Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Zimbabwe...

Day 4:
Our first stop while in Zimbabwe was Victoria Falls. We stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel. This hotel is very historic and was actually the very first hotel built in Victoria Falls. In fact, the Queen has actually stayed here! Of course, this was right up my alley! The whole place had a very Edwardian feel to it and you could see Victoria Falls off the back veranda while we dinned. It was fabulous!

I was so excited about Victoria Falls because it is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. That being said, nothing could have prepared me for this experience. Seeing something of this magnitude is humbling to the core and really can not be described! The falls are so big and have such a fast flow rate that we could literally see them from our airplane! We had the opportunity to walk right up to the falls and witness this marvel at merely feet away. It was amazing! However, be prepared, you get soaked! It is constantly 'raining' because of the vast amounts of water that are falling so far and fast. If you notice in some of the pictures below, there are beautiful rainbows. These are always there! Depending on what part of the falls you are looking at, the rainbows are at different places and sometimes there are double rainbows. Like I said, this really cannot be described! All this and it was only a 15 minute walk from our hotel! I want to go back :)

Oh, and it has to be said that there was one thing I REALLY wanted to do, but did not. Once I found out that you could bungie jump over Victoria Falls, I was all in. However, Micah was adamant about me NOT doing it and after everyone else chimed in that I really should think about Remi and Roen, I caved. 'What if something happened to you', 'a couple of years ago the cable snapped', 'you have young kids, that's not responsible', yada, yada, yada. Whatever, I didn't do it and maybe it was the responsible thing to do. If I ever get to go back, though, I am so doing it!


From the airplane you can see all the water the falls make in the sky. It looks like smoke! Imagine standing in this... that is why we all got so wet!


These adorable dancing locals greeted us at the Victoria Falls airport!


Arriving at our accommodations for the evening


Of course, I had to get a picture with the Queen :)


A quick lunch before our walking tour of the Falls. Micah had crocodile, which was divine!


Group shot... notice the Falls in the background.


Here is the double rainbow we saw! We were really this close to the edge. It was a bit surreal!






I just love all the 'hangy downy' vines all over the trees!

Day 5:
We woke up really early this morning and got to ride elephants! Not only that, but it was out in the African Bush where we also got to see wild Cape Buffalo, (a very dangerous and aggressive animal) among other wildlife only yards away! We each had a native guide who fed us full of elephant information. Like most things in the African wild, it was fun, nerve-wracking and unbelievable all thrown into one experience! Our elephant's name was Emily and she had a little baby who rode next to us the entire time! The baby's name was MiLady! After taking a 45 minute ride, we got to say 'thank you' to our elephants by feeding them! You could either put it in the end of their truck and they would feed themselves, or you could say 'trunk up' and they would lift their trunk so you could actually put the food in their mouth yourself!

Oh, and afterwards, we got to meet an orphaned cheetah. His name was Sylvester and he was beautiful. However, we were all a bit weary getting this close, because after all he is in fact a wild animal!













After our elephant rides, we quickly headed back to the hotel for our last adventure in Zimbabwe before heading to Namibia. We got to take a 30 minute helicopter tour over Victoria Falls. It was the coolest thing to see the Falls from the ground and from above as well. We also got to see some elephants, giraffe and hippo while up in the helicopter. It was amazing. Our little pilot was the cutest thing ever! I got to ride up front with him and he politely anwsered all my questions :) If you know me at all, you know I was full of them!






This is part of the Zambezi River that flows into Victoria Falls. The Zambezi is also where we went crocodile hunting last year.


Our pilot... isn't his little uniform the cutest!?



That concludes our adventures in Zimbabwe. Tomorrow I will cover our adventures in Namibia. Stay tuned....


3 comments:

Cindy Rector said...

There are no words to describe the beauty of the falls! But to your credit...you did an amazing job describing the first leg of your journey! Thanks so much for sharing and it is very exciting that you & Micah got to experience this along with his family. Can't wait for tomorrow's post. Love you!

The Holik's said...

Wow! Wow!!

Heather said...

Loving all of the pictures!