Friday, September 22, 2023
Around mid-morning after a tasty breakfast and coffee in the outdoor dining area, the four of us caught a ride to the border of Zimbabwe. In the passport control office, we got official exit stamps on our Republic of Zimbabwe visas and then exited the office and began our walk across the Zambezi River bridge. We were instantly surrounded by young Zimbabwean men walking beside us and striking up conversations with each of us individually about the U.S. with the intention of selling us their trinkets. My accompanying walker had played guitar in Nashville. Similar to other hawkers, he was selling copper bracelets that had been crafted in this home village. I was completely uninterested until he showed me some Zimbabwean currency. He and I both knew that it was worthless; the U.S. dollar is the preferred currency here. But I like to collect foreign currencies, so, for $US 15, I bought a bracelet and five bills totaling 180,500,000,000 Zimbabwean dollars. I’m sure he got the better part of the deal but I was thrilled to walk around with over a hundred billion dollars in my pocket.
The views of the river from the bridge were great and we observed several kayaks and rafts navigating down the gorge rapids. We stopped for photos at the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. Once we arrived in Zambia, we walked through passport control and got entry stamps. Then, we hired a ride for the short drive to Livingstone (about 6 miles). While entering the city, we saw a couple of zebras grazing on a lawn. They were a distinctly different subspecies from the ones we had seen in Kruger and Sabi Sands. These appeared stockier, the white stripes were darker, and the stripe pattern was different.
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| Standing in Two Countries |
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| Zambezi River from the Bridge |
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| I’m a Billionaire!!! |
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| Grazing Zebra in Livingstone |
Our driver dropped us off at the Livingstone Museum and pointed out a coffee shop with wifi across the street where we could text him when we were ready for the return trip. Established in 1934, the Livingstone Museum is touted as the largest and oldest in Zambia. Photography is not allowed inside the museum. The displays are divided into several galleries that we progressed through them in the following order: archeology, ethnography, natural history, David Livingstone, and Zambian history. Each gallery had some amazing exhibits, however, the lighting was very dim and the signage often difficult to read. It was disheartening to see the lack of proper maintenance of these internationally significant holdings. The surroundings gave Fikret a touch of claustrophobia so that he rushed through and spent time hanging out in the open courtyard and studying art displays. The other three of us took our time browsing through the dim and dusty collection improving our scant knowledge about unfamiliar events, cultures, and places.
Once we had finished touring the museum, we emerged into the bright African sunlight, walked down the the street, crossed over, and visited the Munali Cafe. Fikret & Paula ordered water while Jane & I had iced lattes with pastries. After some difficulty, we were able to access the cafe’s wifi and text our driver. Shortly, he arrived and we started out trip from Livingstone back to the border.
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| The Museum Sign |
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| Livingstone Museum |
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| Dr. Livingstone |
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| Our Morning Coffee Stop |
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| Downtown Livingstone |
On the drive back to the border, we passed two separated baobab trees (Adansonia digitata). Our driver stopped for us to photograph each of them. At the second one, the larger one, he obtained a fruit and drove down the road a ways to escape the hawkers/venders around the tree, stopped the car, and broke the fruit open for us to see. It was an old fruit and the interior was filled with dry white flesh surrounding hard dark brown seeds. The white flesh tasted sour, similar to a lemon. The Africans grind the flesh and add water and sugar to create a drink that I imagine resembles lemonade. The seeds can also be ground and steeped to make a coffee/tea type of drink.
When we arrived at the Zambian passport control office, I asked the driver if he had any Zambian currency that I could exchange. He did, and we worked out a deal while the others departed the car. After our negotiations, I said goodbye and as he drove off and I was walking toward the buildings, I had the horrifying realization that I left my iPhone in his car. A young local man helped us at the building, he called the driver’s number on his cell phone and walked us to another building that had wifi for Fikret to try on his phone, but to no avail. Eventually, Fikret showed our helper a photo of the driver he had taken with the baobab fruit. “I know him. He’s over there,” our helper exclaimed when he saw the picture. We followed him to an area where the drivers were congregated and socializing. Sure enough, there our guy was. He had also left his phone in the car and so hadn’t received our calls. We walked across the street, he unlocked his car, and there was my iPhone on the floor. On the way back to the passport control building our helper tried to sell me another bracelet that had been made back in his village. I refused it but tipped him for helping us.
We then walked through Zambian passport control, received our exit stamps, walked across the bridge mostly avoiding the hawkers, then went through the crowded Zimbabwean passport control office and had our double entry visas stamped for our second entry into the country. Back in Zimbabwe, we walked a short distance to a small cafe with wifi where we drank water to rehydrate and called for our ride back to the hotel.
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| Baobab Tree |
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| Baobab Fruit |
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| Interior of Baobab Fruit |
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| Zambian Kwacha |
We relaxed at the hotel for awhile before departing for our dining appointment at the Lookout Cafe that Paula had arranged. There, we were seated at a table on a large covered deck area with fantastic views of the Zambezi River including the bridge to Zambia that we had crossed earlier in the day. We enjoyed a lovely meal and drinks with a gorgeous view watched darkness arrive. Afterwards, back at the hotel, we went to our respective rooms to pack and get a good night’s sleep in preparation for tomorrow’s departure.
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| The Lookout Cafe |
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| Open-Air Dining |
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| View of the Zambezi River and Bridge from Lookout Cafe |
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| Enjoying the Good View and Fellowship |