“The Smoke that Thunders” – Victoria Falls
8/3/2022 – We got our flight on FastJet (a Zimbabwean airline) in the morning and arrived at Victoria Falls,, Zimbabwe, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. When Pastor Bruce let us know this may be an option, we all jumped at the chance to extend our trip and see what we can see while we are there.
We got to the Vic Falls airport and were greeted by African dancers outside the terminal.
It is a VERY small airport with only 3 gates, and they take their security checks seriously! Paul and Marybeth had many tools that they brought, in anticipation of helping repair some things in the children’s home while we were there. Many questions were asked by the security guard: ” why are you bringing tools”, “are you going to leave anything there?”, “what is the address that you are going to” and several others. We were nervous since we had a visa for tourists, and it was advised that we not tell others we were there for missions work. Once we said we were going to Domboshava to help a friend, the guard said his grandfather was from there. He packed up the suitcase for us and let us proceed. Whew! A tad nerve-racking!
We booked some activities in Vic Falls through a tour agency and they came to pick us up at the airport right on time. Off to Kingdom Hotel… OMG, such an elegant place!
Pinch me… are we really in Africa? The staff at the hotel were amazing, such sweet people, genuinely interested in talking to you and couldn’t do enough to make our stay superb. By and large, the Zimbabwean people are sincerely gracious, super friendly and the most wonderful people we have ever met in our travels.
After a short rest in the Kingdom Hotel, we had booked a dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. We puttered down the river and saw some hippos playing in the water (thanks Kevin for the close-up shots), tons of birds and an African sunset which lights up the sky with orange and red every single night.
What a way to start our African adventure!
Day 2 in Victoria Falls started with a leisurely breakfast and a stroll around the hotel, looking for lizards and crocodiles in the ponds and just trying to absorb where we are! It is winter in Zimbabwe which means the days are 75-low 80s and the nights are around 50. Love it!!!
Our team went on a lunch tour of Victoria Falls and learned some of the history and culture here. Victoria Falls is the largest natural waterfall in the world. It got this honor when you combine the width of the waterfall and the length the water drops. In high water season, the mist is so abundant that you cannot even see the falls.
After lunch in Vic Falls we relaxed and had cocktails by the pool.
We made dinner reservations at Boma Restaurant, which is an African feast and drum show. We all received an African wrap to wear for the evening and ate Kuzu, crocodile tail, many other unusual items including Mopani worms!
We started with an African tradition of hand washing followed by a toast with a local Chibuku beer (tasted sort of like sour beer combined with kombucha tea)…
The drum show was energetic, and we all got drums to participate in the festivities. Linda and Paul got to test their African dancing skills. Such a delightful evening!
Day 3, and our last full day in Vic Falls, was an early start with a pickup at 5:50am for a game drive in Zambezi National Park. It is winter in Zimbabwe which means it is 50 degrees at night and 80-85 in Vic Falls during the day. We got picked up in an open-air land rover and drove through the dark to the Park, quite chilly! We started driving towards the river hoping to see some animals at the watering hole.
The first animal we saw was a giraffe and when the guide stopped the rover, and pointed toward the bush, we had a hard time seeing the giraffe. Even when we knew where to look, it was camouflaged.
As we went along the day, there were numerous birds to see and our guide was good at looking for signs of animals. We came across some tracks of a water buffalo and a calf so while we were tracking them, we saw signs of a lion tracking them as well. It was kind of exciting to follow the tracks in the sandy road and eventually we stopped to listen and heard the roar of a lion. The guide said he was calling for back up so they all could corner the pair of water buffalo. He estimated that the lion was about 1.5 miles away… his roar can be heard up to 5 miles!!! Happy to know that he was a distance and not interested in us 🙂
We weren’t very successful in seeing the lion and water buffalo but did see other animals including a warthog, scrub hare, Black and hooded vultures, goliath heron, weaver sparrows the make nests on the west side of the trees (so the tree protects them from the easterly winds), Lori birds, Impala, Jackels, Kudu, banded grouse, Waterbuck, Western banded snake eagle and several more. A crazy bumpy drive in the bush and a great way to learn about the native landscape.
After the Game Drive we went back to the hotel, had lunch and rested. Later we were lounging by the ponds and did see a crocodile sunning itself right outside our room! The later afternoon was for more animal observing at the Siduli Hide. It was an observation blind built to look like a termite mound which was located next to a watering hole. Our guide parked the land rover and we walked silently to the blind as he protected us with his side arm and rifle, making sure we did not disturb any animals thinking about coming to the blind.
Once at the blind, he checked it for snakes (THANK YOU very much!) and we took our seats to see what we can see. It was a quiet night at Siduli Hide and we saw tons of birds including Guinea Fowl as well as a family of warthogs. Our guide has been doing this for 20 years and was a wealth of information about the wildlife. The person that picked us up and took us back to the hotel had just finished his rounds in the park and was able to arrest a poacher today. Poaching is apparently a huge problem in game preserves, and they frequently find 20-30 snares a day placed in the preserve by the poachers.
Tomorrow, we leave Vic Falls and we are ready for our next stop, Harare, Zimbabwe, where we will stay for the next week while we get to know the kids and caregivers at Domboshava Children’s Home.
August 6 – We caught a noon flight to Harare and here is the airport bar…
