Sightseeing in Livingstone and Good Bye to Zambia!

While Livingstone is the tourism capital of Zambia, it bears little resemblance to what we would call a 'tourist' town.  It is somewhat hardscrabble and while we walk around, see little evidence of tourists.  It is the 'off' season and that's fine with us and, again, everyone is warm and friendly.  Laurent, our host, tells us to be sure and set aside time to visit the local market and today's the day.  I'm not sure what we expected but this certainly isn't for tourists.  This is definitely a locals' market.  Reminded both of us of market places in India.

Every 30 or 40 feet there was a walkway into the market interior where we stepped carefully over puddles and were within inches of each market stall on either side of the walkway.

These fellows are waiting with their giant metal wheelbarrows to transport good home - such as furniture and doors made on site.

We did buy something at one of the stalls (no not a bed) - two pieces of waxed cloth which will make lovely table coverings and a memory of this remarkable place.

Another 'must see' destination is the Livingstone Museum and it is wonderful!  Unfortunately photos inside were prohibited so I had to content myself with this one of Tim in front of a map of Zambia in the foyer.  My knowledge of African geography is so abysmal - I had no idea that Zambia shared a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north and Angola to the west.

We can't resist a stop at the museum's gift shop where we totally 'score' even more souvenirs.  Lawrence has given up waiting for us outside (we're late!) and come to find us.

One more museum stop on our list - the Railway Museum - and that turns out to be the proverbial ripoff - $15 per person!  When we protest that it's too much, the attendant offers to let both of us in for $15 (he has to write up a receipt in increments of $15 so he'll just show it as one rather than two) but we opt for a photo instead.  We have no idea what the Jewish Museum is - and we'll never know!

One last high-end treat to ourselves - lunch at the David Livingstone Lodge, the modern Zambian upscale equivalent of the Vic Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe.  And, yes, it is lovely, set right on the banks of the Zambezi.

We can hear the roar of the Falls and see the smoke that thunders.

But, there is no doubt in either of our minds that the highlight of this trip was the people - so lovely and sweet.  We say goodbye surrounded by Lawrence and the staff at Tabonina - Lance, Choochoo, and Irene.

What a perfectly wonderful way to end our trip!

Tomorrow, we're off to Jo'burg, overnight, and then the long ride back to the US.  It's been right up there with our trip to India in terms of being touched by the kindness and warmth of the people.

Thank you Zambians!

Which Side of Victoria Falls is More Impressive?

Victoria Falls straddles two countries, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and no doubt the debate as to which side is 'better' has raged for years.  Sadly, Zimbabwe's tourism has been tainted by the thuggery of its government, but we decide it's worth a walk over to see if we can settle the 'better' question.  But first we go to church - the local Catholic church and, again, this feels like what we both anticipated Africa would feel like.  It's packed for the 10am mass and other than one other young white woman, who looks like a somewhat dispirited NGO worker, we're the only whites - of about 500 attendees.  We walk in to the sounds of a children's choir singing a cappella in Tonga, the local language, accompanied only by a drum.  It is gorgeous.  Shortly thereafter, the altar boys enter, followed by a swaying, dancing group of young girls, attired all in white and finally the priest.  It is a long mass - really long - and we only last through the homily in which the priest urges the congregation to pray for those who are victims of sexual abuse and the abusers.

Once again, Lawrence takes us to the border which is just past the entrance to the Zambian Falls park.  He is prohibited from going further and tells us it's about a 30" walk across 'no man's land' to the Zimbabwean border.  This 'no man's land' is a mystery but it's totally safe and there are a number of what look like tourists walking with us.  We finally approach the Zimbabwe border, passports with our Unavasa's in hand.

We're baffled by the long line of flatbed trucks and a fellow walker tells us they're loaded with copper plates from the northern Zambian mines, awaiting clearance through Zimbabwe customs - read 'pay some exorbitant duty' to get through Zimbabwe to the coast for transshipment to China.  The first three vehicles were shipped from the UK three months ago and are still waiting for clearance/duty payment.  Behind them, copper trucks as far as the eye can see.

We feel the difference as soon as we walk through the Immigration building - this is not the same as Zambia by any means.  Passports stamped, we are directed to another building labeled 'cargo inspection',  and told to step onto an elevated platform and walk single file in front of four 'inspectors'.   This is starting to get creepy . . .

We obviously pass inspection and are finally allowed to buy our park passes ($10 more than in Zambia).  The sky has been threatening rain on our walk and now it starts in earnest.  We flip on our Ikea ponchos and make the best of limited photo ops.

So far, our vote is for Zambia!

Again, we meet a number of other visitors who graciously agree to take our photo . . .

This may be our best Zim Falls shot; I can only imagine what this must be like when the river is at its flood.

Another reason to come to the Zimbabwe side is to visit the Victoria Falls Hotel, a Victorian gem which is probably 'the' place for tourists to stay.  It truly is a gem and we opt for lunch on the gorgeous back patio.

You can see the smoke from the Falls in the left background and the Vic Falls Bridge just over Tim's head.

Time to head back and we opt for a short cut from the Hotel to the border.  It's through the woods but there is another couple in front of us so we're not worried - until they start walking faster than us and several men step out the bushes, peddling carvings.  We've encountered several of these sellers at the border and each one's story is more tragic than the next - 'I haven't made a sale all day and my family is hungry.'  'Please sir, just buy one carving - one US dolla.'  It's hard but we resist and keep walking.

On our way back across the bridge, we encounter a family group and I offer to take their photo.  then we have to have our picture taken with them.

And, at last, we're back in Zambia!

We get back through Zambian Immigration and Lawrence is waiting for, astonished that we walked both ways, back and forth - declares 'Poppa and Momma' very strong.

What a day!

The Smoke that Roars

We've decided to tack one more African country onto the end of our trip and Zambia won, mostly because its tourism capital, Livingstone, is the gateway to Victoria Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world.  Leaving Horizon at daybreak (5am) we make it to Jo'burg's O R Tambo A/P, drop off the rental car and board a 10:30am flight to Livingstone.  Arriving in Livingstone A/P - only slightly larger than that of Grant County, NM - we're met by Laurent, our host for the next five nights at Tabonina GH.  It's lovely, abounding in greenery including a cashew tree and a guava tree, both of which drop their fruit at regular intervals.

After unpacking and a brief lie down, we decide to explore the town.  This is totally, radically different than anything we've seen in South Africa.  At the risk of sounding glib or naive, this feels like the 'real Africa.'

We are the only whites walking to town and pass numerous signs like this one.  After walking for what seems like miles, we get to town and finally find an Italian restaurant where we have a lovely early dinner and learn that the owner, Stefano, is from NE Italy.  He urges us to return the following evening for native singing and dancing starting at 19:00.  

Next morning we're up bright and early, destination the Falls!  Laurent calls for a cab, and we meet Lawrence who ends up being our own driver for the rest of our stay.  Absolutely delightful guy with a big warm smile, delighted for the fare and to meet Americans.  It's about a 20" ride and we can hear the Falls before we've even entered the park.  The natives called them mosi-au-tunya, the smoke that roars, and in minutes we see why.  Wow oh wow!!

We wander along the eastern side of the Falls for hours, absolutely in awe of the views and this isn't even high water!  High water and the Falls in their full glory will come in a couple of months with the rainy season.  

This is the Devil's Pool and there is a very strenuous hike down to it - we don't even consider doing it!  

Rainbow Falls, so aptly named.  I think the rainbow is ever-present.  

Victoria Falls Bridge over the Zambezi; the left side is Zambia, the right Zimbabwe.  This is a singular engineering achievement culminating in one of those inexplicable events.  The parts were assembled at a bridge company in England and shipped to what was then Rhodesia.  When the last center girders were installed on the evening of March 31, 1905, they were 1.25 inches too big!  By the following morning, they had contracted and slipped easily into place.

Again, we're almost the only whites, and all the blacks we meet are warm and friendly and offer to take our photo including this one in front of the statue of David Livingstone.  

And this group who insisted on having their picture taken with us after we offered to take a photo of them

Again, we've been blest with perfect weather - no rain, just the mist of the Falls - and perfect temps for our long walk.  On our way out, we're accompanied by a family of monkeys who seem to multiply as we get closer.  Fortunately, they seem to have little interest in us but we take off our glasses and quickly pocket the camera - just in case.

Glorious day - breathtaking scenery!  And Lawrence is waiting for us when we leave the park.  We're too tired and overwhelmed to even think about singing and dancing so we stop for take-out Indian on the way home - perfect end to a wonderful day

Ride 'Em Cowboy and Cowgirl!

After an early morning drive to the Cape Town airport, a two-hour flight to Jo'burg, a torturous car rental, and a three and a half drive to Horizon, we arrive!  And before we even enter the gatehouse, we are greeted by the locals!!

This is our very first sighting of giraffes on this trip and we are absolutely gob-smacked!  We had heard that they can camouflage themselves and we thought - yeah right! - how do you camouflage a 20-foot tall creature with spots and then we saw the upper portion of the one here and we got it!

Isn't this a beauty!!  And then we pull into Horizon and wow oh wow -  this is where the one-tenth of the one percent come to vacation!!  We have the chalet - actually a very posh rondavel - on the lower left.  It's bigger than just about any rental we've ever had anywhere.

The total capacity of the property is 30 but there are only about 14 guests right now which makes for a very nice meal time, which we eat communally in the lodge.  But first, we're immediately whisked off for a 'sundowner', apparently de rigeur for every new guest as well as those who've been out on their afternoon ride.  And each day is a different locale.  Today's is atop a rocky outcrop where we snack, drink and watch the sun go down.

Those who rode to the sundowner have parked their mounts down below.  And, yes, me who is terrified of heights had yet another opportunity to overcome that by scrambling up those rocks!

Bright and early the next morning we are at the lodge for breakfast and shortly thereafter ready to mount up and ride off into the seemingly endless wilderness surrounding the property.

We've both asked for gentle, calm horses and given that Horizon has 91 horses (yes, 91) in their herd, that isn't going to be a problem.  And we are delighted to see that the saddles are actually quasi-western, modeled on the US cavalry saddles with actual cantles and a big horn-like thing to hang onto!  There are two rides a day, morning which can last up to four hours and afternoon which is about two hours.  Each ride has a guide who is trained and licensed in local animal life and flora who rides up front and a volunteer who brings up the rear.  We even have our own, personalized water bottle attached to the saddle, which has been specially chosen for our weight and height and we keep for our whole stay.

A number of guests have been here for a while and they are in the 'fast' group which means they do a lot of cantering and galloping.  Tim and I are most certainly not 'fast' - weren't even into galloping when we had horses!  We're quite happy to walk, do some trotting, and a little cantering and soak up this glorious part of Africa.

I put my camera in the saddle bag but, frankly, there weren't too many opportunities to take photos while riding!  On one of our stops with a guide who is straight out of central casting - we've dubbed him the Crocodile Dundee of Limpopo - Nancy, a sweet young volunteer fresh from the UK - takes a lovely shot of the two of us.

And Esve (aka Crocodile Dundee) has dismounted to pluck us a sample of one of the bush wonders.  I forget now whether it was bush toilet paper, bush soap plant, bush hand cream or bush analgesic but we had them all by the end of that ride.

Riding slow means we got to spot a lot more animals than we'd have seen galloping through the bush.  This big fella actually lives in the lake right in front of our chalet.  There is a very understated sign near the lake edge:  Hippos - Swim at Your Own Risk.  Really????

Horizon is also home to a few orphans including Tossie, an aging zebra who was drummed out of his herd because he was considered too old to keep up or be of much use.

He wanders happily around and occasionally will go and pay the horses a visit.   I didn't know that zebras can't be ridden because their backbones are not strong enough to support much more weight than that of a young child.

And a young owl is being nursed back to health after being discovered on the road with a broken wing.

Did I mention the food?  It is absolutely fabulous!!  We have three meals a day and tea early afternoon before the ride.  The rates include all the booze you can drink, and while Tim and I do not take advantage of the booze, it is a big part of the sundown stop.  I am amazed that anyone can drink gin and tonic and then gallop home!

Someone hauls this cooler and a supply of snacks to each sundowner location, and there are no shortage of takers for the beer, wine, gin, sodas, and water on offer.  I must admit, these cold drinks sure hit the spot after a long ride.  I am impressed that people can drink gin and tonics and then gallop home!!

This is truly an international guest list - our chalet neighbors are from the Netherlands, another couple is from the UK, a single guy from Australia, another from Sweden, and two women from Germany.

I'm so grateful to report that we both did really well on all our rides - namely, we didn't fall off, didn't injure ourselves, any of the other riders or the horses.  And the guides and volunteers graciously took us on slow rides - in fact, we had one or two other guests join us!  The weather was absolutely glorious for our whole stay and we made a fabulous new friend - Kirsty!

Kirsty is one of the administrators of Horizon, and we just had an instant bond over a long post-lunch conversation.  She and her partner have a standing invitation to visit us in the States.

All too soon our stay at Horizon is coming to an end, but we decide to forego the last afternoon ride and instead book a safari at the Waterberg Reserve.  And that's my next post!

(Read 'Ride 'Em Cowboy' before this one!) The Last Two of the Big Five!!

To get to Entabeni and the Waterburg Reserve, we drive an hour and half over dirt roads and arrive at the lodge where we meet, Tjaart, our guide.  At last, we will be riding around in one of those iconic safari vehicles with the open sides and tiered seating.  Tjaart (pronounced 'chart') asks us what we're especially interested in seeing and, as one voice, Tim and I say 'rhinos'!  Tjaart says that shouldn't be a problem, as he had seen several on a drive that morning.

A quick overview of the Waterburg Reserve.  It is on two escarpments and is a kind of mini Kruger NP.  The northernmost border actually abuts Botswana, and the game protection in this part of SA mirrors that of Botswana.  It is vigorous and passionate.  We pass numerous 'inspection stations' where the sole mandate of the guards is to check for rhino horns.  There are something like 20 rhinos in this reserve and only a few left in Botswana.  In fact, Botswana is so rigid in their protection they have outlawed Chinese tourists in their country.  Yes, outlawed!  And if you're found in the bush in Botswana with a gun of any kind, you are assured of being shot, on sight, no questions asked, by a Botswana game warden.

Back to our game drive . . . we leave the lodge and head over the pass onto the escarpment in search of rhinos.  It is a challenging drive over a partially-paved road . . . to this fabulous view.

On the way we meet another safari group that's stopped to admire something no South African would even pick up because they're 'bad juju' - a chameleon.  This fellow is from Botswana and holds the chameleon up close for a photo - I didn't know that chameleons have eyes that allow them to see 360 degrees!

Down from the mountain, we head for the rhino hangout.  And we're not disappointed!  There they are - a momma and her youngster.  These are white rhino, so named not for the color of their skin (which I mistakenly thought) but for that fact that they only have one big horn.  The black rhino, far more elusive and endangered, have two horns, one of which will sell for $1million on the black market.

Momma up close . . .

Remarkably, they are not startled by the sound of our vehicle or one on an adjoining road.

From there, we head off to look for more game and are rewarded by a most remarkable sight - a recently born wildebeest calf.  We look around and there are scores of them - we've been so fortunate to arrive at calving season!

And poppa wildebeest just hanging out and taking it easy . . .

A beautiful kudu right beside the game path:

We stop for the sundowner (sans booze) . . .

Tjaart points out the 'million dollar' golf shot, just above the canopy on our vehicle.

For a hefty fee, golfers can be helicoptered to the top of that high plateau where a tee is strategically placed.  With a million dollars at stake, the golfer swings and tries to land a hole in one on the lower plateau where a flag indicates the elusive hole.  To date, no one's made it.

Good bye Waterburg . . .

And good night South Africa!

But wait, that's only four of the big five!  It's pitch dark by the time we make our way home and about 2km from Horizon, Tim shouts:  I just saw a leopard!  Our driver excitedly agrees and is amazed; even he's never seen one and this one sprinted across the road right in front of our van.  So I don't have the photo proof but I believe and we're counting it!!