VICTORIA FALLS, ZIMBABWE

October 26 - 27 – Victoria Falls

We flew on another small "bush plane" from the Londolozi airstrip back to Jo’burg, then on to Victoria Falls.

Vic Falls is the largest waterfall in the world – i.e., it has the most water going over it. The falls are over 1 mile long, with a drop of 400+ feet. They are over twice as long as Niagara Falls, with 2-3 times the drop of Niagara. Suffice it to say, Vic Falls is big!








October is the end of the dry season, when the falls are at their lowest, which is supposed to be a good time to visit because you can actually see the falls – during the high season, the falls are often totally obscured by mist from the sheer amount of water tumbling over the falls.
Zimbabwe is on one side of Vic Falls and Zambia is on the other side. We stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe – the oldest hotel at the falls.

our hotel:
the view from our hotel:

The falls were beautiful, but the most interesting thing was Zimbabwe itself. Long story short, the country is seriously messed up! You may have heard that Zimbabwe has 1000% (yes, one thousand percent) inflation and very high unemployment. This is the product of extremely poor (i.e., "corrupt") government. President Mugabe was elected 26 years ago on the platform of taking the white-owned farms and giving them to the black people. Mugabe took almost all of the white owned farms, but he gave them to his buddies – not to "the people". His buddies apparently did not even try to run the farms and just took what they could. The result is that Zimbabwe – which used to be one of the shining examples of democracy and progress in Africa –is now in abysmal shape. There are essentially no working farms, no cattle, no diaries, etc. Just outrageous inflation and unemployment.

Things are so bad that the government had to print new currency (imagine turning in a $100 bill and receiving a $1 bill!). And, get this – the new currency is only good for one year – their money has an expiration date! Also, foreigners cannot use Zimbabwe money – they insist that foreigners pay in their own currency (their money is worthless, so they make you pay in your own money). In fact, everything there is priced in U.S. dollars (menus, rafting, helicopter rides, etc.). it’s weird to be half a world away from the US – in Africa! – and find things priced in US dollars.


Unfortunately, the situation is dire and people are desperate, so they are taking advantage of visitors. Everywhere we went, we were charged outrageous fees, then there would be some inexplicable surcharge, plus some new tax, etc., etc.

Here are two examples of the rip offs.

Example #1: Dad and I went to the gift shop for candy bars, and 2 candy bars (basic, regular old candy bars) were $20 US!!! A few days later, we saw the same candy bars in Botswana for 50 cents each!

Example #2: We took a small bus/van from the airport to the hotel – about a 15 minute ride. We had pre-arranged the transportation. We met a UK couple who had not pre-arranged transportation, but took the same bus with us – the bus ride cost them $200 US! A one-way, 15 minute van ride should not cost you $200, even in New York or Tokyo or Moscow, let alone in Africa!

Apparently, the tourists have learned that they will get ripped off and they are staying away from Zimbabwe – in Vic Falls, the hotels have only 15% occupancy, whereas the hotels on the Zambia side of the falls have 100% occupancy! We noticed that our hotel was practically empty and the giant resort hotel next door was practically empty as well.

We found Zimbabwe depressing. Our hotel was a beautiful old hotel, but it was rundown: the carpets were worn out; the staff uniforms were dirty, stained and torn, and the staff themselves looked haggard and rundown.

We spent a couple of hours talking with a fellow who was born in Zimbabwe but had lived in Zambia for 30+ years. He was visiting Zimbabwe under protest – a visiting family member insisted on going to Zimbabwe He confirmed what we had suspected – the country has massive problems which are not going to be fixed as long as Mugabe(or one of his cronies) is in power.
Long story short (I know, too late), we were happy that we only had 1-½ days in Vic Falls, and we were happy to leave.

Oh, we did take a neat helicopter ride over the falls – what a beautiful view, and my first ride in a heli!

the helicopter ride:



our hotel, from the air:

MOMBO CAMP, OKAVANGO DELTA, BOTSWANA

October 28 - 30: Mombo Camp, Okavango Delta, Botswana

A van drove us from Victoria Falls to Kasane airport in Botswana, about a 1-1/2 hour drive. One interesting thing was that, the moment we crossed from Zimbabwe into Botswana, we began seeing large farms. A fellow had told us that many of the white farmers who were forced out of Zimbabwe had been invited to Botswana by the government. As soon as we crossed the border, we believed him – we went from being surrounded by desolate landscape (Zimbabwe) to being surrounded by large, successful farms (Botswana).

Anyhow, from the Kasane airport, we flew on a tiny 6-seater bush plane to Mombo Camp in the Okavango Delta. Unfortunately, it was a very bumpy 1-1/2 hour flight. Anyone who knows me well knows what happened! Let’s just say that you could call me Ralph.

The Botswana government has limited safaris to small environmentally-friendly camps. In Botswana, you do not find huge safari lodges or lots of people. The result is spectacular game viewing.

Mombo Camp sits in the trees, on the edge of an open plain that is grassy in the dry season (when we were there) and that floods in the rainy season. You can sit on the deck in camp and see impala, red lechwe (a small antelope), zebra, wildebeest, cape buffalo, giraffe, elephant, and sometimes lion, leopard, cheetah and hyena, as well as the ever-present monkeys and baboon. You can experience an entire safari sitting on the deck in camp!

The camp has raised platforms that connect the main lodge area to the tents (which are also built on raised platforms). The raised walkways allow animals to wander through camp, under the walkways. In fact, the day we arrived, an elephant had walked through the raised walkway, tearing it down. We later learned this happens a couple of times a month. Elephants apparently just don’t care about the maintenance and repair budget!

a view of Mombo camp from the air:


Mombo camp:




We arrived at camp, marveled at the view, and then went to our respective "tents" – a large tented bedroom, sitting area and bathroom (probably 1,000 square feet total), on raised platforms, with a large outdoor deck, shower and a giant covered bed for lounging. The tents are have views of the grassy plains so you could just sit back and watch the animals.

Our room:




the bathroom:

each room has an outside bed as well:


When Roger and I walked up to our tent, a very large elephant was standing right next to the walkway, munching on the tree next to our front door. That was quite the welcoming committee!

We spent the next few days taking game drives in the early morning, relaxing in the afternoon, and taking games drives again in the evening. We saw even more animals in Botswana than we had seen in SA – including a cheetah and her 3 cubs, a pride of 18 lion, and a gorgeous bull rhino (can you call a rhino gorgeous? maybe "impressive" is a better word), plus all the "usual" animals like zebra, giraffe, hippo, elephant, cape buffalo, baboon, monkey, etc.

the cheetah and one of her cubs:

look at that tummy!

mama stopped and posed for us...


each evening, we stopped for sundowners...


the bull rhino:


his left back leg is hurt -- he was beaten up by two other lion...

sunset on the Okavango Delta, Botswana:


Incidentally, one of the Mombo camp managers was from Zimbabwe. He said his father, who still lives in Zimbabwe, had done everything you are supposed to do – he worked hard all of his life, saved, invested, and retired. Now, because of inflation, his father cannot support himself and his kids have to support him. Imagine having $1,000,000 in a retirement account one year, and it being worth only about $100,000 the next year, then only $10,000 the next year! That is what his farther has experienced – a lifetime of work with virtually nothing to show for it.

Anyhow, we had a wonderful time and left understanding why Mombo Camp is one of the top camps in one of the top safari destinations in the world – it was truly amazing!

From Mombo, we flew back to Jo’burg (thankfully, on a larger plane this time) and said goodbye to mom and dad, who headed to Madrid, and then home. Roger and I spent the night in Jo’burg and then caught our flight to Mozambique for some R&R.

here are some of the animals we saw...

...monkeys...


...Cape Buffalo...


...zebra...


...elephant...





...hyena...


...hippo...


...wart hog...


...wildebeest...

...and a pride of 18 lion!