We took a Wild Horizons evening cruise on the Zambezi north of the falls. We learned so much about Zimbabwe thanks to being seated with Godwin and Leslie, natives of Harare who were in Victoria Falls on business. It was inspirational to hear these young professionals talk about their hopes and dreams for their country. They described how it was during the time of rampant inflation 8 years ago) when new money had to be printed daily. Evidently a note that you had in the morning would likely not buy you a loaf of bread by the evening. During our stay we had hawkers trying to sell us notes for 50 billion, and millions of Zimbabwean dollars.. This is when Zimbabwe switched to using USD, but it makes life very expensive for the locals.

We saw many beautiful and exotic birds in the grassy swamps, but the highlight was a school of about nine hippos!! These vegetarian creatures  put on quite a show for us and the sunset wasn’t too bad either. What an enjoyable couple of hours.

Pamusha Lodge, our hotel whilst in Victoria Falls, is a treasure! Quite small, quiet and with the friendliest staff one could imagine.

Our visit to see Victoria Falls was exhilarating to say the least. At this time of year, following the rains, the falls are at their heaviest and most thunderous! The “spray” is an understatement! at times the falls are obliterated from view by the clouds and the closer one gets to view them, the wetter one gets! It is like being in a monsoon!!! We’d been warned, but had not expected the intensity. It was exciting and fabulous to see nature at its most powerful without being at risk.

We obtained a bridge pass to cross the Victoria Falls bridge, built in 1905 as part of Cecil Rhodes’ plan to build a Cape to Cairo railroad. Crossing the Zambezi river gorge between Zimbabwe and Zambia, it is used today by pedestrians, trains, and other vehicles, including many trucks traveling throughout Africa. We didn’t go through customs into Zambia, as we would have needed a double-entry visa to Zimbabwe which was more costly than the single entry.