Zambia - Livingstone & Victoria Falls   (9/18 -19/2010)                                                        

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It was a relatively short drive on paved roads through farm lands from Kazangula to to the historical city of Livingstone. Livingstone in an old colonial town that is now a travel destination for many in Africa to see one of the amazing natural phenomenon in the world, Victoria Falls. The city is of course named after the famous English explorer David Livingstone. As it turned out our final destination was the very posh Royal Livingstone Hotel that bears his name. The hotel was on manicured grounds along the Zambesi River, just above Victoria Falls. There was definite feel of historic British colonialism at the hotel. We were surprised to see a couple zebra gallop past the pool area and giraffe grazing along the path to our room. The hotel maintains the animals on the grounds. We were warned by our porter to keep the sliding glass doors to our balcony closed to prevent the Vervet Monkeys from raiding our room. Sure enough, the monkeys showed up on the balcony shortly after we arrived. As much as we loved our bucket showers in camp, it was great to take a nice long shower in the large bathroom of our room.

After freshening up, we set out to explore the falls. It was a short walk down a well maintained path to the entrance to the falls. We could hear the roar of the falls well before we could see them. Even though it was the height of the dry season, there was still plenty of water in the Zambesi that plunged over the half mile long gorge that forms the falls. While we didn't see the falls at its mightiest during the wet season, we were told that when it does flow at its maximum, there is often so much water they are shrouded in spray. We hiked out all the way to the edge of the south side of the gorge and watched the sun set over the falls that evening.

On our final day in Zambia we said farewell to our safari members and leader and spent the morning continuing our exploration of the falls. We wandered along the shore of the Zambezi above the brink of the falls and were approached by a young man that offered to guide us out through the rocks and pools along the brink of the falls. This is possible during the dry season when the flow of the Zambezi is low. For the next two hours we hiked half way along the length of the falls with water crashing over the rocks around us. It was a unique experience to sit on a rock promontory in the middle of the falls with white foaming water all around you diving into the deep gorge below. It was a perfect way to end our safari trip.

Our return to the states was uneventful and just as long as our trip out. We returned to Johannesburg in the evening and stayed at a small hotel near the airport. Early the next morning we caught our flight back the way we came. Over the next nine months I processed all of the images that were captured which has let us relive our adventure. We are really looking forward to our next trip to Tanzania and the Serengeti in January of 2012. Look for our weblog of that trip in the middle of 2012.