All the pessimists were proven wrong as we moved from Botswana to Zimbabwe through the Kazangula border crossing. Sure there were the ‘fixers’ wanting to ‘help’ you though the potential minefield - but in truth, the guys were friendly pleasant and helpful, not asking for a fee - but we did tip them as it only took about 30 minutes to get through.
The first thing we noticed - where are all the animals? The countryside looked similar to Botswana, but devoid of any wildlife whatsoever, this proved to be a common theme throughout as we travelled around Zimbabwe.
An easy road to Victoria Falls, we were indeed stopped and again the nay-sayers were proven wrong, with the police simply checking where we were off to, no asking for bribes or any unpleasantness at all. All very friendly and professional, in fact as we travelled around Zimbabwe, I took a tally of how many times we were stopped and how many times we were asked for something, a bribe, by the police. We were stopped around 25 times whilst in the country and asked for a cold drink - once.
Boyed up and raring to go, we arrived in Victoria Falls and were immediately taken with the road side flowers leading through white washed green tin roof buildings. Spying a supermarket, we were keen to see what was actually available in Zimbabwe. And the short answer is, you can pretty much everything you want, but it is expensive. In fact the price on the shelves were in Zimbabwe dollars, and as the country has now adopted the US dollar, you take that number and divide by 7000 (and something)! Yep, 7000! In fact, don’t fall over as we did when asked to pay $299,115.77 which actually equated to around USD$47 - laughable. But whilst on the subject of the currency, I can honestly say, I’ve never seen such grubby US dollars in my life! We were told there is no taking old notes out of circulation, but rest assured any that are slightly defected (aside from grubby) won’t be accepted by most places - we know that as we got caught out with a slight rip in one of the notes we were given as change!
Our first stop was to stay at the Cresta Spray View - a good sized hotel divided into individual buildings, each containing rooms - so no hight level here and during the wet season the spray from the falls does impinge on the hotel obscuring its view. We visited before the rains, so had lovely clear and extremely warm days. The conveniently located hotel is just a few minutes walk into ‘town’ A very friendly manager greeted us and a friendship is instantly made. Staff at the Spray View were so happy and smiling and of course, always willing to help with any query. Our room was big and comfortable and we felt completely at home, even dipping in the pool on the odd occasion to cool off!
After a good breakfast the next day, we went exploring.
Of course Victoria Falls first, from the Zimbabwe side you can navigate along a pre-made route across the top of the falls. An extortionate fee of $50USD and you’re in - we were quite staggered by the difference the locals pay - we were told $7USD, and the tourist pays $50 - far too greedy we felt!
Especially as the tourist is needed to help redress the imbalance through lack of money in the country - but it does leave a bitter taste in your mouth when, as a tourist you constantly get charge an excessive price compared to the locals - I’m all for looking after the local people, and local being put first but charging over 700% more is not great!
Rant over, we had to balance the cost to get in versus the site itself, and whilst incredibly beautiful and amazing seeing one of the seven wonders of the world it is sadly overpriced. Such a shame.
Big tree in comparison is free of charge and a sight to behold as the large Baobab tree looms large at around 24 meters - not bad for a 1200 year old tree!
Not to be deterred, we met with Wild Horizons and booked in some extra-curricular activities - outside golf that is, and that evening jumped on one of their boats for a gentle meander along the river for the sunset river cruise. Drinks and a light snack, it was wonderful to drift along and enjoy the sunset across the river whilst watching hippo yawn showing a cavity free set of gnashers, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of!
Elephant with their giant salad spinner technique of cleaning out their
fresh picked river greens before munching on a little snack, I say little - to you or I, it wouldn’t be considered a small plate of food, but to a huge elephant, there were many washings of greenery and the tip tap of their trunks in the water, shaking it afterwards and popping it into their mouths, behind great tusks. Plenty of birdlife to keep even the non twitcher engaged.
Big day the following day as we’d signed up for White Water rafting on the Zambezi. We’ve done this many times before in various locations around the world, but nothing prepared us for what had to be done to conquer the mighty Zambezi - and I’m not even sure we got close to consider it being conquered! A thorough briefing safety session did nothing to allay any fears as we were split into two groups - now at this stage I’ve got add, the younger ones were put in one boat and the older ones (sadly including us) were put in another, with a few having never done any white water rafting before, with the benefit of hindsight this wasn’t the best mix up of would be rafters!
But before we could get to the inflatable rafts, we had to traverse down the gorge. Some places had ladders, others you scrambled across rocks, and yep, you guessed it, pounding down on the rocks with my full body weight behind, my knee gave up - again. But once down, you’ve two choices, back up that gorge or onto the river! We all chose the river and were quickly treated to a little
paddle to the bottom of the Victoria Falls where the water had calmed and was nice enough for a little swim. That was all fine, but the distinct lack of grace as you’re being hauled into the boat, shedding any loose clothing along the way, was clumsy at best! Then we were off, head long into our first rapid.. nice and easy as we bumped along. Being told there were 18 rapids, up to a category 5 sounded fine, until you find out the highest category of rapid is a 6! It also transpired that the 18, wasn’t really 18, and there were a few a’s, b’s and c’s thrown in there was amusing. Either way, we had such an amazing experience, albeit slightly scary!
Check out our You Tube to see how we got along - link below
Having nearly satisfied ourselves with river experiences, there was only one thing left to do - see it from the air. Engaging Zambezi Helicopters for their flight of Angels tour, up and away we went after a safely briefing. I’m not even sure I can describe what that was like - sure the helicopter experience is fun in itself, but the view was breathtaking. Over the Falls and up river slightly you could see the river alive with wildlife pretty used to the whirr of the helicopter blades, as there were a number flying around at regular intervals, but not vying for air space at any one time. The colours of the river, as it deepened from the banks was like perfect sand art, done by mother nature, flawless, clear and enchanting. We even got a sneak peak of the upcoming golf course - golf courses always look amazing from the sky, and that in itself tantalised our taste buds to want to get out there and play Elephant Hills.
Luckily for us, Elephant Hills is close to Zambezi Helicopters and we were just about to check into the luxury hotel.
We had a lovely large room overlooking the pool and the golf course beyond greet us, as well as a nice basket of fresh fruits which is always welcome. Taking a stroll down to the bar and sitting at the bar stools held a different appeal. A bar with no optics on view was the one we chose, instead the view down the 9th fairway of the golf course was a much better view to have our gin and tonic sundowners!
Elephant Hills golf course - oh we were so excited to play this course, so many had recommended it, and we just couldn’t wait to share it with others too. A bit of a kerfuffle so the very early, alarm clock moment of getting to the tee before everyone else, didn’t quite materialise. Missing the 'first out' option meant we did have to scoot through and miss a couple of the early holes. Thinking we were a bit bruised and battered we might play alternate shots, but after starting on hole two, a neat little par three over water, and Stephens great shot to the green, with me missing the putt, our competitive nature got the better of us as we switched back to individual stableford! With promises to revisit hole 1 and 2 we started on hole 3 for the real match, we could tell it was going to be a good game, a good match and a good course - and I had to win, as I was so far behind in the Africa 100 matches. Luckily for me, Stephen was out of sorts, so to capitalise on this, I played out of my skin - not to rub salt into the wound, but because it was rare to have such a moment of late! Kudu, monkey, warthog, impala, baboon and, following the splash of rain, our first dung beetle showed its iridescent red as it and its buddy tackled the pile of poo, pushing it along. Just a couple of baby beetles, each blade of grass was a challenge, but with alarming speed they made their way along to who knows where… pushing and pulling in unison with each other.
An enterprising local was selling cold drinks on the golf course. I don’t believe he was linked to the golf course, but we did buy a very expensive soft drink from him just as a reward for lugging the barrel full of ice and drinks.
With plenty of water holes around the face of the course did change with each hole, the back nine held some pretty holes in 14 and 15 each with water in play. The narrow hole 14 had a ditch in front of the green. A sneaky little ditch on this par 4, SI 3 hole, but good to see too. Maybe if we’d taken the time to read the name of the hole, there is a clue in the name - Rippling Water!
The par 3 hole 15, called Baobab, offered little clue, but then water was visible on the right, still just as magnetic as if we hadn’t seen it!
The flight of an eagle upon a wire and the snake on the golf flags were just a couple of deterrents they employed to scare the destructive baboon and monkey - mind you that snake was so life like, it took me a while to register, much to Stephen's amusement - no not amusement, him in peels of laughter as I’m trying to move away quick time, but my dodgy knee just allowing an ungainly hobble.
A group of young local lads out to play was an endearing sight, clearly novices, they were giving the game a go, I don’t know how many opportunities they had been given before, but we loved seeing them on the course.
One thing did sneak up on us was some fairways seemed to have a lip on them as the nudged up to the bush, this lip could work in your favour, or it might not - frustrating when it didn’t! A Rolls Royce kind of buggy bounded along eating up any terrain we encountered, but being a fairly flat course, that wasn’t too much. We loved the concrete painted elephants denoting the tees, that was a lovely touch. As eluded to, Stephen wasn’t having his best round, and I did win this one taking the score to Stephen 8.5, Sarah 5.5
In summary a great course, easy to find your way around and attractive with the amount of wildlife on the course - but weirdly, no elephant!
We tried two very different restaurants whilst in Victoria Falls, and would recommend both. Baines is a newly opened restaurant which served breakfast and lunch, I know they were looking to provide dinner, and might do that now, but the truth was, lunch was perfect. Set on the side of the Zambezi River, overlooking a plateau of large stones, as water trickled through. Home to crocodile and hippo, it wasn’t a place for dipping your feet to cool off. Mind you the mocktails Baines provided, did a great job to cool you down. Light lunches to full blown meals you’ve got it all at Baines. Under the cover of the canopy and the trees, you can enjoy the river wafting by as you indulge in some of the best food we’ve tasted whilst in Africa.
In contrast the lively Boma offers Zimbabwean gastronomy in a noisy,
bright and delightful setting. Inside, it is hot and watching live dancers and drummers perform, you can but think they are not only having great time but raising the temperature too! Draped in multi-coloured local cloth over the shoulder, you soak up the atmosphere and relax watching the world go by in a buzz of excitement. An evening of entertainment, great food is by buffet and really has everything even the fussiest of diners could enjoy. I did not try the mopane worms - for some reason, they just didn’t quite float my boat, but Stephen did and proudly displays the certificate they gave him in Andi the Landy.
Back at Wild Horizons zip wiring was booked across the gorge of the canyon with the river beneath. With some trepidation Stephen mounted the platform and was dangled mid-air before being let go and zipped along waving and shouting with delight. I watched from the side, envious of his lack of vertigo issues. As he went flying by, even I couldn’t keep up with the camera. Then it took an age for him to reappear, as they gently hauled him back in and onto the starting platform once again. Struck by fear of me doing the rest of this journey alone, I was relieved to see him grinning from ear to ear as he popped back up to the top.
Victoria Falls has been great for us, offering so many different things - for the golfer and the non-golfers, from adrenaline fuelled adventures to drifting along on the river.
Next stop Hwange National Park then onto Bulawayo - living the dream in Zimbabwe in our Landrover defender 100, Andi the Landy
Overlanding Zimbabwe 1
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