Zambia – Couple of Boots

Day 129: Victoria Falls & Chobe National Park

Victoria Falls is a really expensive place to stay, so unfortunately 2 days was the max we could afford to stay, which meant we would have a jam-packed final day. Igor really wanted to fly a microlight aircraft (basically a 2-man kite with a lawn mower engine) over the falls, so we had the Gorges Lodge book the earliest available flight, so that we would have time to visit Victoria Falls (you know, the main reason we are here?).

The only microlight operators are on the Zambian side (along with Devil’s Pool and the helicopter rides that go into the gorge – we discovered that Zambia does all the *dangerous* stuff), which meant we would need to allow time to go through immigration before our flights. We woke up the poor kitchen staff at 5:30AM so that we could be on the road at 6AM, and at the border crossing by 7AM. Surprisingly, we were not the only ones at the border crossing that early in the morning, but luckily the wait wasn’t too long. After shelling out USD $50pp for our single entry visas, we had a new stamp in our passport and we were on our way.

Once we got to the Batoka Sky airstrip and paid for our 15min flights (USD $150pp), we had about an hour long wait while the three aircrafts took up one tourist after another. Their operation was crazy efficient – time is money (at USD $600/hour!!!) and they were not wasting a single second! Lindsay managed to snap a few pics of Igor as he boarded is aircraft before the ground crew told her to put away all her cameras (even the GoPro, as they want you to buy *their* GoPro pics at USD $20pp) so she could get ready for her flight. Was the experience worth it? Yes…but once is enough.

Crossing the bridge into Zambia – it’s a busy international crossing so they *try* to make to process “in & out”

Taking a Microlight Flight was high on Igor’s bucket list for Vic Falls, so we booked the earliest slot available

Igor taking off in a flying lawnmower!

Our first full view of Victoria Falls is in the air! We do a full loop, seeing it from both the Zimbabwe side and the Zambian side before returning to base

Lindsay was right on Igor’s heels, flying over the Falls

Riding the microlight wasn’t enough for Igor – he asked the pilot if he could steer! The pilot gave him the go-ahead to fly them back toward the airstrip, passing a herd of hippo along the way!

Once we crossed back to Zimbabwe, we made a beeline for the Victoria Falls National Park, where we had 2hrs. to walk the trail across the gorge from the falls, taking in the majesty of the 350ft high waterfall. As it was late morning by this time, the trail was quite crowded (hey – there are all the Chinese tourists! We’ve been missing them during our African adventure so far) – the falls are spectacular, don’t get me wrong, but Lindsay at least had a hard time appreciating Victoria Falls as a *wonder of nature* with so many people around. Perhaps the experience would have been better first thing in the morning, or right before it closes?

Last but not least – visiting the Victoria Falls National Park (Zimbabwe) to see the waterfall in all its glory

Gotta say, they aren’t trying too hard to keep people out of the river. I guess the attitude in Africa is, “if you are dumb enough to climb over the fence, you deserve to die”

The Devil’s Cataract

The many faces of Victoria Falls

The Main Falls – ‘nough said

Victoria Falls – (arguably) the biggest waterfall in the world

Igor crossing the limits for a fantastic photo of Vic Falls – luckily Lindsay was there to pull him back from the brink

Once we said, “Good bye!” to Victoria Falls, we had a 2hr. drive to the Kasungula border crossing, where we walked across into Botswana. Our hotel transfer was waiting for us and returned us to the Chobe Safari Lodge (hey – our rental car is still there – yay!). Somehow we arrived ahead of schedule, so we were able to check-in and freshen up before our sunset river cruise. Unlike the Vic Fall cruise the day before, drinks were not included, but at least we didn’t have assigned seating and could move about the boat to view the wildlife (and since we were technically inside the Chobe National Park, there was *a lot* of wildlife).

One rant about this experience – and please, no offense to all of our friends with kids – but WHY would anyone bring a baby and a toddler on a sunset river cruise? (BTW – the lodge offers babysitting service) For over two hours, two children were crying on and off, ruining the peace and tranquility for all the other guests – and it’s not like the parents were having a good time either as they were obviously stressed out trying to calm their kids down. I get that they want to have a family vacation, but why pick a location and activity that is not child-friendly? Given how insanely expensive it is to fly your family to Africa and staying in this resort, it would make more sense to wait until your kids are old enough to behave (and *remember* the experience! You think that toddler is going to remember his family trip to Botswana?! NO!!!). There was another family on the boat with kids that were around 8 & 10 years old – they all looked like they were having a great time! Hey, maybe we’ll be in the same boat (no pun intended) someday, but until we are, we apologize if we are a grumpy childless couple.