So we were now Zambia-bound, and trying to see what we could of Zimbabwe on the way. From Pretoria it was a 14-hour journey, on a very civilised double-decker Greyhound coach, to Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. Bulawayo, in western Zimbabwe, is the country's second-largest city after Harare, and was surprisingly pleasant. We knew to expect a totally different experience in Zimbabwe, compared to the more prosperous South Africa, and we were certainly right to do so, but Bulawayo was a lovely introduction to Zimbabwe. Apart from its wide, tree-lined avenues and attractive historic buildings, its inhabitants were extremely friendly, and we ended up staying longer than planned. And this was even despite the very basic accommodation, now a world away from the very backpacker-friendly hostels of SA…the shower in our room (literally, as water went everywhere) was the sort of shower you definitely kept your flip flops on for, the communal toilets a bit of a health hazard, and I think the crowning moment was when a cockroach fell on my face in the middle of the night.

There didn't seem to be too many tourists at Bulawayo, however thanks to the Bulawayo & District Publicity Association office, we organised our day trip to the nearby Matobo National Park. Valerie, who assisted us in said office, was an elderly white-Zimbabwean lady, and such a character - she seemed to be stuck in a colonial-era time warp, from her twin set and pearls, superior attitude and dial-up telephone.

The Matobo National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and well known for both its striking geology as well as its white rhino inhabitants. We kicked off the day trying to find the rhino on foot, following our guide, Norman, as he lead us through the bush, following the rhino tracks. Within 15 minutes, we spotted some rhino having a snooze in the shade, then spent some time watching another group of five - they all seemed very placid (white rhino are less aggressive than black rhino) and they seemed to soon get used to us, as we quietly watched them from around 20m away. Every now and again they did get a bit skittish when the wind changed direction and our scent was more obvious, and it was a funny sight seeing them suddenly take their defence position: all bottoms inward and touching each other, heads facing out. It was an amazing experience being so close, and there is something strangely beautiful about these huge, 2-tonne creatures. It was just very sad to see that they had all been de-horned, to protect them from poachers, however I guess not having their horns is better than the alternative.

The rest of the day was spent seeing some of the park's other attractions, particularly its unique granite rock formations - 'kopjes' - giant boulders teetering on top of one another, all different hues of reddy-brown with different coloured lichen. We got to examine them at closer quarters when we climbed up to World's View, the burial spot of Cecil Rhodes, founder of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia) - the view, although not quite of the world, was certainly stunning, with a panorama of the surrounding park and its teetering rock formations. The spot is very sacred to the local Ndebele people who believed it to be the burial ground of benevolent spirits and kings. It was certainly incredibly peaceful and you could certainly see why Cecil Rhodes chose this as his burial site.

The other main highlight was a visit to one of the rock art caves, which had an incredible display of rock art from the San Bushmen, estimated to be between 6000-10,000 years old. The art on the cave walls was beautiful and so much more impressive in the flesh, with beautifully painted elephants, zebra, impala, giraffe and even the odd leopard, in deep reds and oranges. The accuracy of the animal drawings was really something, and is incredible to think how long this art has been around for.

From Bulawayo we headed north to Victoria Falls, once again on a sleeper train, and once again a very different experience…we had a two-bed cabin to ourselves like on the train from Jo'burg to Cape Town, but that was where the similarities ended. The train and the cabins looked like they had seen much better days, and we purposefully tried not to drink too much water to avoid having to use the rather grim toilets. But it was all worth it when at 6am we saw an amazing sunrise through our cabin window, with different rays of pink streaking the sky, and then later that morning talking to some very lovely Zimbabwean ladies, who like all the Zimbabweans we seemed to meet were absolutely charming and so friendly. The added bonus was that we had found some hot cross buns in a bakery in Bulawayo so while watching the African bush go by we had a very traditional Easter breakfast treat, the day before Good Friday.

I think that train ride, like our accommodation in Bulawayo, was symbolic of a lot of things in Zimbabwe: there is so much potential but things have just been badly maintained and left to ruin. If Zimbabwe was a school report, it would be 'has so much potential, must try harder' - except it is the powers that govern rather than an unruly student that is holding it back. The general opinion from the locals we spoke to seemed to be that life in Zimbabwe is hard, but it is getting better and they are getting by….others seem less positive, but both views are always expressed with a big smile.

We spent a couple of days in the small town of Victoria Falls before heading over to Livingstone in Zambia, mostly so that we could admire the famous waterfall from the Zimbabwean side, as the falls straddles the Zimbabwe-Zambia border. The view from the was absolutely spectacular, and what we remember most is the monstrous crashing energy you sensed coming from the tremendous volume of water (1million litres of water fall per second), and the thundering spray and the sight of it all just took our breath away. The falls are in the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, the park's name translating as 'the smoke that thunders', which is how the local people first described the falls, and it is certainly a very apt description, the huge amount of spray being so thick that it could be mistaken for smoke. We also had enough time for a couple of evening drinks (always enough time for that of course) at the famous Victoria Falls Hotel, a beautiful colonial hotel where they still serve high tea in the afternoon, and the manicured lawns have a wonderful view over the Victoria Falls bridge…. all that was missing was a croquet lawn to complete the picture.

Then it was another memorable border crossing, where we walked from Victoria Falls town, through some heavy spray coming from the falls (at this time of year the falls were in full force), over the Victoria Falls bridge, stopping to look at some brave bungee jumpers, and then through to immigration on the Zambian side. Simon had been making noises about doing a bungee jump from the bridge, but seeing a couple of people dive head first off the bridge and plummet towards the rushing Zambezi River below was already enough to put my heart in my throat and I knew Simon would be doing it on his own, if he decided to go for it! Besides I was thrilled enough by the fact that we were entering Zambia, a country very close to my heart ever since I worked in a Zambian safari camp in 2008, one of the best experiences of my life.

Livingstone is a much bigger town than Victoria Falls but with a much stronger local character - Victoria Falls was purpose built for tourists, whereas Livingstone feels a bit more authentic as the locals aren't living and working there just because of the tourists. Having both previously experienced some pretty high-octane white-water rafting (mine being on the Zambezi River) we thought we would give that a miss, and leave it to the youngsters. Instead we headed to a tiny private island on the Zambezi, Bovu Island, about two hour's drive from Livingstone, and about 50km from the falls themselves, where we celebrated Easter Sunday and Monday with a lot of hammock-swinging, sunset canoe trips, and general laziness. It was a beautiful spot - a white-sand island with just one guesthouse, whose wooden chalets were on stilts over the water, and whose night sky was illuminated with the most amazing stars each night. Delicious home cooked meals by the lovely Mama Alice, and one night while enjoying a sundowner in the bar overlooking the Zambezi, we were visited by two very tame genets (they look like, and are related to cats but are actually more closely related to mongooses) who tried to make off with some of our bar snacks.

On one of the days we paid a visit to the local village where most of the camp staff come from, which was pretty much exactly what you imagine a rural African village to look like: a series of mud and thatch huts, complete with the women busy cooking food and making things (reed mats), the men sitting around not doing much, chickens running around and kids playing with homemade toys (beer bottle tops on a string, a 'car' made out of a water bottle tied to the end of a stick with bottle tops for wheels). We were shown round by Godfrey, who introduced us to people in the village and gave us a mug of the local beer (yuk), and then we had lunch courtesy of Caroline who taught us how to make a traditional Zambian meal, but really she did most of the work. The Zambian staple is nshima, a sort of maize porridge, which is normally served with a relish such as beans or vegetables, and which we found out you need some serious arm muscle to stir in the pot. Caroline made no secret of her amusement at our attempts to whisk it all up with the same apparent ease as she did.

On our last day in Livingstone we made our way down to the Victoria Falls bridge, as Simon had decided that he was going to do the bungee jump after all. This was the second time I was accompanying a 'jumper', having seen my uni friend Rick do the very same thing in 2008…I didn't want to do it then and I didn't want to do it now. I've always thought that someone would have to pay ME to do it, rather than me pay someone for the pleasure, and so I came along just to take the photos and check Simon survived. So I don't quite know how I ended up doing it too, and as even though I kept saying no, soon the two of us were being fitted into the harness for the tandem jump. While we were being strapped together, I remember struggling to comprehend the security briefing we were being given. I could feel the panic rising and I think my body - and mind - just went into shut down mode. Then the men behind us counted down "3…2…1…GO" and stepping off that ledge while tied to a rope with my husband was the singularly most terrifying thing I have EVER done: I was even too scared to scream, and I think Simon made noises that I have never heard come from him before. It was such a weird and terrifying sensation, jumping off, every instinct was screaming 'NO!' and the 4 seconds of free-fall for 111 metres seemed to go by in slow motion and last forever. It was like some weird out-of-body experience, and it felt like I only 'came to' once we were swinging in the gorge, and I could hear Simon asking if I was ok as apparently I had lost all powers of communication! Once I realised we had survived I could finally appreciate our surroundings, which were pretty impressive, swinging together in this massive gorge above the rushing Zambezi river, in-between Zimbabwe and Zambia. I think I was a bit overcome by it all though and once we were hoisted up back on to the bridge I burst into tears, mostly from relief I think! I think the lesson learnt is that if you don't feel brave enough to jump off a massive bridge tied to a bit of rope, then you probably aren't….Simon said he would do it again in an instant, and although I was glad (eventually) that I had done it, its not something I would certainly rush to do again…anyway, all in the name of sharing every experience together, right?!