We are finally back!
Well actually, we've been back for a few days but it has taken a while to get back into the daily rhythm - time adjustment, taking care of loose ends (mail, email, etc), unpacking, etc. I think we had two box-loads of mail waiting for us. Time adjustment has been a particularly difficult thing for me this time after a 40+ hour transit back to the US. The first night, I actually ended up sleeping approximately 15 hours, which totally got me off on the wrong track. Hopefully, I've finally been able to adjust to CST last night.
It's funny now that we are back, it feels like we have never been gone. But I definitely feel a different person having made the trip to the bush. And I know that all the memories ingrained inside my head will last me a lifetime - the thunderous Victoria Falls, the amazing safari experience in Botswana and the paradise found in the Indian ocean. The highlight of the trip, though, for both Josh and I, is definitely the safari portion in Botswana, not only for the beautiful scenery and wildlife but for the wonderful accommodations and service provided by Wilderness Safaris. We are already talking about making another trip to Botswana in a few years...
Can't wait to show you all the photos from our journey, especially from Botswana, but today, I wanted to start with the start of our journey and our trip to Vic Falls.
I have to say, unfortunately, that the start of our trip had the makings of "Honeymoon from Hell". You would think that being seasoned travelers, Josh and I would have planned our trip down to the last note - and we did- but we made some mistakes when starting out on our trip - mistakes that turned out to be pretty fatal. The three cardinal rules of traveling are: 1) Take your passport 2) Take your ticket 3) Don't be late. And we forgot to obey two of them.
Not obeying #3 (due to abnormal amounts of traffic on I-90) resulted in us missing the first flight. We got to the airport in time to check in for the flight but not in time to check our bags, which meant that we would have to carry on everything. So we chucked most of out liquids (including Deet, sunscreen etc). But when going through security, I guess I had forgotten something which meant extra security - extra slow security, so we ended up missing our flight. The one saving grace was that we had originally had an extra long layover in Munich, so that the redirection through Frankfurt to Munich still got us to Munich in time for our flight to Johannesburg (and for us to go to downtown Munich to meet my ex-roommate, Daniela).
Disaster averted or so we thought until we realized that neither of us had packed the paper tickets for three of the airlines that required paper tickets (pretty much all the flights except for the charters in Botswana). <I mean who uses paper tickets these days?!> We both told ourselves that it probably wasn't a big deal but I think we both knew otherwise because both of us could not sleep on the flight to Frankfurt. And as soon as we got to Frankfurt, we were running around talking to airline reps, calling airlines and calling Josh's mom and our friend Adam, to see if there was a way to fix this problem in any way. I think the only problem solved then was the South African Airways flights which was the immediate issue at point, which we paid extra to make into an e-ticket. (Btw, SAA Business Class rocks!!)
Despite everything (with additional problem of the airline we were using to fly to Vic Falls going bankrupt a few days before we got to Africa), we make it to the area of Victoria Falls, flying into Victoria Falls Zimbabwe and then crossing the border on foot to Livingstone, Zambia.
As for Zambia, it was a mixed bag for me. Loved Victoria Falls and the Zambezi River, but hated Livingstone, Zambia. We stayed a little bit outside Livingstone in a place called Natural Mystic Lodge. It is actually a very pretty property, but given how much it cost, I expected so much more. Basically, I think we payed almost $300 for close-to-dump furnishings (including meals). And $40 for a 2 hour boat ride, which ended up being 1 hour during which time we saw one hippo and nothing else. But I think everything on the Zambian side of Vic Falls is basically like this - very very overpriced. A cab ride anywhere is $20-$40, entrees cost $20-$40 and a dump costs $300. And the worst part was the the people thought that this was probably nothing to us and expected us to pay this and more.
(sunset on the Zambezi)
I think that given what we know now, if we were to go back, we would stay in the Zimbabwean side of Vic Falls. It is beautiful there, more so than the Zambian side. And it is much much more cheaper. Additionally, despite cautions from the US travel advisory and travel agents, there seems to be no violence in Victoria Falls. However, there is so much need for tourist dollars there. People say you shouldn't travel there because money goes into the hands of the dictators, but people are really suffering there and I think that the least that we can do as tourists is not to take the livelihood away from those who make money from tourism. (I think that one of the things that we both took away from this trip is a political awareness of what is going on in Africa, which I want to learn more about and make people more aware of, but I think that is for another post.)
Returning to the topic at hand, the highlight of our trip to Zambia/Zimbabwe was definitely Vic Falls itself. My expectations weren't that high given that I have been to Niagara Falls at least a dozen times. But the majesty of Vic Falls was impressive and memorable - perhaps because you can get so close to the waterfall.
Victoria Falls is named Mosi-oa-Tunya (the Smoke that Thunders) by the locals for a good reason. The spray from the falls typically rises to a height of over 400 metres (1,300 ft), and sometimes even twice as high, and is visible from up to 50 km (30 miles) away. During the flood season, it is impossible to see the foot of the falls and most of its face, and the walks along the cliff opposite it are in a constant shower and shrouded in mist.
You can see from our photos that we were definitely there during flood season. The mist made for a wonderful experience (getting totally drenched even wearing a poncho) but not so great photos.... I guess we at least get a lot of rainbows in our photos due to the mist.
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