
Livingstone, full of tourists from around the world, offers many activities. The main attraction and reason for coming to Livingstone is Victoria Falls. To scope out the natural wonder, Ted, Julie and myself (Mary didn't go) took a helicopter ride over the falls area. It gave us a good view of the magnitude of the falls which are approximately 1 mile in length with a 300 foot drop. Unfortunately there was only one set of controls in the helicopter and the pilot wasn’t exactly Mr. personality, so I could not log my 15 minutes as second in command pilot.


We decided to go upscale for dinner at the Royal Livingstone, a five star hotel situated close to the falls. A beautiful setting, a sunset over the Zambezi to remember and a dinner that didn’t dent the pocketbook too bad made for a great evening.

Our guide picked us up early for a visit to the falls. Victoria Falls is spectacular. Borrowing from a teenage expression and an old movie, the phrase "Totally awesome dude" comes to mind. Billed as one of the natural wonders of the world, we can confirm that conclusion. September is nearing the end of the dry season, the water level is low (about 10% of its peak period) but the falls provide a photographic opportunity at every turn. In April, with the rainy season ending, the water is at its peak level and has been added to my bucket list to see again. Mary and I were at Niagara Falls earlier this year. I would not want to miss seeing Niagara, but the length, height and gorge scenes of Victoria are in another class.
To see the falls, expect to do some walking. I didn’t report my “locked knee” (old ACL injury with torn meniscus) that occurred in Chobe. Crawling across the bed to turn out a light locked it up solid in the wrong place, nice and painful, walking was difficult and experience told me it might not “unlock” for several days. Fortunately, Dr. Ted was able to utilize his medical specialty and manipulate the knee back into position and I am back to normal. I needed normal to do the walking at the Falls.
African liability concerns are a little relaxed so don’t expect the paths to be non-slippery or the railings over the precipices to be good and solid. We started our Victoria Falls tour on the Zambian side.



These views will impress you until you cross the border (more entry fees) to the Zimbabwe side. Zimbabwe is not the most politically stable country and some bad things are going on in parts of the country, so some warnings had been given about staying in Zimbabwe (on reflection, for a little adventure, I might stay at the Victoria Falls Hotel). However the Zimbabwe government has recognized the tourist trade as big bucks and the area around the falls seems to be very safe. The time in Zimbabwe is well worth it.


The views on the Zimbabwe side are even more spectacular and for future travelers a “do not miss”. I tried very hard to find that million dollar shot with the camera but the mist covers the lens and there is no way this amateur photographer can capture the magnitude of the falls.





We had prearranged for guides to pick us up and guide us on the tour of the falls. Now that we have done it, I would feel comfortable doing the falls without guides. They made it easier to get there, cross the borders and be assured you had a way back to the hotel, but in the end they didn’t add much flavor to the day.

There are plenty of activities in Livingstone such as jet boating the Zambezi, sunset cruises on the river, bungie jumping off the gorge bridge and more game safaris. We decided to take it easy and get some relaxation time before jumping on that short airplane ride back to the states. No regrets. We had been going full tilt for the past 17 days and a little relaxation was nice.


Ok – now for the wrap up
Number One!!!! - If you have the opportunity, see a little bit of Africa. It is immense in size. It is different than anything we know in the USA. It has sights that are beautiful and sights that are disturbing. Due to human and environmental pressures, things are going to change a lot in future years. We will never be able to see Africa as it was in years past and our definition of advancement of civilization is not going to make the sights, sounds and wildness of nature any better for the future.
Africa – what about its future? I am no expert and have seen only a small part of the continent, so I have no good basis for opinion, but that has never stopped me from making an observation. A large part of Africa has problems. It is undercapitalized. It is undereducated. Other than taking diamonds and minerals out of the ground, it has no sound basis for growing out of its problems. The people of Botswana , Zambia and even Zimbabwe were poor but seemed to be different than the natives of South Africa. Apartheid is over but the lingering effects of the system will not end for years.
Do’s and Don’t’s for a visit to South Africa
Bring a lot of $1 and $5 bills. Tipping might not be the custom of Africa, but once the people helping you know you are American, their expectations for a tip changes
Don’t bring a lot of clothes. Heavy bags are hard to tote around. Everything is casual. Expect to wear some clothes over and over and don’t get bothered by it.
Temperatures are hot in the day and cool in the night so layer your clothes. A fleece and a wind breaker are essential.
Research and understand the entry visa costs. If we had gotten a “multiple entry” visa for Zambia in advance from their US embassy, we would have saved some $’s.
Do visit Cape Town. It’s beauty and history really added to our trip. The trips to the Cape of Good Hope and Robben Island are must do’s. Get some guided tours and take in some of the history of apartheid, its ending and its lingering impact (tour some townships if possible). The Robben Island tour was a little disappointing because of the guide we had in the park so a personal guide would have been great for this trip. For a do over in Cape Town, we would miss the day of wine country tours (didn’t add much) and add a day of the on/off bus and hitting some museums.
Take an extra day in Livingstone for the activities. A lot of fun stuff that will get in your pocketbook but some would be nice to do. Too bad, so sad, I couldn’t do that 250 foot bungie jump.
Do pay attention to airline rules. Unlike US airlines, they do weigh the carry on baggage and anything over 18 pounds is not going on as carry on. Ted and Julie had some difficulty in Cape Town with this rule.
Do pay attention to passport requirements. South Africa demands 6 blank pages in the passport before you can get on the airplane in the US. For what reason, we do not know. We have all of the stamps from the countries we have been in on two pages. We witnessed one passenger in Atlanta being refused to get on the airplane because of this rule (ruined her vacation).
Do take in a private reserve safari. The animals are just as wild and you can get up much closer and personal for photo opportunities. Zulu Nyala was great but one or two days could have been shaved off the 6 days we had there. I wouldn’t want to miss some of the national parks for wildlife safaris and while we didn’t do the mobile safaris (camping in tents), that is on my extended bucket list (Mary says she will stay in the hotel).
Another extended bucket list item for myself is to spend much more time learning and seeing the diverse cultures of Africa. The myriad of languages spoken, the belief systems in place and the struggles with poverty, health and political stability are immense. We hardly got a toe wet on these things and perhaps this justifies another trip
Now for you photographers. I am no expert but here are my thoughts. If you want good wildlife photos, a pocket camera will not get them, although a pocket camera is essential for the casual shots. A good digital SLR camera with two zoom lenses are essential. My little Nikon D90 did the job. I use an economical Tamaron 17mm – 200 mm zoom for my general and close up lens and a little more fancy Nikon 70mm – 300mm zoom for the wildlife (get a good quality lens for this one). While I packed a 200mm-500mm zoom, it was dead weight and hardly was taken out of the case. Forget the tripod, it is also dead weight. However, a monopod is essential. Get a light monopod to hold the camera steady and leave the big lens and tripod at home. (I wish I had). Bring plenty of memory cards and the laptop is nice for back up.
For the wrap. A little over 3000 photos with maybe 100 good ones and 2 or 3 real good ones (the delete file will be full) will document some of our memories but the best memories can’t be adequately recorded in a photo or blog. This vacation was great. We had great friends Ted, Julie, Rich and Jean for travel companions. We had great planning by our Portland travel agent. We saw things we had never seen before and we are looking forward to going home and listening to FOX and CNN drone on about all of the problems in the US with a much better appreciation of just how little they are.
We are heading to the Livingstone airport in a couple of hours heading to Johannesburg for a 6 hour layover before catching our flight to Atlanta and then on to Orlando to arrive around noon on Sunday. The joys of flying will be with us for the next 24 hours. Oh joy!
Thanks for your comments on the blog and happy travels in the future
brjeffries
2010-10-02
Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts and pictures. What a great vacation!
Jeanne Curtis
2010-10-02
What a pleasure being an armchair traveler with you & Mary. Thank you for your insight and side comments on the human condition, governmental structures (or lack thereof) and the exquisite photos! Travel safe!
Jennie Polsgrove
2010-10-04
What an amazing trip-have so much enjoyed reading and seeing your pics-Victoria Falls is a place I would love to experience. Welcome Home and go enjoy your babies.
Jane and Sam
2010-10-04
We enjoyed your trip through your words and photos. Thank you for sharing.
Rich Josephson
2010-10-04
Rod: thanks for the chronicle of the trip. It was great to read about our time together and keep track of the rest of your trip. I see Roy was also your guide at V Falls. Hope you're back safely in Flordia and look forward to sharing photos. I've finally got mine in some order and will send you ones that may be worthy. Best.
Jan Beresford
2010-10-06
Welcome home; enjoyed taking the journey with you! Now, rest up that weary knee of yours.
Karen Ray
2010-12-22
A little late--but what a wonderful trip. I'm envious and will be picking your brain for our July, 2012 trip. Pictures were outstanding, writing very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing.
audrey
2011-01-01
thanks for the wonderful pictures and narrative-I enjoyed every bit of it and will be looking at it again-rod did an excellent job with the photography- if the gardening doesn't work another profession to check out-very interesting!!!!