farewell, victoria falls

craft market, originally uploaded by suddenly.

for all the exuberance of victoria falls, the place has a sadness that is undeniable. i won’t pretend to understand all the politics behind what is going on in zimbabwe but due to hyperinflation, prices were on par with things in the states but you can be assured that nobody is making american wages, if working at all. everyone is dirt poor.

we didn’t even realize it when we first arrived but the zimbabwean currency had collapsed and is now worth nothing. the hotels there only accept US dollars and don’t even take credit cards. the ATMs don’t work and the banks are pretty much useless (so make sure you bring enough cash with you). kids on the street will sell their now worthless 3-trillion dollar notes as souvenirs to tourists for whatever little spending money they can get. you begin to notice how desperate people are when, instead of begging for change, they ask for an old t-shirt or shoes. people even wanted the socks on my feet. when the tourist cops aren’t around, the local touts will hound you to buy one of their curios, usually a mask or a wooden bowl. at first they’ll ask for $30 then after following you for several blocks, the price will come down to $5 or “whatever you want to pay” even though the mask really is worth $30. that’s how desperate they are for money. five bucks is just enough to buy them a quarter chicken and a coke at the fast food joint in town. we popped into the town supermarket and were astonished to find that even a medium bag of potato chips was $1.50.

despite their situation, the locals have a warmth and friendliness that i haven’t seen anywhere else in my travels. they have inspirational names which are like badges of their personality. our taxi driver was named “champion”; the hotel clerk was “innocent”; and i met a cheeky 13-year-old kid called “bright” with an infectious smile. it breaks my heart that due to no fault of their own, their government is f***ed and tourists are staying away from the ZIM side of vic falls. our big, grand hotel was practically empty with most of the staff standing around doing nothing. the surrounding area was like a ghost town; failed businesses, abondoned buildings, and jobless men looking to put dinner on their family table. like i said, it’s heart-breaking.

our visit to zimbabwe was short and unexpected but it had a deeply profound effect on me. now when i meet anyone from zimbabwe i have an immediate affinity to them. i do hope the situation in zimbabwe improves soon and every so often i wonder how my “bright” friend is doing.

mopani worms

mopani worms, originally uploaded by suddenly.

at victoria falls safari lodge, they have an zimbabwean-themed restaurant called the boma. everyone said, “you MUST go to the boma.” so we shelled out the $40 per head and got to taste local specialities like the thick homemade zimbabwean beer that has the consistency of cream of wheat and a sour-toasty flavor similar to korean makkulli. we sampled the buffet of game meats: eland, ostrich, and my personal favorite, warthog.

and just because i’m curious about food, i ate a mopani worm. they said it was a stew but it lacked broth and the worm itself was chewy like licorice and lacked any noticeable flavor. i was fine chomping on the worm but then i had to look at the end i chewed off and got grossed out by the worm guts. hey, at least i got a certificate for the feat!

our first walking safari

tendekai the tracker, originally uploaded by suddenly.

we got up at the crack of dawn to go on a bush walk with tendekai, the tracker at the victoria falls safari lodge. they have a huge estate which basically serves as watering holes for the big 4 in the area (elephant, lion, leopard, and african buffalo). tendekai, an experienced tracker, can examine paw prints and turds, and tell you what kind of animal was there, when, and where it was headed.

you’ll want to wear rugged trekking shoes on these walks because it’s just a minefield of poop everywhere: oval pellets of impala droppings, bigger nuggets of warthog feces, and huge thatch-laden elephant dung bombs. we came across saucer-sized buffalo patties and tendekai said “these droppings are still shiny and moist.” he concluded that a lone male buffalo had just walked through there and was headed thatta way.

yee haw! we were tracking a buffalo! however, tendekai warned us that the lone male buffalo is extremely dangerous and will charge if he feels threatened. according to him, the best thing to do is climb a tree. if no tree is nearby, lay completely flat on the ground so that his horns can’t gore you as much. gulp. okay, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.

well, after nearly two hours of walking through the bush and having tendekai tell us about all the trees and berries, i was beginning to think it was lame that all we saw were some impala prancing, beautiful as they were.

then, almost of nowhere, we saw him. the lone male buffalo staring right at us not 50 feet away. he was f**king HUGE, about the size of a small elephant. tendekai whispered to us, “move back! move back!” and he raised his rifle in case he had to shoot it. my heart lept to my throat. seeing no trees to climb, i high-tailed it out of there. the S.O. was trying to move back while simultaneously videotaping the action but tripped over a rock. if i didn’t fear for my life i might have snapped a photo of it.

one angry african buffalo

i was really expecting the rifle to go off but tendekai guided us downhill to hide from the buffalo which was now following our scents and sounds. the trackers were now the tracked! all i could think was, “omg. he’s gonna smell my shampoo and come after us!” we had to lay low for a good 10 minutes before the buffalo decided we weren’t worth the effort. whew! my heart was still in my throat and i was pumped full of adrenaline.

i’d say the 2-hour walk was totally worth it to view such an impressive creature that close to you in the wild. and somehow knowing that you could get killed at any moment is part of the thrill of the safari.

it’s a jungle out there

in the town of victoria falls, you can see all sorts of animals roaming about. we often spotted warthogs feeding on the hotel lawn,

warthogs, originally uploaded by suddenly.

and baboons foraging for scraps in the streets.

but the locals are unfazed. baboons and warthogs are to them what pigeons and squirrels are to us; abundant and pesky.

if you really want to capture the attention of the locals, you bring in the big guns. you bring them this:

we were having a conversation on the sidewalk and all of a sudden the S.O.’s eyes grow large and his jaw drops. i looked over to see that a GYNORMOUS lone male elephant is walking into town like he’s come to run errands or something. even the locals are awestruck and soon everyone on their way to work has stopped to behold this massive creature.  we learned that the lone males of the species are a grumpy lot and can be dangerous so when you encounter one, you’d best get out of his way.

more grumpy male footage here.

sunset cruise on the zambesi river

sunset cruise on the zambesi river, originally uploaded by suddenly.

baboon eating apple

babboon eating apple, originally uploaded by suddenly.

alas, no hippo sightings at the falls but we did see plenty of baboons. the little ones chase each other up trees, the older ones groom each, and some of them come right up to you hoping that you’ll reward them with a piece of fruit or a cookie. (and the older males have blue balls–literally–shocking robin’s egg blue balls!)

here’s a young baboon eating someone’s leftover apple core.

see more primate photos here.

vic falls or mosi-oa-tunya (the smoke that thunders)

vic falls, originally uploaded by suddenly.

amazing. breathtaking. wow. the sheer force of the water at victoria falls makes you stand back in awe and feel insignificant. the water level of the zambesi river was the highest its been in decades, so high that all rafting and kayaking was off limits, and no hippos and crocs were to be found. we could feel the spray from the falls in town, about a kilometer and a half away, where we heard its roaring thunder. at the falls, the spray was a torrent.

we were able to view some of the falls from a safe, i.e., dry, distance but after peering at the fourth fall or so i felt like a prison inmate getting hosed down from all angles. we were completely soaked and if it wasn’t for the nice namibian couple who gave us their shower cap to protect our equipment, i wouldn’t have these photos to show you.

the zimbabwe side of vic falls is said to be the more spectacular than the zambian side. it seems as though our travel agent’s flight screw-up was turning out to be a blessing in disguise.

want more photos? hereare a ton.

victoria falls – welcome to zimbabwe

croc, originally uploaded by suddenly.

we took a little side trip to victoria falls from cape town. we intended to visit the safer zambian side but due to a mix-up our travel agent booked us on a flight to the dicier zimbabwean side–which we only discovered whilst filling out the immigration card at victoria falls airport and reading the words, “welcome to zimbabwe.” wha? so we arrived in ZIM with no hotel reservations and no plans but some half-baked notions about the political situation there. after calculating the costs of paying the ZIM entry visa ($30 for americans, $75 for canucks) and then another visa entry to enter zambia ($50), and then yet another visa entry to leave from victoria falls airport we decided what the hell, we’ll stay on the ZIM side.

we managed to find a decent hotel in town and paid what i imagine is the inflated walk-in rate. the porter took us to our room, opened our terrace doors where we saw this croc! the porter said, “oh, we’ve been looking for this crocodile. he’s very hard to catch.”

welcome to zimbabwe!