2023-08-12: Angels Pool and White Rhinos, Oh My!

After a quick breakfast at the Jungle Junction we hurried to pack up our gear for our adventures into Zambia! We were picked up by our Wilderness rep at 9:15am and taken to the Zambia border, about a 5 minute drive from our hotel. Darrell ran in to get the exit approval from Zimbabwe. We drove across the Victoria Falls Bridge and learned that the bridge is split in half. Zimbabwe owns the west side, Zambia owns the east side, with a 1 meter section that is neutral in the middle. The bridge was built as a train bridge in 1905 spanning 650 feet across the Zambezi river. The hotel we are staying at was also built around that time to house the railroad workers. After a quick hand off the to the Zambia Wilderness driver, we stopped at the Zambia immigration and Darrell went into get stamped for admission. While he was inside Amanda and the kids were bombarded by a very persistent salesman through the window of the van trying to sell his crafts and another man trying to sell Zambian currency. We were sure grateful when Darrell and the driver returned to get them out on their way.

As we drove along we took in all the change in scenery and happily chatted with our driver on the 20 minute drive to the Livingston Island experience. When we arrived we were greeted by David F. and welcomed in. After filling in our registration information and signing our safety waivers we were fitted with lifejackets and briefed about the boat trip to Livingston Island. Our boat transfer arrived about 5 minutes later and on we hopped. David reminded us to hold on to our hats and away we went! We weaved and zipped down the river taking in the breathtaking views of the fourth longest river in Africa.

Arriving on Livingston island, we stepped off our boat and we were greeted with a maize and pineapple beverage before we made our way to the changing tent for a quick change to our swim wear. Amanda got to use the women’s Loo with a View of the Falls! Next we made our way to the breakfast tents and dropped off all our valuables into a lock box. Now the adventure at the falls begins. We took a short hike to the west side of the island where we could see Devil’s pool. The water is still too high to get there. They are hoping to open it in the next couple of weeks. We then made our way east to Angel’s Pool and had fun hanging out on the edge of the falls for a photo shoot. Our photographer took 160 photos and videos on Darrell’s phone! It was a pretty quick experience and awe inspiring, nothing like looking down about 75 meters over the edge of the falls. Once pictures were done we were escorted back for breakfast. The boys both chose porridge with berries, yogurt, and chia seeds. Darrell and Amanda had the bacon wrap with salad and roasted tomato. Patrick polished his bowl off and Michael made a good attempt at his. The bacon wrap was heavenly. We visited with the other guests from Sydney, Australia and Cape Town. Afterwards it was a time to change back into our clothes and take the boat back to the main island. We took a quick trip to the dock and said thank you and good bye before heading to the Royal Livingston Hotel to wait for a pick up for our next adventure.

After picking up a $45CAD bottle of sunscreen from the shop at the hotel, we sat along the river and enjoyed the view. Darrell and the boys took a bathroom break and Patrick spotted his first Zebras on his way back to our table. He was so excited and asked to use the camera after getting Amanda up to “Come see!” Michael in the mean time had found another lizard to take pictures of by the bathrooms. One zebra was resting under the trees, the other was grazing in the middle of the lawn. Once the boys were all back, we went for a wander along the paths and spotted several vervet monkeys. They were everywhere along the path and one of the security guards was scaring them off with a slingshot. We made our way back to the entrance for our 1:30pm pick up with Take a Walk on the Wild Side Safaris. We were picked up in a pick up truck with a seats and a canopy attached over the bed of the truck. Michael was very quick to point out there were no seatbelts! Gift was our driver and Kugwame was our guide. We took a 30 minute drive to the Mosi-Oa-Tunay National Park. Mosi-Oa-Tunay is named after Victoria Falls in the local language. It actually translates to “the smoke that thunders”. After a short stop to arrange an armed conservation officer to join our walking safari and a moment to take pictures of a Lilac Breasted Roller, Amanda’s favorite bird, we were back to the highway and off to do our walking safari.

We took a quick turn off the highway into the bush and stopped to pick up Eric, our guard, and continued on a little further into the bush. We learned the park is 66 km² , the home to many animals but no lions or cheetah or leopards. The park is too small for the big cats. They have 11 white rhinos in the park and there are guards around the park to protect them from poachers. We each took a bottle of water and were briefed on safety before we set out in search of rhinos and whatever else we could find, single file behind the guard. We wandered around for about 90 minutes, during which we spotted wildebeest, many birds including the red billed horn bill, you might know as Zazu in the Lion King. It was elusive when it came to pictures. We learned about different plants and their many uses and we learned about and held elephant poop! It is used for so many things, fire starter, building material for homes, transporting fire from one place to another, and the list went on. We found rhino tracks, and antelope tracks, long legged beetles and a warthog tusk. Finally, we came across the rhinos. We found 4 of them munching on hay, the park rangers have been supplementing food for animals throughout the park during the dry season. Each rhino has a name but that was too many names for any of us to remember. We took 10 minutes to just admire and watch the rhinos from about 20 feet away. They were calm and unfussed by our presence and when they started moving towards us we gave them their space and made our way back to our ride for a light snack of banana bread and passionfruit juice.

After thanking Eric, we departed to do a bit of a driving safari, on the river side. We found so many different animals along our route. Baboons, zebra, marabou stork, monitor lizards, cape buffalo, impala, puku, Egyptian geese, a crocodile, wart hogs, 2 more rhinos (a mom and baby), and elephants! So many animals. By this time is was already after 5 and we were late for our pick up from the Royal Livingston Hotel for transfer back to the border and our hotel. So we made our way back to the drop off point and arrived around 5:45pm. The Wilderness driver was not impressed we were late and the hotel had been worried we were not back on time too. A quick trip to the Zambia immigration and again Darrell went into get our stamps for crossing. The driver couldn’t find the customs agent for a stamp so he pulled up to the gate and the guard got cranky and sent him back to the building for the proper stamp. It was a little nerve racking waiting to get across while the driver looked for the agent he needed to give him the stamp and open the gate. After about 5 minutes our driver returned and poof, the guard liked his stamp and opened the gate. There was a lot of maneuvering around semis carrying coal into Zambia to get us back across the river but we finally made it and breezed through immigration back into Zimbabwe. From there it was back in the van and 5 minutes later we here finally back at our home away from home.

We took a picture of Michael’s feet, he wasn’t thinking this morning and wore sandals instead of shoes. His feet were so dirty! It all adds to the adventure.

We took a few minutes to clean up before heading to Jungle Junction for a buffet dinner with live dancing and singing of the local tribes as entertainment. It was a fun dinner and the kids really enjoyed it. Patrick was again very teenagery, eating enough to feed a elephant. He always seems hungry these days.

After dinner we made our way back to our room and now that the blog is complete it’s time for some sleep. Good night! More adventure awaits us tomorrow!