Day 19 Zimbabwe - Victoria Falls

Day 19 Zimbabwe - Victoria Falls

Today we cross the border and enter Zimbabwe.  Once in Victoria Falls town, we have time to plan the next day’s adventure activities before we visit the spectacular Victoria Falls and experience the thundering of the mighty Zambezi. An optional dinner out is a friendly way to end your tour with all the new friends you’ve made along the way.  

Optional Activities: Chobe morning game drive, Zambezi Sunset Cruise Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

12th January 2014

Up bright and early for another game drive in the Great Chobe National Park, this time there were sixteen of us including the Brisvegas six. Of course they were all running late as I suspect they were all hung over, and yes that ticked me off somewhat!!! They were eating into my game driving time...

We got to the gate and went through the formalities of signing in, then it was off. What I can say is for the first two and a half hours we saw nothing absoutely nothing, I'm not sure how so many elephants and hippos can simply disappear but I'm telling you they did. They were nowhere to be seen. The only animal to be seen were the baboons, they were as per normal everywhere. It's times like these it would be tough to be a game driver, he had nothing to show us and as a result nothing to talk about, I truly felt sorry for him and the guys that came on todays game drive expecting to see something.

It was only on our way back did we see this impala standing as still as a statue looking straight ahead, not even the noise of the vehicle made him look around. We searched the bushes but didn't see what the impala was looking at, so our guide started driving off when Isabella spotted a lion hidden in the bushes. Our guide reversed up and sure enough there he was he was a long way off and lying down under a tree, it was only when he lifted his head did we get a look at him. My lens came in handy once again.

After watching the lion and the very motionless impala for a while we headed off, as we neared the spot where the leopard had been I said to Christoph there has to be something up ahead as there were a stack of vehicles parked, (it's always a good sign) and sure enough the leopard was back. This time he was up the tree just having a bit of a nap, Lisa and I couldn't see him from where we were sitting as the canvas roof of the vehicle obscured our view, I solved the problem by climbing out and sitting on the railing with my upper torso and arms leaning on the canvas. This enabled me to get the photos I wanted, with some encouragement Lisa did the same. 

As we were now running late the guide had to leave after about 10 to 15 minutes, he shot off at the speed of light, we then had one of the best encounters ever, Painted Wild Dogs!!! 

The Wild Dogs are critically endangered and incredibly rare, but we were no more than 10 meters away from them. We sat there taking heaps of photos as this was truly "special", eventually they headed off and so did we.

When we got back to camp we had lunch and headed to the border, the sad thing was there was no Papa. When we got to the border Tom (one of the Brisvegan's) didn't have the correct change and that caused a delay in the crossing whilst he borrowed the money from Anja, (it also took some doing for her to get back).

Once across the border we headed to Victoria Falls, it's as impressive as they say the water isn't just mist coming from the falls, it's torrential rain in places.

It was a hot day so walking around in the spray / rain was kinda nice. I also go to test out the weather seals on the Pentax. They work well however the lens is not designed for such conditions and as such had a few issues. The problem was that the mounting plate had got wet so the sensors weren't working properly, as Craig say's Victoria Falls is the place where cameras go to die. Fortunately I'm good at bringing back the dead and everything is all right now.

After the walk around the falls we headed for a coffee, (a real one) the cafe at Victoria Falls cost me $4 US and I got an Amarula shot with it.

Later we had the final family dinner, which everyone attended except the Brisvegas six, it would appear they had better things to do. The dinner was great and it was the last time we would be together, so I was asked to give the farewell and thankyou speech to Shingi. From there Craig got a couple of family photos but left Christoph in charge of the remote, anything could have happened with Christoph in charge but I'm sure there were some great shots.  

Look carefully, two men on the edge of the falls