Day 7: Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)

Day 7:  Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)

We woke up around 7 AM and hung out in bed until 8 AM.  Showered up and then walked over to the buffet breakfast.  They had a very nice assortment of different items and I ended up having:  Fruit, bacon, mango juice, eggs, chocolate croissant, and other miscellaneous items.  The sitting area had a roof, but no windows, so it was an open aired area.  While we were sitting there we saw a Monkey come into the area and steal butter off the table.  We also saw Warthogs cruising around on the grounds of the hotel.  I even saw a Mongoose running thru the grass.  When we finished breakfast we walked to the front of the hotel and met our personal van who drove us over to our helicopter ride over Victoria Falls.  Once there, they gave us a quick orientation of what we need to do on the helicopter then weighed each of us so they had determine the proper seating assignment on the helicopter.  We waited 15 mins until it was our turn to load up on the helicopter.  Hannah sat up front with the pilot and Gail, Zack, Allison and I were in the back.  It was my first time on a helicopter and we had beautiful weather.  They did a couple of "Figure 8's" over the Falls and you get an amazing view from many different angles.  Since this was the end of the rainy season, there was much more water flow and mist at the Falls then usual.  The total process took about 15 minutes from boarding to exit.  It was a great experience and very cool ride.  When we finished up we met our van and drove back to the hotel, arriving back around 11 AM.  We went back to our room and got ready for our trek to the Falls.  We headed out around 12 PM and walked thru the path behind the hotel.  Gail had a wheelchair and Zack tried pushing her on the path but it was difficult due to the terrain.  Gail and Allison ended up taking a cab to the main entrance of the Falls while Zack, Hannah and I walked the rest of the distance to the entrance.  There was a $30 entrance fee per person to enter the Victoria Falls National Park walking trail which spans 1.7 Kilometres and runs parallel to the Falls which is the largest in the world.

Zimbabwe entrance to Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls

There are actually two entrances to the Falls, one on the Zimbabwe side and one on the Zambia side which is connected by the Victoria Falls Bridge.  Along the trail there were 16 observation stops to see various angles of the Falls.  Since there was so much water flow, it caused an excessive amount of mist and wind to come up and we got SOAKED.  Walking on the trail was like walking thru a Rain Forest.  Even though we were so wet, we didn't care and had spectacular views of the Falls.  We ended up walking from the entrance on the Zimbabwe side to the Bridge since we didn't want to go into Zambia.  At the bridge, you could pay to "hang" off the edge but we decided that we didn't want to do it since the safety protocols were a little "sketchy".  Allison and Gail grabbed a taxi back to the hotel while Zack, Hannah and I walked back.  Along the path we ran into some Warthogs that were hanging out and we saw a couple of Elelphants also.  We finally made it back to the hotel at 2:30 PM and went to our rooms to change out of our wet clothes.  Since we had not eaten in awhile, we decided to grab lunch at the hotel.  I had a lamb swarma wrapped in a tortilla.  We hung out there for awhile and I had a Singapore Sling drink which was nice while Hannah and Zack had massages.  At 5 PM we went back to the room to get ready for dinner.  We met our Van at the front of the hotel at 5:30 PM for the 10 minute drive to the Lookout Cafe.  The restaurant overlooked the river that was fed by the Falls and since it was a Full Moon it was a very nice setting.  They offered a special "Full Moon" dinner but there was nothing special about it.  You ordered off the same menu as normal (very strange).  I had the calamari appetizer and the Thai green curry chicken with rice along with a couple of Zembez beers.  For dessert, I had a date pudding cake which was ok.  The full moon was very cool and Hannah took many pictures of the moon as it kept getting "brighter".  We finished dinner at 8 PM and met our van to drive us back to the hotel.  We had a couple of drink coupons so Zack and I went down to the bar and had a few drinks.  I had a David Livingstone (very good) and Zack had a Ciapiati and a Devil's Cataract (Rough! It had spicy chili in it).  We had a cool time hanging out and talking.  We finished up and headed back to the room at 9:45 PM and went to bed @ 10:30 PM.