-
Victoria Falls
I
travelled to Victoria Falls on the train from
Bulawayo which left
Bulawayo at 7pm
daily, when I was there, the journey takes 12
hours and
the
train
used
is
old
Rhodesian
Railways
rolling
stock
which
has
the
full
blooded
feel
of
English
Colonialism.
You'll
enjoy
the
brass
fittings
and
wood
panelling which add to the charm of the journey.
When I travelled
on this train, 4
February 1996, it cost me Z$$84 which equated to
approximately GBP6 or US$$9. Check
The Universal Currency
Converter
? for
more up to
date conversions.
My
original plan was to travel on the train to Vic.
Falls with a girl I
had met in
Bulawayo, Debra, but this plan vapourised when her
boyfriend
put
his
foot
down
and
told
her
that
he
would
drive
her
to
the
Falls
(work
out
the situation yourselves! :-). This meant I had a
spare ticket for
the train, I didn't
manage to sell it until I was in the taxi going to
the
station.
Myself
and
Debs
(she
came
to
the
station
to
see
me
off)
shared
the taxi with an
English guy called, guess what, Ian, he didn't
have a
ticket so I sold him my spare.
We had some time to kill
when we got to the station so the three of us
decidied
to
have
something
to
eat.
We
all
had
a
plate
of
meat
with
sadza,
sadza
is
common
in
Southern
and
Eastern
Africa
and
it
is
a
type
of
porridge
made from maize or
millet, it is most commonly eaten with the
fingers.
After food we found a Porter
to wheel our bags to the correct platform,
actually
he
found
us,
he
insisted
on
taking
our
bags
to
the
train
for
us.
We found our couchette (2 person
sleeping compartment) and settled in.
The
train
left
BYO
promptly
at
7pm
to
begin
our
slow
journey
to
the
Falls.
We were going to go to the
bar later on in the evening but I fell asleep
at
around
8
o'clock
not
waking
until
6
o'clock
the
next
morning.
The
train
arrived
in
Vic.
Falls
on
time
at
7
o'clock.
I
took
these
next
photographs
just
after
we
got
off
the
train
while
Ian
was
sorting
out
his
train
ticket
to
Hwange (Wankie) Game Reserve for later the same
day.
Ian had visited Vic.
Falls before on his travels so he didn't fancy
spending long there. His guidebook
recommended that visitors should go
to
the
Victoria
Falls
Hotel
for
breakfast,
as
you
can
normally
get
a
lavish
buffet
breakfast for a very reasonable price.
Unfortunately, the hotel
was
shut
for
refurbishment
so
we
had
to
go
just
down
the
road
to
the
Makasa
Sun
Hotel. Afterwards Ian pointed me towards the Town
Council Rest Camp
where I was meeting
Debs later in the morning, then we said goodbye. I
didn't know it at the time but I was to
run into Ian about 10 days later
in
Masvingo....
I planned to
get a chalet at the Town Council Rest Camp for
myself and
Debs. I followed Ian's
directions and found the camp easily, I put my
backpack in the luggage
store then set
off to find
three Australian guys
I
had
met
in
Bulawayo.
It
must
have
now
been
about
8:30,
on
the
5th
February.
I found the office of the lady in
charge of the chalets and told her I
was
trying
to
find
three
Australians
who
were
staying
in
one
of
the
chalets.
She proceeded to
hand me a big fat wadge of registration cards, I
took
this
as
a
subtle
hint
to
look
through
them
myself!
Eventually
I
found
which
chalet
they
were
staying
in,
gave
the
cards
back
and
went
to
see
the
guys.
So,
after
we
had
chatted
a
bit
they
packed
up
all
their
stuff
and
the
four
of us walked up to the
reception building ready to be first in the queue
for vacant chalets.
The way the Town Council Rest Camp
works is that every morning at 10:30
you
have
to
book
that
night's
accomodation,
i.e.
you
can't
book
more
than
one
night at a time. This was the case when I visited
in early February
anyway. It might just
have been the fact the Camp was pretty busy at the
time...
A common sight in
the camp, Overland Trucks
10:30 came and I went to book two beds
in a chalet,
up
back
to
the
reception
and
tried
again
(about
20
minutes
later),
there
had
just
been
two
cancellations!
I
had
two
beds
in
a
chalet
sharing
with
four
other
people.
It
was
about
this
time
that
Debs
arrived
from
Bulawayo
with
her
boyfriend,
he
just
dropped
her
off
then
went.
We
went
to
see
the
three
Ozzies in their chalet to say hello. I
wanted a shower as I hadn't been
able
to wash since the previous morning in BYO. The
others decided to go
to see the Falls.
I went to find our chalet...
The chalet had
two bedrooms and one kitchen. Both bedrooms slept
three,
our
beds
were
in
the
end
of
the
building
nearest
to
you
in
the
above
picture.
I
got
settled
in
and
cleaned
up
then
wandered
into
town.
As
you
walk
through
town
towards them you can see the cloud of water vapour
thrown up by the
Falls, it seems to be
constantly suspended over the Northern end of the
town. Also, there is the constant
rumble that can be heard as the water
falls to it's destination. On my way to
the big attraction I stopped at
the
main
Post
Office
to
make
a
couple
of
phone
calls,
this
is
where
I
met
another
Australian named Brett who I was to see again
somewhere else in
Zimbabwe...
Just inside the main
extrance of the Victoria Falls Park & Rainforest
Reserve there is a Museum detailing the
history of the area and the of
the
Falls themselves. The hand drawn map below shows
the border between
Zimbabwe and Zambia
disecting the Main Falls and then carrying on down
the center of the Zambezi river. Also
shown are the main footpaths
represented by dotted lines and the
road/railway line between the two
countries, both cross the Zambezi over
the Zambezi Bridge (see photo
below).
The Victoris Falls Park and Rainforest
Reserve
Zimbabwe
......|............. Zambia
Zimbabwe ........../.........
Zambia
The
Zambezi Bridge
Not visible when the left hand picture
is at the above size is a bungee
jumper
(US$$90
a
jump)
but
when
blown
up
to
the
eqivalent
of
'Poster
Size'
the
jumper is clearly visible (when viewed on a colour
monitor not my
PowerBook's internal
monitor! :-)
At present this
bungee jump is the highest in the world. The other
attraction for adrenalin junkies is the
white water rafting trips which
are
run
by
a
number
of
operators
in
Vic.
Falls.
When
I
was
there,
the
water
levels were so high
only half of the rapids were in use yet the
rafting
trips cost the same amount as
they did when all the rapids were in use
- US$$90. I would have liked to have
done both the jump and the rafting
but
the
prices
were
prohibitive.
By
the
way
if
you
plan
to
do
the
rafting
organise your trip with a firm which
operates on the Zambian side of the
falls,
then,
when
the
conditions
are
good
you
get
to
raft
over
more
rapids
than you do on the Zim. side, for the
same price.