Jeff and Courts do Victoria Falls

We arrive at Vic falls international airport after 25 solid hours travel. A few big stopovers didn't help. Perth to JoBerg was a fairly easy 11 hours though.

Vic falls airport is about 20 kms from the town so it doesn't scare the animals away. We have a taxi driver pick us up and take us to the rest camp. We see a monkey on the side of the road on the way and get more excited that we probably should have. The landscape is dry and hot.

The township is quite small; one or two main roads with the shops and booking agencies. Our accommodation is a 2 minute walk from there.

We book some activities for tomorrow and head to the cafe/bar. Impala stew is the special. Sold! That and the local beer Zambezi and we are feeling human again.

We wander around the town and down towards the falls. It's too late to head in now, but we thought we'd check out where they are.

There are plenty of people trying to sell us stuff, mainly out of circulation Zimbabwean currency which was ended due to inflation problems. A billion dollar note, anyone? There are also lots of curios (market craft stuff) being sprooked, sometimes with a bad smell of desperation.

The self proclaimed coolest guy in town, Prince becomes our fast friend. He has a shop and convinces us to come in. We haggle down his original $120usd price for a set of stone animals with some success. It's been a while, we are rusty.

Courtney has found her new favourite animal in the Warthog. They are busy wandering the town, digging up fresh grass resting on their front knees (poor animal design). She likens them to weird cats with their tails in the air. They are weird, I'll give them that.

Day 2

We're up bright and early for a walk with lions this morning. We are picked up in a bus and taken not far out of town. A quick briefing on the dos and don'ts around the lions and we are off to meet them.

A brother and sister are soaking up the morning sun like any other cat when we get there. They are about 15 months old, but plenty big enough to keep us cautious. The lions respect humans with sticks so we hold ours tight.

The guides let us step up and pat the male lion individually and get some photos. We start to realise that they are tamer than our cats at home. Pendula suffers through our affection and tries to stay awake before we convince him to come for a walk. He is reluctant, but his sister is up ahead and our guide suggests we try the "pretend we are abandoning him" approach. It works.

These lions are in stage 1 of a rehabilitation program towards getting them into the wild. They will soon be off to a private game park nearby and human contact will be removed. If this goes well, a number of years later they will be released. This may not be completely successful for these guys, but if they can produce wild cubs that's great result.

The siblings take us for a walk around their large domain. The domain is actually with a border, but they don't normally wander far. They do hunt occasionally, teaming up to scare baboons out trees and into their bellies. They are far too tired for such antics this morning though.

We herd the big cats back towards the office and say our goodbyes. Very surreal experience. Go well, kitties.

On the list for the rest of the day is to see the actual falls, known as The Smoke that Thunders. $30usd per head later and we are exposed to some amazing sights. The 1700 meter wide falls are the largest sheet of falling water on the planet and another natural wonder of the world.

We are viewing from the Zimbabwe side. The Zambezi falls from the Zambia side, so we have a great view. We see some crazy people "enjoying" Devil's Pool. A small pool formed right on the edge of the fall. Many tourists have died here as they are swept over the edge. We are queasy just looking at them from the other side.

An impressive aspect of the falls is how natural they are. No fences, minimal walkways, all original. Which means it's pretty easy to falls of the edge of the gorge if you wanted. We don't, so tread carefully and get some pics.
We grab some food from the Cafe there.

We head back for our pre-tour-departure meeting back at the camp. A small group of 11 for our tour. Awesome. Plenty of room in the truck and less chance of dickheads.

Our man in the know, Prince let's us know what the plan for Saturday night is. A group from Harare are coming to town to peform at the resort/casino/club. We decide to check it out, not knowing what to expect.

We are escorted by another local who tells us there is no such thing as "too much party". We get in to the casino and realise it's pretty much a full on club where this "group" is performing. Our mate insists that "now the club is on fire!" - we realise we are far to white and uncool to be taking part and play some blackjack instead. We do well, pocket some cash and head home.