And yet another public holiday in April in South Africa...for m2m this meant a four day weekend...and for me a trip to Victoria Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe! It was Freedom Day, which commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held in 1994 where anyone 18 years or older from any race including non-citizens were allowed to vote. Prior to 1994, only white citizens were allowed to vote without restrictions. Last month, we celebrated Human Rights Day on March 21st, which is also in support of the anti-apartheid movement. The day represented the anniversary of when congress proposed a bill to eliminate the requirement of ‘passes’ to enter white-only areas. On that day, demonstrators gathered and collectively failed to present their ‘passes’, upon which police opened fire and killed 69 people. Just wanted to share a bit of history for you before I tell you all about how I spent Freedom Day Weekend...

I ventured to the falls with two fellow m2m’rs Julia and Wenli. Victoria Falls are located on the Zambezi River, straddling the east of Zambia and west of Zimbabwe, and are considered the 7th Natural Wonder of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The name is Mosi-oa-Tunya, the “Smoke that Thunders”, in the local Lozi tribal language...also known as Silozi or Rozi (say them all together, its fun). Apparently, we arrived at the end of rainy season so the water levels were at their peak...you’ll see what I’m talking about when you check out the pictures.

Just a Few Highlights:

Trekking Victoria Falls (Zambia)

We arrived at the falls and approached a little hut where locals were renting raincoats and shoes for a small price. Given the sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky, I thought it was intended for the overprotective tourists afraid of getting a little wet. We almost bypassed the hut, but after seeing people exit the entrance to the falls, completely drenched, we thought it might be a good idea to suit up. I was adorned in green and pink trash bags, turquoise crocs one day and men’s Chicago Bulls flip flops another...yep this is what the locals gave me to wear (hilarious). You’ll see from the pictures that the mist was more like a waterfall monsoon!

We trekked along the rim of the falls getting a glimpse of different views at each cataract. Depending on the movement of the mist, sometimes you would have 0% visibility and a minute later it would open up to an unbelievable vision of lush greens, palm trees, cliffs, waterfalls. We passed the different cataracts and fall view points: devil’s cataract, eastern cataract, knife’s edge, danger point, horseshoe falls, rainbow falls, armchair falls you get the picture. We also discovered a little pathway to the Boiling Point, which was a 700 meter hike to the base of the falls where the currents of the water create a whirlpool affect. Breathtaking!!

I jumped off the Zim Zam Bridge!!!

So, I’ve been sky diving a couple times...so what could be worse right? Yep, bungee jumping. I never really had the inclination of doing this before, but it just kind of presented itself and like they always say...when in Zambia. Just kidding. So, Julia and I decide that since we are only here once, we’ve both never done it, and with over 500,000 people jumping with 100% safety record, we’d take the plunge off the 152m or 500 ft. high bridge (one of the tallest in the world). The most terrifying part was actually inching out to the platform after they’ve tied your legs up with the bungee cord and hearing 3-2-1. All I remember was feeling my stomach drop, hearing the rapids below me, seeing the most beautiful landscape (upside down nonetheless) and my friends screaming from the bridge. After the biggest adrenaline rush of my life, it gets worse...they reel you back up to a small platform below the top of the bridge, a foot wide metal wire platform, and make you walk along that to a ladder where you climb up to the top. All in all, it was an amazing experience, but not sure I’ll ever do it again....

Cruising Down the Zambezi...on Lady

We boarded the Lady Livingstone to catch the sunset and the ambience and views were stunning! It reminded me of riding on an old steamboat in the early 1900’s down the Mississippi River...not that I’ve ever been on a steamboat, or on the Mississippi, but you know what I mean!

Cruising Down the Zambezi......on Elephant

To get even closer to the Zambezi, we decided to board an ‘elephant-back-safari’. Local Zambian men led the pack with their rifles in hand, while we followed on elephants, formally orphaned wild elephants who have been raised, cared for and protected by these farmers. Elephant hunting for their ivory tusks and teeth still exists and is legal in parts of Zambia. My elephant was named Marula, for the marula fruit (which, side fact, makes a tasty little liqueur called Amarula, similar to Bailys).

Trekking Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe)

There is a debate over which side is better for viewing, Zambia or Zimbabwe so we decided to investigate for ourselves and crossed over to the Zimbabwe side. Once again, adorned in our trash bags and crocs we go trekking along the rim of the falls only this time the mist was even more torrential.

We Went on a Game “Walk”

Strangely...we bumped into a woman who we met at our Mozambique bungalow a few weeks ago (who might be one of the most eclectic strange women I’ve ever come across). She told us there was a game walk right behind the entrance of the falls where you can see elephants, zebra, hippos, etc. A bit nervous, our curiosity got the best of us so we entered the path. We approached the game “walk” and saw fresh elephant prints, elephant dung, among other evidence of wildlife but unfortunately or fortunately didn’t see anything but warthogs and a massive baobab tree. Warthogs were everywhere, we even saw two procreating at the local gas station later that afternoon..awkward! Turns out, people back at our lodge told us that this is really a game “drive”, that there are tons of wild elephants roaming the roads and those who walk here usually have knives or guns for protection. Yikes!

Visited the Town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe...or should I say Village

We then took a walk to the town of Victoria Falls which was extremely tiny and only had a few shops (many which had really strange signs...you’ll see what I mean in the photos).

The small town was pleasant; however it’s becoming quite a ghost town given Zimbabwe’s political and economic situation. Tourists tend not to stay on the Zimbabwe side due to the economic instability. While walking down the street, we were swarmed by locals trying to sell us anything and everything, even obsolete currency! The Zimbabwean currency faced such rampant inflation that it was abandoned in April of last year. Inflation rate in 2009 was 230 million percent (no joke). At one point 1 trillion Zimbabwean dollars = 10 USD. They had bills that were 500 billion dollars, 1, 10 and 100 trillion dollars, all of which I thought were a joke until I started reading about this & learning that those were real bills! It’s hard to say what the conversion was given there was so much revaluation, but in 2008 approximately 500 billion ZW dollars equaled $2 USD. Apparently a beer costs $100 billion Zim dollars until last year when it became worthless. They also tried to barter with us asking us to trade our clothes & shoes...they especially loved Wenli and Julia’s Converse!! We also had little kids running up to us begging for money, which was heartbreaking. We were told not to give them money, so I gave them some pens and food I had in my bag. I hope that the economy and tourism situation there picks up again soon.

Anyhow, it was an amazing trip and I loved every minute of it. Now, back to Cape Town where I plan to say and relax for a while!!

For more pictures go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/nicolenys/VictoriaFallsZambiaZimbabwe#