Victoria Falls
An amazing 4 days!

After the rather good coffee and Amarulla shot we headed to Backpackers Bazaar to decide what activities we'd like to undertake whilst at Victoria Falls. I'd always said I'd wanted to kayak or canoe down the Zambezi and we'd already pre booked our swim in the Devils pool at the top of the waterfall, where you cling to the waterfall edge, looking down 95m to the gorge below. In addition to booking the half day canoeing, we also opted for a more serene affair whereby guides paddle and you sit in the front of the canoe, watching wildlife as the sun sets, sipping wine. We were given a warning that whilst the town is very safe during the day, it's advisable to take taxis at night; not due to crime, but because of the wildlife that roams the streets after dark! Thankfully there are no lions but elephants can cause a fair bit of damage!
After dropping our stuff at the camp site, our tent already pitched by our very thoughtful truck companions who hadn't come rhino spotting and as such had arrived with the truck the day before, we walked down to the the falls on the Zimbabwe side, spending a couple of hours stopping at the sixteen view points where we could feel the force of the falls, the spray cooling us down and creating rainbows hovering above the gushing torrents of water. This was the start of the dry season and therefore not every part of the waterfalls was cascading with water. The Zambia side had no water pulsating over it and so we decided to save $20 and not bother visiting the Zambian national park.
That evening with Tony still not feeling the love for food, I headed out with the others to In Da Belly, the restaurant on site which takes its name from the Ndebele tribe, the indigenous people of this area of Zimbabwe. I had pesto pasta with crocodile! I recall it being very nice and similar to pork. The others had warthog snitzel and Impala steaks.
There was a group of about 30 Zimbabwian children staying at the campsite and in the restaurant at the same time. You'd expect lots of noise but you would not know there were there other than for saying grace at the end if the meal, before silently putting their chairs under the table and leaving the restaurant. These same children greeted us whenever they saw us with good morning ma'am, good evening sir! Imagine that in the UK!
The next morning on Friday, we headed to the luxury Royal Livingstone Hotel, our jumping off point for the Devils pool experience. We queued at the Zim border for our exit stamp and then walked over the gorge bridge- officially no mans land, before arriving at the Zambian border and purchasing our visa. In the bushes of the hotel we spotted a giraffe and proceeded to excitedly take photos. The giraffe clearly wasn't happy and set off towards us, practically running out of the bushes. I'm not sure we should have carried on taking photos given it was clearly agitated, a shuttle bus driver at the hotel definitely thought us bonkers and stopped the van instructing us to get in. It transpired it kicked someone yesterday whilst trying to defend its territory. As we'd arrived early we recuperated in the rather plush surroundings, drinking coffee.
At 9am we signed our disclaimers and headed in the sped boat across the river to Livingstone island where we experienced one of the highlights of the trip. We entered the water, feeling the river pushing us towards the edge, knowing the drop that lay only 15m downstream. Our swim ended with us being in the Devils pool right at the top of the falls, looking over the edge to the drop below and to the side, seeing the force of the water going over the sides. At one point I feared I was being dragged over the edge and screamed to Georgia to grab my hand and save me. She said the look on my face was priceless. Apparently no one has died doing this!
Feeling absolutely exhilarated we headed to the tent where we were served with more coffee, fresh scones, and eggs benedict. The perfect way to finish off the amazing morning.
Not wanting to leave the luxury surroundings, (the hotel costs $500 per night to stay) I sweet talked the pool staff into letting me sunbathe and use the facilities whilst tea shirt tan Tony sat in the shady lounge using wifi. It was hovering around 30degress and so I bought drinks which meant they allowed me to stay as long as I liked. Tony clearly sensed beer was about to be purchased and made his way towards me.
We ended up staying for a late lunch, sat overlooking the river watching hippos pop up every now and then. In the heat my chilled glass of Sauvignon blanc didn't stay cool for long and so we headed back over the border in the late afternoon, stopping at another luxury hotel- The Victoria Falls hotel for cocktails, before heading to meet the others and eat pizza. Tony was still traumatised by the pizza incident a few days earlier and so we left early.
The next morning we were picked up at 7am and taken 20km or so up river, driving through the bush, spotting elephants, giraffe and all the other wild animals we've become accustomed to seeing. At the side of the river our canoe guides cooked us breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomatoes and onions before giving us a safety briefing. Essentially in our 2 man rubber canoe we would head 12km downstream, taking in 3 rapids and we had to dodge crocs and hippos. Lets just say our coordination wasn't the best at first and I wondered whether our 8 week marriage could withstand its first major test! Our guide was urging us to move to the side, a hippo, which seriously can be deadly, was in our midst. We couldn't head in the direction we wanted, instead we seemed to be going round in circles before a guide came and instructed us, ushering us to safety. I'll admit I was petrified thinking a hippo would in the very least head butt me, before the croc came along and finished me off.
Fifteen minutes in we got the hang of it, with the rapids quickly becoming the fave bits of the journey. On the last rapid it wasn't a rock we bounced off, but a hippo. I'm glad I didn't know it at the time.
We were rewarded with a cold beer and a buffet lunch at the side of the river before we headed back. Late that afternoon we got dressed up and headed back to the Victoria Falls Hotel for high tea, looking out over the lush green lawns with the gorge and the Zambezi bridge in the background, eating salmon, chicken and egg and cucumber sandwiches, scones and numerous cakes and pastries, finished off with another cocktail. We decided to indulge further and called in at the Shearwater Cafe for wine, not realising until our bill arrived that it was happy hour and our 2 large red wines only cost £3.50. If I'd have known I'd have ordered more!
Day 3 of our Vic falls stay started with coffee at Shearwater before taking to the sky with a helicopter ride looking down on the falls- very cool! I was surprised at how calm I felt when normally I'm not too fond of flying. We got some very good photos, Tony sat in the front next to the pilot getting a birds eye view.
Late that afternoon we were picked up by our canoeing company again, this time to sit back and relax. This turned out to be another highlight of the trip, paddling down river sipping super strong G&Ts and then polishing off a bottle of red, our drinks prepared by our guide and passed to us on canoe oars. An elephant decided to leave land and join us for a swim, heading directly for our canoes forcing a bit of back paddling, and hippos popped up to check us out as the sun set. Everyone else had headed off on the party boat but I'm glad we chose to do this, having the whole river to ourselves.
We met up with everyone else in Shearwater Cafe, just making the end of happy hour- (like we all hadn't had enough to drink) before heading to Shoestrings- the hostel and backpacker bar of choice, dancing the night away to many of the songs we requested to be played at the wedding reception. A rather drunken night was had by all....the huge dog that lived there had to put up with us trying to jump on its back and ride around, there was dancing on chairs and tables, sunglasses lost, and lots of drunken photos taken.
Thankfully there was no hangover but we didn't appreciate being woken at 6am after 5 hours sleep by the ATC truck that had pitched up immediately behind us.