Day: April 23, 2017

It took quite a while to pass over the border into Zimbabwe, listening to indignant Americans who couldn’t believe that their multi-visas would not be accepted and they had to pay another $30.

Everything here in Zim is done in US$ because the local currency is no longer usable due to inflation. Street Hawkers sell Zim Ten Trillion dollar notes as curiosities to tourists. They are worth practically nothing, so even the ATMs dispense US$ – that is, if you can find an ATM that actually has money in it, because we couldn’t!

But the economy in Victoria Falls is strong and vigorous, just like the fabulous falls themselves. Tourism is thriving here, and they even have ‘Tourism Police’ that stop hawkers from pestering visitors too much.

The town of Vic Falls is lovely, full of wonderful arts and crafts, green and shady gardens, cafes, supermarkets and everything you might need. Everything that is aimed at tourists is very expensive though, unlike the other parts of Africa we have passed through which had very cheap prices, the costs in Vic Falls are on a par with Australia. But the wages are good and the standard of living is better than other places. We did end up giving a packet of biscuits to one hawker who was hungry and unable to sell us anything. Other hawkers offered to trade my sandals for their goods. So not everyone benefits from tourism.

The falls are every bit as wonderful as you may have heard. Because we arrived just after the extraordinarily big rains it was thundering even more than normal. Even wearing a raincoat at the lookouts on the opposite side of the gorge we became soaked to the skin from the drenching spray that comes pelting at you from different directions. Umbrellas were totally unusable. A waterproof camera is needed to take photos in most places.

The energy and force that thunders up out of that very dramatic and steep chasm is not only deafening but emotionally overwhelming. Great white plumes of spray roar upwards to about 100 metres into the sky above you and then tumble down in heavy showers that run off the totally sodden rocks and herbage, and back down to the tumultuous and foaming river hidden way below.

After walking along the precipices to absorb the views we then took a helicopter ride the next day up over this very dramatic natural wonder. It was amazing, fabulous, terrific, wonderful, brilliant, etc, etc, etc. Victoria Falls is our new favourite place in the world.