The 7th Natural Wonder of the World-Victoria Falls, Zambia((Spring Break '13))

This past week and a half, it was finally Spring Break here in South Africa!  Nine friends and myself rented cars and prepared ourselves to drive from Port Elizabeth, South Africa to Livingstone, Zambia where the 7th Natural Wonder of the World, Victoria Falls is located. The distance of this drive is equal to the distance of driving from the East to West coast of the continental United States.  No big deal or anything.  Just thirty six hours each way.  We left Thursday, March 28th at about 7pm, and drove straight through, all night to the boarder of Botswana and South Africa.  We immediately encountered one of the coolest thunderstorms I have ever seen, with huge lighting strikes that lit up the entire night sky for miles.  The un-cool part was hot heavy the rain was.  We were stuck going 40-60kph for hours on end.  Finally though, we made it to the boarder at about 8am on Friday morning.  The boarder crossing was not what I had imagine at all.  Literally, all it was is just this tiny little building, with a few immigration officers and boarder patrols checking and stamping our passports.  They didnt check our luggage, they didnt ask any questions but it was very clear we were not from Africa (haha).  We then drove about an hour and a half to the capital of Botswana, Gaborone  and had lunch and walked around some of the markets.  It didnt even seem like we had driven all night, but it was very clear we were all exhausted.  Botswana is a very unpopulated country (only about 2.5 million people, mostly all living in the Eastern part of the country) so there were very few places to stay and the places we did find, were kind of expensive, so we decided to drive through the night again.  Yes, we were determined, poor, wander-lusted college students haha.  So, again, we drove all day and all night through Botswana.  There were animals all over the road.  Cows, sheep, goats, elephants, water buffalo- everywhere.  The coolest thing was driving along at night, talking, trying to keep ourselves awake and all of a sudden being in the middle of an elephant heard.  We would just stop and sit there, in the middle of the road, at 3am and watch the elephants.  So amazing.  By Saturday morning at 7am we made it to the boarder of Botswana and Zambia.  We had finally made it!!  However, we were not allowed to take our rental cars into Zambia, so we found a resort that allowed us to park our cars there for two nights and then we hired a guide to take us across the Botswana/Zambia boarder.  The boarders are separated by the famous Zambezi river, so at the time we were crossing the boarder on a ferry, we were actually sitting in four different countries at once- Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Botswana- the Zambezi is the boarder of them all.  Once we crossed into Zambia, at the immigration office, Victoria Falls was about an hour away.  The guide took us the rest of the way, to Livingstone, Zambia, where we stayed in the Bushfront Lodge, in thatched-roof huts with huge mosquito nets!

Our hut!

The pool and the place where we ate

We spent the first night here, finally sleeping, taking a shower and swimming in the pool.  It was so great to finally be at Victoria Falls, and sleep in a bed instead of a car!  Early the next morning, we woke up and headed to Victoria Falls National Park, about 5k from our hut.  From watching youtube videos and looking at pictures I was already aware that there would be baboons, but nothing prepared me for what it would really be like.  Overpopulated is the understatement of the century.  There were baboons EVERYWHERE.  In the stores, in cars, on top of cars, in trees, underneath trucks, walking down the sidewalks and my least favorite TRYING TO TAKE EVERYONE'S POSSESSIONS, ESPECIALLY FOOD.  Their not nice about it either   Yow give them what you want or they WILL take it.  They dont care if they hurt you in the process and trust me, if you see a baboon coming for something that is yours, drop it and run. Scary-thats all I can say.  My roommate, Heidi, made the mistake of keeping an apple and some crackers in her camera bag.  She had opened her bag to get her camera and a baboon pounced immediatly.  Heidi is about 4'9", and when the baboon lept to get in her bag, it was literally as big as her when it stood up.  It gnashed it teeth, and Heidi basically let it take what it wanted and ran away with the rest.  The baboon proceeded to follow her around, trying to intimidate her into giving up the rest of her food.  At one point, the boboon attemped to take her entire camera bag, which contained about $800 worth of camera equipiment and I honestly thought when Heidi pulled her bag away the baboon was going to physically harm her.  I had all I could do to run away and GET away as fast as possible because I wanted nothing to do with that suitution.

Heidi's used to be apple

After our little run in with the baboons, we made our way, thankfully, toward the falls.  We could hear the roar of the waterfall before we could actually see it.  When the waterfall first came into sight, it took your breath away.  It is absolutely stunning and enormous!  The waterfall was so fast and so full of water that the roar was so loud and the mist from the fall created a rain storm where ever you went.  Although I basically was taking a shower while looking at the falls, I didnt care.  I stood in the middle of the viewing bridge, in the middle of the torrential rain, gawking at Victoria Falls while everyone else was running across the bridge, trying to get dry.  At some points, the mist lifted long enough to get a glimpse of the entire waterfall and it was honestly the most breathtaking, amazing thing I have ever seen in my entire life. It didnt feel like real life. It was so big, and so powerful and I was so tiny compared to it.  Just an amazing, crazy experience!

Touching the Zambezi River!

Elizabeth, Mark, Johanna, Joey and myself at Victoria Falls!

After spending time above the falls, we walked about a fifteen minute hike down through the jungle and MORE baboons to the boiling pot of Victoria Falls, which is where the water ends up once its gone over the falls.  The hike down through the jungle was gorgeous and the view at the end was the icing on the cake!

After spending all day at the falls, although we didnt want to leave the amazing scenery, we had booked a dinner cruise on the Zambezi River, above the falls so we headed back to our hut to get ready for the evening.
On the dinner cruise, everything was very hospitable and there was so much GREAT food!  We were on a giant river boat, with tons of other tourists..and the best part?  All inclusive food and drinks :)

Sunset on the Zambezi River

Our boat!

We spent time talking to the bar tenders, and other people on the boat, most of whom were in the Peace Corps, so, needless to say, there was no shortage of things to talk about.  We all had a great time on the cruise, and we even got to see a glimpse of a hippo in one of the shallow pools near the banks of the river!  It opened its mouth to yawn and it was unbelievable how large its mouth was!  I could have easily fit inside!




The next morning, we unfortunately left Livingstone, after an amazing time to head back to South Africa and Kruger National Park.  There are no words to describe how beautiful and amazing the Zambezi River and Victoria Falls were.  It is defiantly an experience and a trip I will never forget!