Trip to Vic Falls

Click here for bigger slideshow of Vic Falls photos

A quick review of the trip:

If it weren't for the 2-hour delay and the relatively steep price ($223 for each kid, $270 for each adult), flying to Victoria Falls instead of driving (10 hours) is the way to go. I can't remember having such a laid back airport experience: no security hassles, no rushing through big terminals, just an hour on the plane, plus free food and booze.

We stayed at the Kingdom which is a huge new hotel complex walking distance from the Falls. It lacks the style of the old original colonial Victoria Falls Hotel or the Vic Falls Safari Lodge where we ended up eating dinner both nights, but we were able to fit the whole family in one room (nice, solid bunk beds for the kids), and the pools were just what the kids wanted all day every day. It's hotter at Vic Falls than Harare, and this is the hottest time of year.

Tickets to the Falls park were $30/person, but with resident passes we got in free, or practically free. The paved path for viewing the Falls was nicely done, safely away from the edge with probably 8 different view points. It took us in and out of the hot sun, through the rain forest created by the spray. The Zambezi River plummets into a huge canyon, and there are lots of different falls to see. Some people even took rafts up the canyon and were bouldering to the base of some of the falls (next time!). Other people were at Devil's Pool on the Zambian side, swimming in water holes right up to the edge of the falls. These are probably activities to do only this time of year. In May, there is 50 times more water pouring over, so instead of a series of amazing falls, it's one hugely wide falls.

High tea at the Vic Falls Hotel, with warthogs and guinea fowl wandering around the garden and a distant view of the spray coming up from the canyon, was a nice way to spend the afternoon. The Boma for dinner was a bit of a tourist trap...large tour groups and expensive buffet of all kinds of game meat. The kids were totally exhausted. Quinn and Eliza fell asleep at the table, but E was roused when the drumming, singing and dancing started.

Next morning the guys went golfing at the Elephant Hills Hotel. Then we all went out to lunch at Mama Africa, a laid back local place with live guitar and baboons knocking mangoes out of the tree above us. The guys took the kids back to the hotel, while the ladies did some shopping. I got a nice elephant carved from a heavy wood. Then we all went on the sundowners cruise on the Zambezi River which was very nice and mellow, a pontoon with open bar and live mbira music from a young man wearing an ostrich feather headdress. We didn't get too close to the top of the falls, and we saw hippos, crocodiles, lots of birds and the sunset. That night we hired a baby sitter for the kids and went out to a great restaurant, maybe the best in the country - a good way to end the trip.