The falls did not disappoint.  Just a few miles down the road from Livingstone, Zambia and you are greeted with the sound of rushing water and the mist in the air from millions of gallons of water from the Zambezi River falling over the edge of a cliff.  In fact the local name for the falls, Mosi-o-Tunya, means the smoke that thunders.  It is quite impressive to say the least.  There is a great set of pathways that allow you to walk along the edge of a cliff looking directly at the falls on the other side of the narrow canyon and you can entertain yourself by watching the white-water rafters go by below.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves but in summary the falls are truly awesome.

Victoria Falls, from Zambia

Vic Falls

More falls

We were visiting at a time of the year when the water was running low so though we saw dozens of individual waterfalls, we saw pictures of the falls during wet season when the view is just one giant wall of water.

How we saw it

Vic Falls

And for you close readers of the blog, you may have noticed that prior to coming to Africa the last thing we did in South America was visit Iguazu Falls.  We realize that not too many folks get the chance to visit the two most amazing waterfalls on the planet within one week of each other so we were excited to compare and contrast.  And because we’ve already been asked this exact question, though Vic Falls is incredible and has already earned the distinction as one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, we would actually have to give our vote to Iguazu in a head-to-head comparison of spectacular-ness.  But no worries Africa, South America has got nothing on you when it comes to animals!

On the first day of our trip we were picked up from our hostel and taken to a boat launch along the Zambezi River.  Within minutes of being on the river we saw our first hippopotamus.  Woohoo!  Apparently these giant, fat things are the most dangerous animal in Africa, killing more people every year than Africa’s much-talked about Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) combined.  We definitely saw a bit of their aggression as one charged our boat when we got too close!

Hippos on the Zambezi

Hippo Charging

They are big suckers

The boat eventually got us safely to The River Club – our home for the next couple nights.  The River Club is a beautiful spot sitting right on the banks of the mighty Zambezi, which ultimately becomes Victoria Falls only a few kilometers away.  The rooms were quite possibly the nicest we have ever, or maybe will ever, stay in and we were pinching ourselves with the upgrade from our backpacker hostel to riverfront fanciness.

Sunset at the River Club

River Club Bungalo

Our guides were both from Botswana, where the majority of the safari would be taking place.  Francis has been guiding for years (decades?) and though he was a man of few words around the dinner table, he was so incredibly informative out in the bush that we were nothing but impressed.  Botho was our safari coordinator who was around to help out Francis and make sure we had everything we needed.

We had a good group and we were extremely excited about our next couple weeks!

Zambezi Sunsets

Zambezi Sunsets