The Mighty Zambezi River

 

Day 9

Dr. Livingston I Presume

The day started with a casual breakfast at the Batonka Lodge, and then we were picked up at 8:15 for our tour of Victoria Falls. Prior to departing, I called Maria and Elise to the outdoor courtyard, and I had them stand quietly with me. They looked at me like I was nuts. Me: “Do you hear it?” Maria: “What? That airplane in the distance.” Me: “Yes, except that is the Falls!” We are a little over a mile away and we could hear a subtle, unending roar from the rush of water over the Falls.

Our guide, Eddie, was quite nice and his experience was quite helpful – meaning that we brought rain jackets and he brought long ponchos. The long ponchos ended up winning out as the preferred over-garment. Stay tuned for those details. At the entrance to the National Park, Eddie gave us some history and facts about the Falls. Part of the information helped settle a long-running debate amongst waterfall enthusiasts – which is the biggest waterfall in the world. It turns our there are three – depending on what your definition of “biggest” is: Highest? Widest? Most water?

Highest - Victoria Falls

Most Water - Niagara

Widest - Iguazu (by a lot!) 

I could gush about the Falls (pun fully intended) – their power, the massive amounts of water cascading hundreds of feet, the incredibly dense mist that turns into rain – but I will keep it simple and brief and merely allow you to see some pictures, which of course, does not do the size and splendor justice, which goes without saying (though I just said it!).

What was surprising was the amount of mist that churns up from that much water falling and crashing into the rocks below, only to be thrust upward by winds created from the rapidly flowing water in the canyon at the bottom of the Falls. During some parts of our viewing at selected overlooks, it literally rained on us. This is where the aforementioned ponchos came in handy, but only to the extent that we didn’t get drenched. We merely got soaked as water ran down our faces and chins and necks and off the bottom of the ponchos into our shoes and socks. At least some parts of us were kept dry.

Of course, Eddie and Connor struck up multiple conversations and were soon best friends – one asking questions and the another patiently answering them. Sound familiar? We wondered if Eddie wasn’t named Tracey in a former life.

Did I mention how beautiful the day was?

After the Falls it was back to the hotel to get dried out, change clothes, relax and get ready to go to The Lookout Café for lunch. We called our favorite taxi driver, Tobias, from the night before, and discussed our visit to the Falls. He said we had received a Zimbabwean Baptism and that we should feel wholly (holy?) part of Zimbabwe now! OK … back to The Lookout Café. The Lookout Café (kind of like The Ohio State University) is the sole café overlooking the canyon where the mighty Zambezi River flows after cascading down the Falls. [Note: You have to say ‘mighty’ whenever you refer to the Zambezi River, kinda like the ‘The’ noted above. It’s just part of the name!] It’s beautiful and the view from our perch in the café was fabulous. Again, you just have to look at the pictures. I must say that I had to go local and order the crocodile kabob. Who can resist grilled crocodile with peppers and onions accompanied by a Thai chili sauce? I couldn’t, and I’m glad I didn’t (is that too many contractions in one sentence?).

It almost looks fake! The 'smoke' in the distance is the mist/rain from the Falls. The native peoples called the Falls "the smoke that thunders."

For the late afternoon, we had a sunset cruise on the mighty Zambezi River. This turned out to be something quite special. Did I mention that the weather has been superlative every day? Today was perhaps the best yet – upper 70’s (about 25C), clear blue skies and a very gentle puff of a breeze. On the cruise we had our choice of drinks, and we were served hot hors d’oeuvres. I couldn’t resist the Zambezi Sunset for this occasion (no need for mighty here since I am not referring to the River). It was so relaxing cruising the extremely wide and deep river. We even crossed over into Zambia since the middle of the river is the border between the two countries. No passports, no visas, no fees – we got it for free. So, I can add that country to my list of 38 countries I have visited in one way or another. We saw a huge crocodile – he was visibly upset with me for eating his brother for lunch – some elephants, and lots of hippos bobbing up and down in the water. As advertised, the cruise ended with a view up the mighty Zambezi River toward the sunset. And a glorious sunset it was. A perfect way to end an extremely relaxing and pleasant afternoon.

  

Once back at the Batonka, we had a scrumptious dinner, and we retired to our rooms to ready ourselves for a long day’s journey into Botswana for a river safari and then a land safari in Chobe National Park.

Side Note: The mighty Zambezi River was made famous by David Livingstone, who was a physician, explorer and missionary that explored these parts of Africa when they were uncharted by any Westerners. He is the one who made the ‘discovery’ of Victoria Falls and communicated it to the ‘outside’ world. He also sought to find the origins of the Nile River among other adventures in deep, dark Africa. Excerpting from Wikipedia:

“Livingstone completely lost contact with the outside world for six years and was ill for most of the last four years of his life. … Henry Morton Stanley had been sent to find him by the New York Herald newspaper in 1869. He found Livingstone in the town of Ujiji on the shores of Lake Tanganyika on 10 November 1871, apparently greeting him with the now famous words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Livingstone responded, "Yes", and then, "I feel thankful that I am here to welcome you." These famous words may have been a fabrication … The words are famous because of their perceived humor, Livingstone being the only other white person for hundreds of miles, along with Stanley's clumsy attempt at appearing dignified in the bush of Africa by making a formal greeting one might expect to hear in the confines of an upper-class London club.”

I always thought this encounter occurred on the shores of the mighty Zambezi River. Thank goodness Wikipedia exists.