Victoria Falls

Traveling can be quite the adventure, especially when traveling in a foreign country, but "angels," people graciously lending a helpful hand, helped us get to and from Livingstone, Zambia so that we could enjoy our travels!

As a disclaimer, this blog might be a bit lengthy, but I assure you that the adventures are well worth the read! But, you may want to read a little at a time!

A background geography lesson - Victoria Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, is in between two countries, Zambia and Zimbabwe, which means one may go to either country to experience two different views of the same falls. Jayne, Leslie, and I decided to head to the Zambian side to the town Livingstone, while the rest of the team was heading to Zimbabwe. So, our/us/we is referring to Jayne, Les, and I. Check out my teammates blogs for all of their adventures, too!

Tuesday/Wednesday: The Bus
1st Angel: A woman behind us stopped people from cutting in line Tuesday morning while standing in line to buy bus tickets. Thanks to her defending her spot in line, the three of us got 3 of the last 5 tickets for Tuesday's bus. The woman that was trying to cut in line was the first person not to get a ticket. Karma, eh? If we wouldn't have gotten a bus ticket for Tuesday, we would have had to wait to leave until Thursday. Thank goodness that she stood her ground!

2nd Angel: A man who organized the chaos of loading the bus Tuesday evening with the luggage and the many, many comforters (A little odd I know, but they transport the comforters to Zambia to sell. Who knew comforters were such a hot commodity?) Since there are so many items that are being transported across the border, sometimes luggage cannot fit on the bus and those whose luggage isn't on the bus get a refund and have to try to get a ticket for the next day. However, this man organized lines to keep the crowd from getting pushy! And our luggage got on the bus! Woo-hoo!

We left Tuesday at 9:30 and arrived at the Botswana-Zambia border at 7:30 the next morning. We had met this nice girl our age that was traveling to Tanzania for university on Tuesday night while we waited to load the bus . Lo and behold, she become Angel #3. She helped us go through immigration/customs out of Botswana, walk to the ferry that took us across the river to the Zambia side, go through immigration/customs in Zambia, and exchange Botswana Pula for Zambia Kwacha. All of this we probably could have discovered one way or another on our own, but she was great company during the long wait (~ 3 1/2 hours to get through all the customs in both countries!) and it was so much more easier with her guidance!

We arrived in Livingstone at 11:30 and spent the afternoon exploring our new surroundings. The bus ride was exhausting, so Wednesday night relaxed at Jollyboys, the backpackers we were staying at, and met some of the other people from across the world, literally, that were staying there, too.

Thursday: The Market & Sunset Cruise

We ate scones and drank coffee at this quaint bakery in Livingstone late Thursday morning and walked around the town, where we ended up in the craft market of Livingstone. We spent the late morning and early afternoon browsing the handmade crafts. Such craftsmanship! We then headed back to Jollyboys to get aboard a small pontoon-like boat for a Sunset Cruise down the Zambezi River. It was so beautiful! We saw hippos, elephants, a crocodile, lots of birds, and a beautiful sunset as we ate our dinner on the water! A beautiful end to a great day in Livingstone!

Hungry hungry hippos!

Les, me, and Jayne on the upper deck of the boat

Friday: Victoria Falls
Friday I do believe I encountered a host of angels that kept me safe as I did this...

Yep, I voluntarily bungi jumped at the 3rd highest bungi jump in the world! A 111 meter (or 364 feet) drop is all. Aahhh! It was exhilarating and quite the adrenaline rush! I loved it! Les (who jumped with perfect form if I must add) and I had the best angel of all to help encourage and cheer us on - Jayne! I do believe that she was more nervous than I, but that was the best distraction of all! And she was quite the photographer to capture our daring jumps as proof!

Looks like I am going to hit these rocks, but of course I don't!

That afternoon we headed into the national park to view the falls! I will let the pictures speak for themselves. However, these pictures don't seem to do Victoria Falls justice! The beauty was breathtaking!

We hiked to the very top where the water was not yet falling and then we hiked to what is called the "Boiling Pot" at the very bottom. All the way to the top and all the way to the bottom! It was quite the hike, too, complete with crossing streams and climbing up and down huge boulders. The view was so worth it, though!

The view from the Boiling Pot...that bridge is the one I bungi jumped off of!

We saw so many baboons on the hike there, too!

Saturday: Chobe Safari
We woke up early to head back into Botswana on Saturday to go on a safari in the Chobe Game Reserve. Botswana has the largest elephant population in all of Africa and Chobe was the biggest safari we have been on. We saw tons of elephants, crocodiles, impala, birds, water buffalo, hippos, lizards, and monkeys, too. We drove around in an open safari vehicle during the morning and then ate lunch on a boat on the Chobe River to get a better view of all that wildlife enjoying the water! What a day! Africa has been blessed with some amazing and beautiful creatures! Too bad we didn't see a lion or a cheetah, though. It was still amazing!

Look at the horns on that impala! Wow!

A hippo, soaking up the African sun

So many elephants! These are the mama and baby elephants all together

Sunday: The Bus Ride Back to UB
We had to wake up at 2:45am on Sunday to get to the bus stop by 3:30, as the bus was coming through Livingstone at 4am. However, when the bus came through it was already full! No room for us! Had to go to our backup plan which consisted of catching a bus to the Botswana-Zambia border, hitchhiking to Kasane (hitchhiking is a common means of transportation in Botswana), catching a bus from Kasane to Francistown and another bus from Francistown to Gaborone. Though we had a backup plan, we never had to resort to it (thank goodness as it was a bit complicated) as we encountered angel # ... well, I lost count of how many angels helped us along the way! But on the bus to the border, Jayne sat with a man who knew the bus driver of the bus that was full and going to Gabs and said that we'd met up with that bus at the border and he'd see what he could do. We were able to squeeze on the bus! And by squeeze, I mean squeeze, as we were all sitting on the floor or in an aisle! I sat in the stairwell by an out-of-order bathroom on this awkward bar. Jayne sat across from me in the aisle and Les sat at the front of the bus in an aisle/stairwell. Uncomfortable, yes, but we were grateful to be on the bus! Finally, after sitting on the floor for 6 hours, enough people got off that we were able to sit in seats! Never have seats on a bus been so luxurious! We each met some very nice people that we conversed with until we finally reached Gaborone at 9pm. It was such a relief to be home at UB after that bus ride!

Thanks to a handful of "angels" we were able to make the most of our time to, from, and in Livingstone, Zambia!