Falls bridge at the end of the pathway in a relatively dry area and watching the army of thrill seekers bungy jumping off it. This walk was also well worth the soaking and we met a veteran of our helicopter flight, David from Porteshead, en route. He ended up joining us for afternoon tea at on the Stanley Terrace at the majestic Victoria Falls Hotel (built in 1904) overlooking the lawns with a picture postcard view of the Bridge and the Falls. The hotel surprisingly retained its colonial majesty and my father felt at home again and started to reminisce about his visit in 1988.


In fact the hotel experience was so good, Dad and I ventured back for an elegant dinner in the elaborate dinning room, which was very good. All in all an excellent way to round off our visit to Zimbabwe. We returned the next day to Botswana and after successfully negotiating the protracted Zim border formalities, went to camp at Senyati Safari Camp just outside Kesane and the Chobe National Park.