Dr. Livingston, I Presume
Night has fallen on the small town of Victoria Falls (a.k.a. Vic Falls). The dusty streets are pretty quiet with only a few people walking around. Even the black market money changers have all gone home. Zimbabwe's has an official rate and the "real" rate on the pararel or black market which is four or five times the official one. So 1 US gets you 250 Zim dollars but on the black market, it gets you 1200 to 1300 Zim dollars. The problem is everything is pegged to the street rate and it's illegal to change on the street. You will get arrested if you get caught so it's a bit tricky changing the money without getting ripped off. You can go to the post office and buy a stamp for $4 US or use the black market and pay 80 cent. Go figure. The economy in Zimbabwe is so unstable that the money is useless outside of this country and Zambia, and won't be exchanged to another currency. Plus, it's the only currency I know that has an expiry date. The new money issued on August 1, 2006 is only good until July 31, 2007. Nobody talks about President Mugabe or the government openly.
Vic Falls is the main and for many tourists, probably the only place they will visit in the country. A fine place for the government to earn hard currency. Hence, Vic Falls is expensive, from accomodations (some only accept US money) to food to activities. The Falls themselves are impressive. Cost you $20.00 US to see them but I was surprised how wide the actual falls are and how dry it can get. It's the tail end of the dry sesaon so there is only about 8 percent water flowing. The Zambia side is compltely dry and you see the bare rock face going 90 to 100 meters down below where the water would normally fall. Dr. Livingston has often been credited with dicovering Vic Falls but as one local scoffed, the Falls had been seen many times before and Dr. Livingston was only the first white person to have seen it.
Vic Falls is also known for a lot of adventure activities like rafting, bungy jumping, helicopter and ultra-light flights, gorge swinging, and river boarding. But it's not cheap and they only accept US dollars.
Yesterday morning I walked out of the washroom only to see a staff from the hostel whacking a black mamba snake in the head several times with a very big stick. Good Morning Africa!!!!! No messing around here, as it's head got smashed. The snake's poison can kill a man in 25 to 35 minutes and the closest anti-venom is stored in Pretoria, South Africa. A good advice.... don't get bitten. The snake had been trying to make a nest in the same white water rafts we were going to use later that day.
The rafting on the Zambezi River was very intense and most of the rapids were class fours and fives. The waves were nothing I have seen before and really pound you down if you fall over. Having taken my glasses off, I could still see the sheer size of waves. I was surprised how far some of the drops were of 4 to 5 meters and wished I hadn't eaten that spicy chicken for lunch. Our raft flipped over twice and I kind knew it was going to happen when I saw the massive wall water rise up and spill over the front of the raft. I got stuck under the raft the second time and luckily we had already pass the rapid. It's probably the best commericial rafting you can do anywhere in the world.
The overland tour has finished and I miss seeing the other people around. Going on an overland tour has it's pros and cons. On the one hand, you cover alot of ground (4863 km in 19 days) in the least amount of time and at times, money. Taking the tour is also very stress free and my biggest worries was washing my clothes and where to set up the tent at night. I would never have imagined that I would sleep or eat so much. On the other hand, it feels very insolated when you take a tour and I wan't sure I was in Africa at times. We get glimpses of the "real" Africa (the Africa that most people live in) as we passed the straw and mud hut villages or dusty towns.
My impression of Africa so far, is that it is (with the exception of South Africa) not as geared for budget backpacking as other places in the world. Some of the Parks and Reserves can't be reached by public transport so you have to hire a car or require you be in tour anyways. The transport system is not great (especially in Zimababwe with the fuel shortage and at times, locals have to wait at the gas pumps for days to fill up). I'm taking a train tomorrow night for 491 km that will take 13-16 hours.
With the exception of Capetown, all the towns and cities I have seen so far are pretty ugly and nothing like the pleasant descriptons given in the guidebook. I notice in many these towns and cities, you don't go out at night for safety reasons. One camp site we went to had five armed guards. The barb wire business in Africa is very good here. There's an underlying tension in a lot of these places.
But Africa also has a raw beauty to it. The wildlife is Africa is simply amazing from the birds chirping in the early morning, the monkeys trying to steal your food, a pride of lions sleeping in the afternoon sun to the giraffes nibbling on tree leaves. My favorite park has been in Chobe in Botswana and taking the game drive or river cruise, you will see a herd of elephants crossing a river, hipppos taking a mud bath or crocs sun bathing.
Off to grab some maize and stewed beef....
Vic Falls is the main and for many tourists, probably the only place they will visit in the country. A fine place for the government to earn hard currency. Hence, Vic Falls is expensive, from accomodations (some only accept US money) to food to activities. The Falls themselves are impressive. Cost you $20.00 US to see them but I was surprised how wide the actual falls are and how dry it can get. It's the tail end of the dry sesaon so there is only about 8 percent water flowing. The Zambia side is compltely dry and you see the bare rock face going 90 to 100 meters down below where the water would normally fall. Dr. Livingston has often been credited with dicovering Vic Falls but as one local scoffed, the Falls had been seen many times before and Dr. Livingston was only the first white person to have seen it.
Vic Falls is also known for a lot of adventure activities like rafting, bungy jumping, helicopter and ultra-light flights, gorge swinging, and river boarding. But it's not cheap and they only accept US dollars.
Yesterday morning I walked out of the washroom only to see a staff from the hostel whacking a black mamba snake in the head several times with a very big stick. Good Morning Africa!!!!! No messing around here, as it's head got smashed. The snake's poison can kill a man in 25 to 35 minutes and the closest anti-venom is stored in Pretoria, South Africa. A good advice.... don't get bitten. The snake had been trying to make a nest in the same white water rafts we were going to use later that day.
The rafting on the Zambezi River was very intense and most of the rapids were class fours and fives. The waves were nothing I have seen before and really pound you down if you fall over. Having taken my glasses off, I could still see the sheer size of waves. I was surprised how far some of the drops were of 4 to 5 meters and wished I hadn't eaten that spicy chicken for lunch. Our raft flipped over twice and I kind knew it was going to happen when I saw the massive wall water rise up and spill over the front of the raft. I got stuck under the raft the second time and luckily we had already pass the rapid. It's probably the best commericial rafting you can do anywhere in the world.
The overland tour has finished and I miss seeing the other people around. Going on an overland tour has it's pros and cons. On the one hand, you cover alot of ground (4863 km in 19 days) in the least amount of time and at times, money. Taking the tour is also very stress free and my biggest worries was washing my clothes and where to set up the tent at night. I would never have imagined that I would sleep or eat so much. On the other hand, it feels very insolated when you take a tour and I wan't sure I was in Africa at times. We get glimpses of the "real" Africa (the Africa that most people live in) as we passed the straw and mud hut villages or dusty towns.
My impression of Africa so far, is that it is (with the exception of South Africa) not as geared for budget backpacking as other places in the world. Some of the Parks and Reserves can't be reached by public transport so you have to hire a car or require you be in tour anyways. The transport system is not great (especially in Zimababwe with the fuel shortage and at times, locals have to wait at the gas pumps for days to fill up). I'm taking a train tomorrow night for 491 km that will take 13-16 hours.
With the exception of Capetown, all the towns and cities I have seen so far are pretty ugly and nothing like the pleasant descriptons given in the guidebook. I notice in many these towns and cities, you don't go out at night for safety reasons. One camp site we went to had five armed guards. The barb wire business in Africa is very good here. There's an underlying tension in a lot of these places.
But Africa also has a raw beauty to it. The wildlife is Africa is simply amazing from the birds chirping in the early morning, the monkeys trying to steal your food, a pride of lions sleeping in the afternoon sun to the giraffes nibbling on tree leaves. My favorite park has been in Chobe in Botswana and taking the game drive or river cruise, you will see a herd of elephants crossing a river, hipppos taking a mud bath or crocs sun bathing.
Off to grab some maize and stewed beef....
posted by Louis at 5:51 PM
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