Mosi-oa-Tunya - 'The Smoke that Thunders'

It was time for the standard tourist visit to Victoria Falls, aka Mosi-oa-Tunya, aka 'The Smoke that Thunders' (although Eva and I think it should be more aptly named 'The Smoke that Gets You Soaked').

Apologies for the splurge of photos - these are only mine so far, and if I add some of Eva's later there'll be even more! we just couldn't resist though.

We got dropped off by a taxi from Livingstone - the falls are about ten minutes out of town. On getting there, it turned out we had to pay 100 Kwacha for entry, which we weren't expecting, so we were really hoping it would be worth it...

We certainly weren't disappointed. The first thing we saw when we entered through the gates of the park was a downhill trek to the 'Boiling Pot'. My curiosity got the better of me, and despite the warning to take plenty of drinking water which sounded ominous, we decided to follow the trail. Downhill was fine - we were surrounded by baboons and it was a little like walking through a jungle.

As we got further towards the bottom, we started feeling the spray sifting through the trees, and soon we were presented with a view of the Boiling Pot: so named because of the swirling currents created by the falls.

a good view of the Victoria Falls Bridge

We then made our way back up again (which definitely took more effort than getting down) and carried along the trail which took us around opposite the falls. It was a relaxing walk, except for when Eva was attacked by a large baboon which felt the need to cling on to the back of her rucksack. She screamed, and I shouted at it to 'let go' (which I'm sure it understood...) and we weren't bothered again.

you can see the Knife Edge Bridge, which we later walked across

We then decided it was time to get close to the falls. The ominously named Knife Edge bridge was the best way to get a good view, so off we went.

baboon under the rainbow - pot of gold?

off the edge of the Knife Edge Bridge

There was a man renting waterproof capes, but we though ‘nahhh, it’s warm enough to dry off.’ As we walked along, getting absolutely soaked by the spray, I liked to think you could tell the English people: they were the ones who were equally as soaked as us – who cares about a bit of rain?

When we emerged from the spray-cloud, we had a little wander upstream whilst drying off – here the view was very pretty but not quite so dramatic as the falls themselves. This really is a different side of Africa from the towns we’ve been in so far: partly because the landscape is so different, what with having water, but also because the locals are obviously very used to having tourists around, and have planned their lives around the trade. Where the trail ended upstream, there were little huts dedicated to selling jewellery and other little African novelties.

Mr Livingstone

We’d walked over all the trails we’d seen inside the park, but hadn’t had the chance to cross over the Victoria Falls Bridge, which looked like it would have a good view. The other side of this touched down in Zimbabwe, and the thought of setting foot in another African country was appealing. However it turned out, after walking all the way across the bridge, that we needed a Zimbabwean visa to get into their National Park (which we probably should have foreseen). It wasn’t all a wasted journey though – before we got to border control we encountered a herd of warthogs (or at least that’s what we thought they were).

zipwire across the gorge - we may or may not be trying this at some point...

We had a bite to eat in the cliff-top cafe to end the afternoon, and we’re going to have dinner in the hostel tonight and try to make some friends (there are a lot of people our age here, it’s quite big).

We’ll update tomorrow – all I’m going to give away is that we’ve got an exceptional day planned, and it will definitely be worth reading!