African Speers: Wonder of Wonders: Victoria Falls

Well, we used almost all of our vacation days to head up to Victoria Falls. It was absolutely spectacular! The falls were gorgeous and we really had a safari experience just driving up there. The drive took us 15 hours, we left at 2 a.m. Tuesday, because we had heard the roads could be bad and we needed to make it to the border crossing by 8 p.m. We made it there by 5 p.m. We drove through Botswana on the way up and expected to see tons of wildlife, but it wasn't really until we crossed the border into Zimbabwe that we saw it all. First thing, we saw a small family of elephants, with a baby, then we saw giraffe with a baby, followed by sable (which are magnificent and very rare to see), then another baby and momma elephant. Then we pulled into Vic Falls, Zim where we were meeting a friend, Jayd. Her parents and another couple had rented these 2 bedroom condos for a week and were only using 5 nights, so we got to stay there for 2 nights. Awesome place, warthogs everywhere, a great pool and great views. So our first day we went to see the falls on the Zim side, which is actually the better side this time of year, since it is their dry season. We were really blown away by how huge it is. The next day we ventured over to the Zambian side, went on an ultra-light flight, which was so fun. We saw so much just on that flight, hippos with a baby, buffalo, more elephants. Then we had a wonderful little breakfast right on Livingstone Island, which you can only get to by boat and only during the dry season. The breakfast was awesome and we ate under a beautiful colonial style tent. Then later we had high tea at the Vic Falls Hotel, back on the Zim side. The Vic Falls Hotel was built in 1904, just gorgeous with a wonderful view of the Victoria Falls Bridge.

Our time at Victoria Falls was over, and we started our journey home, with a stop in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where Jayd is from. We stayed with a lovely family there who have been through a lot, with all the economic turmoil. Their stories were amazing. One cool story that Jayd told us: When the economy really crashed there was no food, so there were worldly relief trucks coming in with food. The government took it over to distribute, but they required a political party card, so when the brothers got to the front of the line they refused them, saying maybe they should ask their God for food. Well, soon thereafter, the Witnesses brought in food for the brothers and it was white maize, which the Zim people prefer over yellow maize, which was what the worldly relief trucks had brought in . So people started asking how did you get the white maize, and they said we asked our God for food and he always gives the best.

In Bulawayo, we went on a Rhino Walk Safari in the Matopas National Park. We did see 5 rhino and got very close to one. All but one had had their horns removed because there has been so many poachings lately. This area is supposed to have the largest population of leopard in the world, but unfortunately we didn't see one. :( Hopefully when we go to Kruger we will. Until then.....