April 11
It is hard to describe the immensity of Victoria Falls. It is a mile wide waterfall on the Zambezi River between Zimbabwe and Zambia. It is a world heritage site, the largest waterfall in the world. It crashes 300’ down into a narrow cataract of the river creating masses of water vapor and mist so thick that you get drenched walking along the path. The above photos are of the top of the falls showing the river, the mist and the ever present rainbows.
Most people opted to wear raincoats or ponchos when taking the walk next to the waterfall but Corrie and Glenn chose to get wet. There were many monkeys and baboons on the trail and several trees were labeled. The middle photo is a statue of David Livingston who discovered the falls and named it after Queen Victoria. I realized that I couldn’t understand Victoria Falls unless I could take a helicopter ride over it. So that is what I did the next day (April 12) with Corinne.
The waterfall follows along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. It falls into a narrow valley that has only one exit – in the center of the valley. The exit of this valley spills out into serpentine valleys of the Zambezi River.
The helicopter ride continued over the upper reaches of the Zambezi River and the only golf course in the country.
The helicopter pilot gave us a few more minutes of flying to see if we could find any of the African animals. The first photo shows a group of elephants near a tree and the second shows some giraffes running from the helicopter.
We went on a dinner cruise on the upper part (above the waterfall) of the Zambezi River that evening.
We tried to find hippos in the river and we found 5. But the pictures don’t show much. The first photo shows black dots in the water; the second shows one start to come up and the 3rd shows one of the hippos opening his mouth. The hippo is the most dangerous animal in Africa. It kills more people than any other animal and it also kills crocodiles. The hippo can hold its breath under water for 6 minutes. It is the size of a Jeep and weighs twice as much.
Next: Search for the elusive rhinoceros