Luanda to Livingstone, Zambia

17 - 19 Oct 07

The famous Victoria Falls

Arrival in Livingstone was friendly and efficient (except for the US$ 85 we had to pay for our two visas) and soon our taxi driver Django was driving us towards the 3 star Zambezi Sun hotel near the Victoria Falls. With our pilot shirts and crew badges, we tried for an air crew discount, and it worked: a spacious air-conditioned room with great breakfast included for only US$ 107 instead of the normal rate of US$ 270. And in addition the hotel was within walking distance of the falls and we could get (paid) WiFi internet access. We relaxed by the pool and later went to see the Zambian side of the falls (Eastern cataract) which were almost dry at this time of the year.
Next morning we found out that our visa for Zambia was only single entry and we would need another entry into the country if we were to walk to the Zimbabwean side. The only way to get a second single entry was to take a taxi back to Livingstone and go to the immigration office in town. As a result we were only ready to start our walk at 11:30, and it was already pretty hot by then.
The Zimbabwean visas set us back by another 80 US dollars. Like in Zambia, the visa for UK nationals was around double that for the Danish. It seemed a lot to pay for just a two-hour visit to the country, but the falls did look much more impressive on the Zimbabwean side and it wouldn’t have made much sense coming all this way not to see the best of the falls. Luckily, most of the walk by the falls was in the shade and there was still enough spray in places to cool us off a bit.
It was also fun to pay a short visit to the venerable Victoria Falls Hotel – the first one to be built near the falls, probably in the early 20th century. In spite of it being populated mainly by Japanese tourists, one could still imagine the likes of Agatha Christie or Ernest Hemingway drinking g and t’s at Stanleys Bar.
Later we drank our own gin and tonics on board the colonial style African Queen as we cruised along the Zambezi. Hippos popped their heads up out of the water and elephants waded across the river. A month after leaving home, we were in Southern Africa at last and our holiday had really begun.