Bethany and Mom’s Whirlwind Tour of Southern Africa Chapter Two: Livingstone, Zambia (Victoria Falls)

July 30^th  – August 2^nd, 2012

Very important note: If you are going to Zambia DO NOT forget to bring your yellow vaccination card saying you got a yellow fever shot.  I of course did forget this document but in my defense it wasn’t on my person and that is why I forgot it (Orch Dorks reading this, remember Madura always saying “keep your passport on your person.”).  I almost wasn’t let on the plane.  However I flashed my Swaziland Work Visa and all of sudden it was ok for me to go to Zambia without proof that I’m vaccinated.

We landed in the tiny Livingstone Airport and waited in line for 45 minutes to buy our Zambia travel visas.  We then got picked up and brought to a Paradise in Africa.  Our hotel, the Zambezi Sun, was located in a wildlife sanctuary and is very resort like with an outdoor pool and restaurants.  Having seen “real” Africa this tourist destination was way perfect for me.  Plus we had Zebra roaming around right outside our room!

Our first night there we went on a Sunset Cruise along the Zambezi River.  This river is one of the largest in Africa and runs from Zambia to Mozambique into the Indian Ocean.  We slowly drifted along the river, stopping every now and then to look at the animals that were spotted.  We saw hippos, crocs, monkeys, a giraffe, an elephant, and many birds.  Eventually we stopped to watch the sunset.  The sun goes down so fast here you can actually watch it set in the matter of minutes. 

Zambezi River

On our second day in Zambia we walked to Victoria Falls.  This is one of the seven natural wonders of the world and is absolutely amazing and breathtakingly beautiful.  They are named after Queen Victoria who was the first Royal to visit the Falls after a Scottish explorer Robert Livingstone discovered them.  Our hotel was only a five-minute walk from the Zambia side of the Falls, they are so large they run also into Zimbabwe.  We spent the morning ogling at this wonder and getting quite wet from the mist.  We spent the rest of the afternoon poolside relaxing.

Victoria Falls

Meantime I got a copy of my yellow card emailed to me and printed in hopes that it is good enough if I get asked for it again!  At one of our poolside periods we got to see the true nature of baboons.  A whole troop of them (do baboons travel in troops?) came bounding into the hotel pool area.  The largest one quickly stole a woman’s bag, ran to the top of the hotel and took everything out and threw it everywhere.  It was really funny, but I felt bad for the lady.  She did get her stuff back eventually.

We spent three days enjoying Victoria Falls and then headed to Botswana for Chapter three!