Friday, October 4, 2013

Day 12 - Victoria Falls

Today we left South Africa and flew to Zimbabwe to go visit Victoria Falls. I got to sleep in until 6 before we had to leave for the airport. Woohoo!

Right now it is the end if the dry season (winter) and it is very dry here. Because of this the water level in the Zambezi River is quite low and therefore the falls were not as full and powerful as they usually are. Victoria Falls is a mile of uninterrupted falling falling water. The sheer size of it is amazing. I heard how big it is, but you really don't grasp it until you walk the entire length of it. Normally, it is a sheer wall of water and the spray is so powerful that you are sopping wet, even with a raincoat on and can barely see the falls thru it. Today, there was at least a half-mile stretch that was dry. I guess you could say that the plus of the river being so low is that we could actually see the falls and the river above it!  Still, even at low levels, the falls are amazing!  I am very glad that I got to see them. Maybe the next time I'm here I will come at a different time when the water levels are higher. :-)



For dinner tonight we went to a Boma, which is a type of BBQ where there was all kinds of game meat you could try: warthog, eland, worms, etc. I was not that adventurous and had just chicken and beef. Afterwards, we were all handed drums and drummed along with this group and then joined in with some dancing. I thought I got a video of it but apparently my new point and shoot camera (which I hate) didn't get it. Sigh. It was a total tourist trap where they bus the hotel guests, but it was still fun. 

They had a witch doctor there that read your fortune from bones and nuts for $1. My friend and I decided what the hell and tried it. I didn't understand a thing he was explaining for why the fortune was what it was, but he said that I would have a very happy life. That I am very healthy and strong, I have a good love life, and I will make lots of money. Pretty generic, huh? More so when my friend mostly got the same thing and to other friends got the same fortunes as us. Then again, what more do you expect for $1?

In Victoria Falls we are now in the malaria area so we are all taking our malarone. I totally take for granted my pest-free home. My room, while nice, doesn't have screen doors on the balcony and the doors themselves have gaps in them where the nasty little night crawlers can get in. We have mosquito netting around the bed, but there are a number of little holes that the bugs can crawl thru. When I got back from dinner there were tons of bugs crawling out the outside of the netting. Sooooo gross!!!! I am so itchy right now just thinking of all those things getting into my bed. I've already seen a few mosquitos flying around inside the netting with me. I don't know how I'm going to sleep tonight! 


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