Victoria Falls

Thursday, 16th February 2012

View of part of the Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwean side.

I slept well again and took breakfast on the terrace overlooking the River Zambesi shortly after they opened at 7 o'clock. Returning to my room, I made a small bag ready for this morning's tour. I was to be picked up at 08:30 for a tour of the Victoria Falls from both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides arranged by Wilderness Tours. The International Border between Zambia and Zimbabwe (Northern and Southern Rhodesia when I was young) runs down the middle of the Zambesi at this point so to see all of the viewpoints, it's necessary to visit both countries.

With three other people for the tour already picked up elsewhere, it took only a few minutes to reach the Zambian border post. We all had to go to Immigration before our guide and driver drove over the Victoria Falls Bridge with the single line railway crossing the bridge to our left. Approaching the Zimbabwe Customs Post, our guide parked and escorted us on foot to a pedestrian gate. Here, we were handed over to another Wilderness Safaris guide for the Zimbabwe part of our Falls tour. After we'd passed through Zimbabwe Immigration, we boarded a similar bus to the one we had left on the Zambian side and drove a short distance before parking near the entrance to the Victoria Falls Rainforest Reserve. We entered the Reserve for a tour of about 4 kilometres on a series of concrete paths.

Before this trip, I'm afraid I'd only the haziest knowledge of the geography of this part of Africa. I've commented before that I never cease to be amazed by my almost total ignorance of the world around me. The Zambezi River with a length of 2693 kilometres is the fourth longest in Africa. Immediately upstream from the Victoria Falls it's wide and reasonably fast flowing, as I could see from my room at the Royal Livingstone situated on the east bank as the river flowed south.

South of my hotel, this river broadens to about 1.7 kilometres wide and literally "falls off a cliff" as a chasm running east-west opens up in the river's path. The drop varies from about 70 metres on the west up to 107 metres in the Main Falls. At the bottom of the drop, the water is confined to a narrow channel in the basalt rocks where the only exit is through a narrow channel near the eastern end of the falls. Whereas the broad river upstream is typically 3 to 5 metres deep, in the narrow channel leading away from the falls it can be ten times as deep as the water seeks an exit through a roughly round chamber called the 'Boiling Pot'. The turbulence in the 'Boiling Pot' is quite spectacular. The 'Boiling Pot' discharges into the Second Gorge with a heading roughly to the south-west and it is this gorge that's spanned by the Victoria Falls Bridge. If you look north-easterly from the bridge, you can see the eastern part of the falls. But, after the bridge, the unyielding basalt rock forces another sharp deviation on the escaping water, turning the flow into the Third Gorge which flows more-or-less west-east. Still in a deep gorge, the water enters the 'Silent Pool' where the flow is turned to a south-westerly direction again, in the Fourth Gorge. Equally improbably, on a rocky shelf above the Silent Pool, there is a hydro-electric generating station which discharges into the Pool. I didn't find out where the water intakes are.

In February, the volume of water coming over the Falls is increasing, but not yet at its peak. I still found the spectacle very impressive. Of course, I was also interested in the Victoria Falls Bridge, opened in 1905. Originally, it was built as a double-track railway bridge but has now been reconstructed with a single track railway and roadway controlled by traffic lights ('robots', as they call them in Africa). The achievement, not just in the scale of the bridge but in the hostile, remote environment in which it is situated is amazing. There's an excellent website about the bridge here. Peter Roberts contributed to this site and he also wrote a history book 'Sun, Steel and Spray' (ISBN:978-0-620-50399-0) which is an essential reference.

The Victoria Falls Bridge.

'Rainforest' is the right term for the area, because in the vicinity of the falls the spray, having risen like smoke, turns into a rainstorm with amazing power which takes your breath away in places. We spent a couple of hours moving from viewpoint to viewpoint and, even wearing the poncho loaned by our guide, we all became completely saturated. After a walk round the Visitor Centre for some orientation (and the opportunity to buy souvenirs) we returned to our bus and reversed the earlier process of entering Zimbabwe to return to Zambia. Our first guide then took us around the viewpoints on the Zambian side where we suffered the same dousing, emerging like drowned rats. After more purchasing opportunities, we headed back towards Livingstone.

View of part of the Victoria Falls from the Zambian side.

I said goodbye to my new friends as I was the first drop-off at the Royal Livingstone Hotel. It was almost half past two and I was totally shattered. A shower, a change of clothes and I returned to the main part of the hotel to take Afternoon High Tea.

Tomorrow, I leave the Royal Livingstone Hotel. I should be picked up at ten o'clock to move on to the next part of my adventure.

My photographs of the Victoria Falls and the Bridge are here.

Livingstone

Tuesday, 14th February 2012

As often happens, writing things down whilst they're fresh in the memory conflicts with actually doing things so, on my return to the U.K., I've expanded my original brief update.

There was originally a settlement next to the Falls, as a staging point for crossing the Zambezi, but this settlement was moved to higher ground on Constitution Hill because of the problem of malarial mosquitoes near the river. In 1904 the new settlement was called 'Livingstone' after the Scottish missionary and philanthropist Dr. David Livingstone and in 1911 the town became the Capital of the British Protectorate of Northern Rhodesia and still retains some of the Edwardian colonial buildings of the period. In 1935, the capital was moved to Lusaka and Livingstone became a quiet town. Latterly, the development of tourism around Livingstone has restored the town's fortunes.

Main Street, Livingstone.

The Royal Livingstone is a resort hotel with rooms laid out in blocks of 8 along the bank of the Zambezi perhaps a mile up river from the Victoria Falls. From the manicured grass leading from rooms to the river bank you can see the spray rising from the Falls - 'Mosi-oa-Tunya' ('the smoke that thunders'). It's all very pleasant.

Reception, Royal Livingstone Hotel.

At 16:00, I had a 'Sunset Cruise' on the 'African Queen' (nothing like the boat in the film) which went upstream 'game spotting'. Lots of birds, hippos, crocodiles.

A Hippopotamus displays his dental work to passengers on the 'African Queen'.

Wednesday, 15th February 2012

It transpired Wednesday was 'at leisure', so I made some arrangements of my own. 08:40 saw me being picked up for a 30-minute Microlight flight over the Falls and over some of the game reserves with Batoka Sky. It was splendid and I rather think should be compulsory for all visitors to the Victoria Falls. Alternately, United Air Charter operate helicopter flights, but I'm glad I elected for the Microlight.

The Microlight takes off with Pascal in charge and Jan in the back.

Then, I took the 'Heritage Tour' which didn't work quite as planned. The last call was supposed to be the Railway Museum (did you know there was a railway museum in Livingstone? - I didn't) but I made it the first call and, of course, it took longer than expected. There's a separate report on the Museum here.

I'd also discovered that Bushtracks operate a steam-hauled evening dining train in conjunction with the Royal Livingstone Hotel on Wednesdays and Saturdays so the Curator of the Museum offered to come to the railway and make introductions.

All the people at the railway, where the steam locomotive was 'brewing up' for the evening run that day, were quite charming and a footplate ride that evening was readily offered by the manager, Ben Costa.

By now running late, I took a quick tour round the Livingstone Museum in the town. This is Zambia's oldest and largest museum and gives a good impression of the work of Dr. David Livingstone. It was Dr. Livingstone, of course, who re-named the Falls after the then Queen and he was active in the abolition of the slave trade. It's interesting to note that Dr. Livingstone is still so revered in the country that, following Zambia's independence in 1966, the colonial name of 'Livingstone' for the town was retained. Sadly, the museum does not allow photography, nor does it have a catalogue for sale but it's well worth a visit.

I returned to the Royal Livingstone for High Tea and a shower and by 17:00 I was back at the station for my footplate ride. There's a separate report on the 'Royal Livingstone Express' dining train here.

I was back at the hotel by 22:00 exhausted, dirty but very happy. All excellent stuff.

More Pictures:

Royal Livingstone Hotel.
Livingstone area.
'African Queen'.
Microlight Flight.

[Link to Royal Livingstone Express article added 17-Dec-2012]

On to Zambia

Tuesday, 14th February 2012

After a good night's sleep, I got up fairly early, took a very simple breakfast in 'The Warehouse' and re-packed my luggage. I decided to take the 08:15 shuttle bus to the airport, which took less than ten minutes and the driver dropped me off at International Departures.

When I arrived the check-in desk wasn't yet open for my British Airways flight to Livingstone but after a short walk to check out the booking hall of the new Gautrain Station (Sandton in 15 minutes!), staff had arrived and I was swiftly checked in for the 737 flight. With the airport still quiet, security and passport control was painless and I was soon at the oddly-named SLOW Lounge. It titles itself 'The SLOW Lounge for Busy People' so they seem to have embraced the idea of a brief oasis between periods of stress. There were some interesting comments about time carved into the woodwork as you entered. The place was quiet, clean and the staff obliging. Although there was Wi-Fi available and fixed computers, both seemed to need a subscription and, at that time of the morning, it was far too ambitious to consider setting up an account. So I passed the time doing off-line text preparation on my computer.

The Domestic Departure Hall at O. R. Tambo Airport.

At the requested time, I made my way to the Gate. A large departure hall had one wall completely glazed. This wall had a series of doors leading to a number of bus stands. Large airport transfer buses were backing up, loading passengers and taking them to the aircraft. Quite soon, my flight was called so we boarded the bus and, after a little delay waiting for stragglers, set off on one of the airport roads which crossed the apron. After a few hundred yards, we came to a row of smaller aircraft and pulled up beside a 737 which gleamed in the morning sun in its British Airways livery. This part of British Airways is run by Comair Limited.

After a couple of flights in 'Big Jets' the 737 seems rather small. Economy is laid out with 3+3 seating, with a single, central aisle but the first three rows had business seatng arranged 'two and a half'+3. The business seats are a little wider so the group of three seats on the starboard side extends a few inches into the central aisle. To compensate, the seat group on the port side is two business seats with a narrow 'seat space' in between so the central aisle width is maintained, with a slight "dog's leg" through the business section which is scarcely noticed. Flight BA6291 took us to Livingstone in Zambia in about 75 minutes and a pleasant meal was served en route.

Livingstone has a single, long runway set in scrub land. The existing terminal buildings are a little primitive by modern standards but massive building works are in progress. We had a fairly long walk across the apron from the aircraft to the immigration hall. Apparently, you can purchase 'Visa on Arrival' which slowed things down. Four people went through before me and the process involved taking a picture and fingerprints. I only had my picture taken, presumably because my visa had been obtained before I left the U.K. My bags arrived safely at the single, small baggage carousel so I was soon in the arrivals hall, checking the nameboards held by the 'greeters'. None carried the tour operator's name 'Wilderness' or my name so after a few moments of indecision, I asked one of the friendly-looking men. He turned to the car park and bawled a name.

A tall Zambian in a blue 'Thompson Holidays' T-shirt came over. He seemed to be expecting me but said he had some other names to meet, inviting me to sit in the shade of his bus. I preferred to stand in the sun and watch the local dancers and musicians who were performing for the arriving tourists.

Local dancers and musicians performing outside the terminal building at Livingstone, Zambia.

Eventually, the 'Thompson Holidays' guy decided his missing passengers had not arrived on the aircraft so he set off to distribute us amongst various hotels. The airport road was a long, straight tarmac road, carrying little traffic. Workmen were using simple tools to dig out a trench at the side of the road. Further on, men were constructing a shallow 'V' in concrete in the trench, clearly to improve drainage. The airport road met Livinstone's main street at right angles and we made our way past a variety of building styles towards the main hotel area towards Victoria Falls. After dropping off a few passengers at other hotels, we were admitted via a gatehouse to the grounds of the Royal Livingstone Hotel and Zambezi Sun Hotel. At a road island, signs indicated that the road to the left led to the Zambezi Sun so we took the road to the right, passing first a group of giraffe, browsing on the high leaves of the trees and then a small herd of zebra. All the animals were completely nonchalent about the passing bus. Soon, we stopped at the central buildings of the Royal Livingstone Hotel.

More Pictures:

Protea Hotel.
O. R. Tambo Airport.
Livingstone.