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.
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.
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 theirfresh 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.
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
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!
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!
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
No comments:
Post a Comment