Zambia and Zimbabwe
What we did
This week features the second half of our massive overland journey from Tanzania to South Africa, so we spent a lot of our time this week on very slow trains and buses.
Having arrived in Lusaka late on Sunday night, we got up on Monday morning and decided to push on down to Victoria Falls to give ourselves a solid chunk of time there. So we backed up our three days on the train with another long day of travel – a horribly hot 8 hour bus ride from Lusaka to Livingstone, taxi ride to the border, 30 minute walk across the border and the bridge into Zimbabwe and another taxi ride to our hotel in Victoria Falls.
We spent three days enjoying the cute little town of Victoria Falls and the spectacular views of the falls themselves from various viewpoints around town, including within the national park itself. The mosquitos were horrific at the time of year we visited, and we were both eaten alive the first night we arrived as we crossed the bridge and waited for our visas. We also experienced what life in Zimbabwe is like at the moment, with the power being out for the vast majority of our visit.
On Thursday night we took the night train from Victoria Falls down to Bulawayo. We spent most of Friday on the train as well, after it was inexplicably delayed by 6 hours, and arrived in Bulawayo in the middle of a thunderstorm and city-wide blackout.
We spent Saturday exploring Bulawayo, eating at the Indaba Book Café and visiting the Natural History Museum, which housed a lot of information on Cecil Rhodes as well as many live snakes in their snake exhibition!
We rounded out the week with one more long bus trip from Bulawayo to Johannesburg, South Africa. We booked tickets on a luxury, three seat wide, South African Greyhound bus and fully expected that all of our bus woes would be behind us by this point. While the bus seats were actually very wide and comfortable, the bus itself was seven and a half hours late leaving Bulawayo (following a breakdown on its way to Bulawayo earlier in the day) and the air-conditioning in the ‘VIP’section was not working. Coupled with the worst border crossing we’ve had anywhere in Africa, which was somehow extremely busy even at 3am, we were very grateful to arrive in Johannesburg, ending the overland part of our African adventures.
We spent our Sunday afternoon soaking in the wonders of the giant shopping mall in Sandton, a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg. Having not seen a large shopping centre like this since leaving home over two months ago, we spent a lot of time gawking in delight at all of the shops, air-conditioning and escalators!
Favourite thing we did / biggest splurge
Still feeling slightly disappointed after our anticlimactic rafting trip on the White Nile, we decided to give rafting the Zambezi a crack. It was a big splurge at US$117 each plus US$30 for photos, but we had so much fun it was worth every cent! When the water is low, the Zambezi is one of the best stretches of grade V rapids in the world. The water in the gorge had risen into ‘high water season’ by the time we were there, so the rapids were mainly grade III with just a couple of VIs and Vs. It was the perfect mix of adrenaline and fun, and we had an absolute blast! We went with Shockwave Adventures and would highly recommend them if ever you are in the area – they were fabulous and even sent us out with a raft full of trainee guides after the other people scheduled to raft with us didn’t show up.
Least favourite thing we did
This was truly a horror week of transport, and a fitting end to the overland part of our African adventures. Kirsten nominates the bus from Lusaka to Livingstone as her least favourite part of the week. Despite booking with the bus company that was widely written up as being the best (Shalolm), we arrived at the bus station to find another 5 seat across bus with no AC – Bah! Humbug! Fooled again!! The most frustrating part was the bus station was full of plenty of other much nicer fancy coaches that looked like they had AC and were only 4 across. For entertainment we had an evangelist who got on at the terminal and rode with us to the edge of the city (particularly interesting as I would have thought Shalom was a Jewish bus company?!) Later we are joined by a travelling salesman, who spent a very long time loudly spruiking his wares (various health supplements). At one point the bus stopped and the driver announced that we are all going to get off and wash our hands. The whole bus disembarked and made a token attempt at putting our hands under some running water (but of course there was no soap) and the bus appeared to drive over some hay? We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that this was surely the last 5 across bus we are going to meet for a while, but it was a very long, hot 8 hours to get to Livingstone.
Tim nominates the train from Victoria Falls to Bulawayo as his least favourite part of the week. It was billed as an overnight train in historic 50’s Rhodesian Railways carriages. Unfortunately the upkeep of the carriages seems to have slipped considerably with Zimbabwe’s economic situation in recent years, and they were in pretty poor condition. We boarded the train to find that the mattress on every bed in our four berth compartment was torn and filthy. We had been told we couldn’t book bedding because the phone lines were down, so we each had our Turkish towel for a sheet, which we chose to sleep on top of because the beds were so filthy. But that left us with nothing to sleep under, and at the mercy of the mosquitos that flew in the open window. Tim tried to sleep under his emergency blanket for a while, but predictably that turned him into a giant ball of sweat. The 50’s era beds were also nowhere near long enough for poor Tim, who was forced to sleep at various diagonal angles all night. The other delight we discovered when eating our dinner after the train departed at 7pm, was a family of friendly cockroaches living in the wall of our carriage. They showed bold interest in our dinner, and it was hard to sleep knowing our faces were inches away from where they had been scuttling in and out of. We tried to comfort ourselves that this was just for the night, and we should be off the train and in Bulawayo by 9am. Of course, this was not to be. The train eventually pulled into Bulawayo 6 hours late at 3pm, with no apparent explanation for the delay.
There was at least some great scenery on the train route
Favourite thing we ate
Having been deprived of western foods for so long, Victoria Falls was a bit of a shock with its delicious and familiar delights, though sadly these were all priced in US$ and therefore painful on the wallet! Our favourite meal of the week was a hearty lunch of delicious ribs and a wrap at the Wild Horizons café, situated right on the edge of the gorge. The views were spectacular, as was the food which we enjoyed while watching adrenaline junkies zipline across, often with shrieks of glee / terror!
Kirsten was also delighted to discover a shop selling EXCELLENT red velvet cupcakes in the Sandton mall in Johannesburg, and is looking forward to a repeat visit when we head back there in a few weeks’ time.
Favourite thing we drank
Tim joyfully discovered that they make a mean chocolate thick shake in Victoria Falls, and endeavoured to sample all of the town’s offerings to determine who made the best one. The clear winner was the Shearwater café, who also won points for their cappuccino, which comes accompanied by a shot of Amarula!
Best deal
Kirsten loves a good high tea, and the majestic old world Victoria Falls Hotel is renowned for its high tea, served with views of the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe over the falls. The high tea here offered incredible value, at just $15USD per head for bottomless tea or coffee and three tiers of little sandwiches, scones and sweet treats.
Dinky-Di Duo 