Thursday, September 21, 2023
Jane & I woke up early today to the sound of stereo iPhone alarms, rolled out of bed, and dressed quickly. I made and downed a cup of instant coffee then we met Paula & Fikret at the front of the hotel. Our prearranged ride was on time and whisked us to the entrance of Victoria Falls National Park.
We arrived a little before 6:00 am, in time to enjoy the sunrise above the falls. There were only two other visitors at the ticket booth, a couple of German guys waiting for the cashier to issue their passes. While we were waiting we learned that the entrance fee was $50/person rather than the $30/person we were expecting. and that this only allowed entry once. We had arranged for our driver to pick us up in two hours and so, were in a hurry to enter and see all that we could. But, the booth attendants were having computer problems so, we waited anxiously as the clock clicked past the expected 6:08 am sunrise and a queue starting forming behind us. Eventually, the computer problem was solved, the Germans were issued their passes, we bought ours, and we quickly scurried down the trail to the falls.
A nice flat stone trail runs parallel to the gorge and has spurs to multiple lookout points to view various parts of the mile-long falls. The trail from the ticket office entered the main trail at lookout Stop 4 (out of 13). We made a brief stop there but hurriedly continued to Stop 8 to view the Main Falls while the sun was still low. Wow! It was a fantastic view with the large African sun blazing through the mist of the falls. We gawked quite a while taking numerous photos. One of the German visitors was there and offered to take a group photo of us.
We continued down the main trail stopping at each of the spurs to get views of different segments of the falls. At the end of the trail was another spur that led to a nice view of the bridge over the Zambezi River that connects Zimbabwe to Zambia. It was busy with pedestrians carrying their wares from Zambia to the town of Victoria Falls.
We then circled back revisiting some stops to observe rainbows that were starting to appear as the angle of the sun was changing. We continued through to see Stops 1 through 4 and at the end of the trail was a small park with a statue honoring Dr. Livingstone who had visited the falls in 1855 and named them after his queen. The Makololo name, Mosi-oa-Tunya (“the Smoke that Thunders”) is also still used. Having seen the falls from all the lookouts, we had a little time to spare before our driver arrived, so we returned to the ticket office area where there are a gift shop and many information boards about the area. Our driver showed up promptly and drove us back to the Shongwe Lookout Hotel.
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| The Anticipation Builds |
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| “Right this Way, Folks” |
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| Main Falls at Sunrise |
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| An Odd Quad |
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| Additional Fall Segments |
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| More Fall Segments |
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| Zambezi River Bridge connecting Zimbabwe and Zambia |
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| Zambian Women carrying Goods to Victoria Falls |
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| Somewhere, Under the Rainbow |
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| Another Rainbow |
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| “Dr. Livingstone, I Presume” |
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| Gift Store Offerings |
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Panorama of Victoria Falls
By Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73750665 |
After a nice breakfast in the hotel’s outdoor dining area, Jane and I walked around the grounds and climbed the Lookout Tower. There was a nice art museum/store in the lower level of the square tower and the top and middle levels had cushioned benches and nice views of the hotel area below. The middle level was rather comfortable, protected from the sun with a slight breeze, so I returned there with a cup of coffee to blog awhile. Later, I took a quick dip in the outdoor pool and was surprised that the water was refreshingly cool.
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| Our Hotel Entrance |
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| Lookout View of Shongwe Lookout Grounds |
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| Chillin’ |
Paula assumed the role of our travel co-ordinator and made arrangements for our afternoon and evening activities. Mid-afternoon, our driver took us to the Palm River Hotel. The back lawn of this luxury hotel extended down to the Zambezi River allowing riverside dining under large shade trees. We relaxed there enjoying drinks and views of the immaculate landscape and river.
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| Palm River Hotel |
After our afternoon relaxation session, a driver that Paula had scheduled, picked us up and drove us from the Palm River Hotel to the boarding point for our Zambezi River dinner cruise. What a unique experience! We peacefully cruised along between the Zim and Zam shores and were served drinks and a terrific dinner. We observed hippos in the river, a crocodile ashore, and a beautiful sunset. It was dark when the cruise returned and our driver picked us up for the ride back to our hotel.
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| Happy Zambezi River Cruisers |
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| One of Many Hippo Sightings |
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| Crocodile |
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| Sunset over the Zambezi River |
Back at the Shongwe Lookout, Jane and Paula headed to their respective rooms but Fikret and I decided to extend this wonderful day and have a nightcap at the outdoor bar where one of the World Rugby Cup games was playing on the television. We had an engaging discussion and decided to have another drink but suddenly realized that we were now the only ones at the bar and the attendants were cleaning up and preparing to shut down. So, we headed back to our rooms, ending another amazing day in Africa.