Victoria Falls and Beyond

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Trip Start Mar 01, 2009 Previous
Entry Trip End Apr 28, 2009

  Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Hello Everybody,

Sorry it has taken me so long to update this but it has been pretty hectic over the last few weeks. Obviously went to Victoria Falls for a week and had the most fantastic time and then the internet hasn't been working properly so that is why you have all been left in the dark!

But im here and im going to write you one immense blog! So much went on that its going to take me ages to tell you all about it.......but here goes!

We left for Victoria Falls on the 17th for 6 days and it was an 8 hour drive! We had a couple of stop offs on the way to make the journey more bearable, and the first place we stayed was Granite Ridge near to Matopas National Park! Oh hang on before i get on to that i need to tell you something! On the way there are loads of police road blocks and they stop you to check if you have all your documents and sometimes just for a chat! Anyway we were stopped at one and the man was really really difficult and wouldn't let us past. He said we didn't have a certificate for our trailer ( by the way this was made up) and we had 2 options. 1) was to take our trailer to the local station and pay a load of money 2) was to take his mum to a town an hour up the road.......now can you believe this. Now obviously you know which option we took but it was absolutely hilarious. Probably not to you but its making me laugh just relaying this and i want to set the scene of Zimbabwe to you!

So back to Matopas National Park. This is just outside the City of Bulawayo and is home to many Rhinos. So when we arrived we got settled into our accomodation named for its brilliant rock formations surrounding the area and we went on a Game Drive! Our Guide was extroadinary......He knew everything about everything and reminded me slightly of Robin Williams! He could tell us just from a track on the ground what sort of animal it was, its gender, and how long ago the track was made. We were quite lucky as pretty soon we sort a White Rhino and her Baby standing right in the middle of the road. So he stopped the vehicle and told us all to get out! He took his shotgun just incase but can you imagine walking down the road following two Rhinos......it was amazing. Unfortunately we only saw them briefly as they decided to run off but we had a brilliant afternoon. Learnt a lot of anyway.

Next day at 5 in the morning we all trapsed out of bed to see some cave paintings and watch the sunrise. However the weather wasnt on our side for the first few days and we didn't actually see a proper sunrise as it was so cloudy but the cave paintings were pretty impressive and they were 600 000 years old and still quite clear! We then set off on our way again to Hwange National Park. This park is about the size of Belgium to show you the shear scale of it! We had little wooden cottages to sleep in with the toilet and shower outside which was interesting to say the least! Other volunteers were their so it was nice to meet some other people! We then went on Safaris in the pouring rain great fun though. We saw Hippo, Crocodile, Giraffe, Kudu, Babbon and more. We were told however that Baboons can tell if you are female so to be careful! They see you as submissive and will even go so far as to slap you to get what they want! haha

The evening was lovely. We had a group of native dancers come and perform for us that go by the name of Inganyamo ( not sure what this means though). They were brilliant and really entertaining! Can't say i have ever seen a group of people lift their legs so high wearing not much more than a loin cloth haha. We got to join in aswell which was interesting......but i must admit i did feel a bit stupid.

Next day we stopped off at a Painted Dog Conservation Centre just to see some of the work that they do. They remind me slightly of Hyenas and sound more like Birds than Dogs but the people do great work rescuing and rehabilitating! THEN FINALLY WE REACHED THE FALLS!

The falls now where do i start> Sorry i told you this entry was going to be epic!
We stayed at the accomodation that is run by the same man that runs Antelope Park and is the other place i could have decided to stay at! It goes by the name of Hunters Lodge and was quite cozy. That night was interesting to say the least! We went to a 5* Hotel and had Sunset Cocktails. Really relaxing and beautiful and then on to The Boma Restaurant. We could do with one of these in the UK i can tell you! As soon as we walked in we were wrapped up in a colourful sarong to get us into the mood and taken to our table. I ate some of the most exotic food i have ever tasted and this included: Crocodile, Ostrich, Guinea Fowl, Warthog, Kudu and the notorious Mopani Worm..........Disgusting as you will tell by my face in the pictures! It was cooked so it was black and crispy on the outside and gooey in the middle but i received a certificate if i did it and we did it as a group so there was no backing out! For the rest of the night we ate more food, had out faces painted, played the drums and saw a fortune teller. He was a bit rubbish and had wonky eyes but it was so funny. He told me i thought too much, will be successful in both love and money and can choose how many children i have, whereas my friend got that she was as strong as a man ( not insulting at all) and her life was all about power! It was the best night and gave me the proper holiday feeling!

Now the next day was most eventful. Firstly we went to see the falls walking cubs which are the brother and sister of the lion Sahara we have back at Antelope Park. It wasn't as nice walking with them as there were so many people telling you what to do that you got confused and they seemed more nervous with you walking with the lions, very differnt to AP where you can hold their tails and interact with them more! Then it was onto the helicopter ride which was breathtaking. We flew right over the falls, into a the gorge near to where we were going to bungee and then over the nearby park where we saw some elephants. It really was beautiful and the pictures just don't do it justice, you wouldn't understand how good it was until you did it yourself. It was a half and hour ride and cost me an arm and a leg but it was so worth it!

From there on i lived on my nerves as a bungee jump, gorge swing and zip line had been pre booked and paid for and there was no way i could get out of it. I was quite excited until i saw the height of it. It is one of the heighest in the world and the bridge is built over the gorge with the falls in the distance! ( if you type Victoria Falls bungee into you tube you will see what i mean.) Although i have got a DVD of it to show you all my thought was i can prove to myself that i have done it but i need to convince you all back at home! Now there were four of us that were all going to do it and we were quite happily all getting our harnasses on together. Now guess who was up first. I just couldn't believe it! I have never ever felt so petrified in my whole entire life i actually felt that i was going to kill myself. Standing with my toes over the edge waiting to jump was like my death sentence. This is the only way i can explain my fear but for some reason i was still smiling! When i had jumped all i was thinking was OMG i have actually done it......I jumped eeeeeeee! (that was really my thought process!) Then a man came down on a wire to come and get me asking if i was ok and all i could manage to say was yes im ok can you come and get me now as my feet were tied up with towels and i felt like my feet were going to slip out! I got to the top and saw my two other friends jump but unfortunately one couldn't do it and i couldn't blame her! I physically had to pull myself to use my legs as they had turned into pure jelly and i felt like i couldn't move. As if the jump wasn't bad enough i then had to edge my way along the bridge to get back up to the top thinking i have actually got to jump again!

Now onto the Gorge swing! Now this sounds more tame than the bungee but was actually scarier. For those of you who don't know what it is you just step of the edge and freefall 130 feet. You literally drop like a stone and then go into a big swing at the bottom. Its more stomach in your mouth than the bungee. Everybody laughed at me as i had no control over my legs and looked like i was trying to run back up to the top! The jumps themselves were brilliant and were such a good feeling and you have such a buzz when you have done them but its just that stepping off the edge which was so scary. After these two theres not much i can say about the Zip. It was tame in comparison but was good all the same. I think you can tell from these last two paragraphs that i am still excited about completing them and like reliving my tales to you all.

That night to celebrate we went to a local bar/club by the name of Shoestrings and got a little bit tipsy. It was really friendly and welcoming and the drinks were extremely cheap. $2 for a double Vodka and Coke you can't do much better than that!

On our final day ( yes i am finally there) we went to see the falls for real. Theres no words for me to describe them to you.......all i can say is that they were absolutely spectacular as if it wasn't enough for me to see them from the air! There was so much moisture in the air that we got absolutely soaked even though we wern't that close to them! The volume of water is phenomenal and when the mist clears you just can't take your eyes off them. I would recommend to anybody to come to Zimbabwe even if it is just to see them!

Then the nice 8 hour drive back.......what a rubbish way to end this blog. Now i hope you can all see that this has taken me about an hour to write and will take me another hour just to upload all my pics this is why i only get the chance to write it on my mornings and afternoons off.

I will probably write another blog in a couple of weeks just to put up a few more photos that i have missed out but they might get a bit samey for you now! Although i will have a brand new group of people with me as most of the girls i have been with will be leaving. My roomey has left.....sniff and another is leaving today but Jo has extended her stay for another 2 weeks so this has made me happy and then only 2 weeks and im home to bore you all with more tales! Im going to try and go to the Zim Ruins to learn a bit more about the culture and i have a SCUD day coming up where we go to a local family and spend the day with them to see how they live but more about that in the next blog as this one is already far too long and will have taken you ages to read.

So all that is left to say is that I Love you, Miss you and hope you enjoy the photos as much as im enjoying my experience. Please please keep the comments coming as they make me smile.

Speak soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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