TRAVEL BLOG THURSDAYS - ZIMBABWE
WANDERING AROUND WORLD WONDERS || VICTORIA FALLS || ZIMBABWE || AUGUST 2016
My grandad used to call it lollygaggin & finger poppin but I call it wandering about. During my lollygaggery (it’s a word now) around Southern Africa, I got to see one of the seven wonders of the natural world! We flew from Johannesburg, South Africa to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe which was a quick flight on FastJet Airlines. The Victoria Falls International Airport was very new and had very few people there both when we arrived and when we left, so transitioning through customs was a fast process.
Quick Tips:
1. When traveling around the African continent, it is generally cheaper, if you’ll be country hopping, to purchase your flights once you are on the continent rather than from the US if traveling from there.
2. Also, Zimbabwe requires a VISA but its purchased on arrival. It was around $30 for a single-entry VISA.
3. Zimbabwe also uses the US dollar as currency.
So, when we landed, we made our way to Victoria Falls Backpackers, which was a small hostel with open air common areas (kitchen, lounge area, pool, etc.). The rooms were in clay and wooden hut looking buildings with beds draped with mosquito nets. We stayed in a co-ed dorm.
When we got to our room, there were a group of guys who were on their way out the next day so we ended up with the room to ourselves for the last 2 days of our time at the hostel. There were guinea fowl roaming free around the hostel grounds.
The showers and toilets were semi-open at the top, which was cool in theory but the mosquitos and other insects had full access to you while you were handling your business. The mosquito nets covering the beds also theoretically provided protection but mosquitos seem to really prefer my ankles and would get to them by any means necessary. The dousing of bug spray was no match for these blood thirsty creatures. Internet at the hostel also was not free to our surprise and service is very limited if you aren’t using their Wi-Fi.
Aside from the itching, the hostel, like the area was beautiful! It was in a very rural area requiring a 5-minute cab ride into town; it was about 2.5km outside of town. In town, there were a few grocery stores and shops along this one strip that most of the locals frequented. This is also where we did our grocery shopping, specifically at OK Supermarket.
We got up early the next morning and arranged a cab to Victoria Falls but first we drove by the big Baobab Tree on Zambesi Drive to take our pictures. The tree was huge and us standing next to it was the only way we could get the scale of how ginormous the tree was, both tall and wide. At one point during the picture taking, there was this huge house fly bumble bee looking bird bug that kept chasing me around so one of the pictures is of me running trying to escape it. It turned out to be a pretty good picture.
Once we finished, we kept going to the falls. It was a big national park with a gated entrance at which you pay, get your bag checked, etc. The typical entrance to an attraction really. There was a trail to the falls. From the entrance, even as far as it was from the falls, you could hear the falls going and feel the mist from the water. The trail went all the way along the falls with different viewpoints, local plant life, wild life, random rainbows from the sun reflecting off the water, and so much more indescribable beauty! The pictures don’t do it justice and you must go to really appreciate it.
I can’t remember exactly how long it took us to walk through but we made it just before the Devil’s Pool before turning around. We were tired and thought we made it to the end but once we found out we hadn’t we both wished we’d kept going. We sort of made up for it when we walked across the Zambia border and saw the other end of the falls.
After we walked back to the entrance, we inquired about a reasonably priced safari because I’d never done one before. We met Kelvin; he was the one who helped us. He told us his friend, who we would met at the party later, would be able to take us through the game park for way cheaper than paying for a tour. We would just need to ride in his pickup truck to do so, and could roll the windows up if any dangerous animals were coming towards us; for $20, it is what it is! He also invited us to a party at the Shoestring Backpackers hostel which was close by the hostel we were staying at and told us to hit him up if we ended up going.
After we finished at the falls, we went to go eat. Near the markets in town, there was a restaurant, Mama Africa Eating House, which was highly recommended by Kelvin so we had to try it. We went in and got some sadza, stew, and other dishes. Sadza is like South African Pap or like Nigerian eko (corn pap) which has a similar form to fufu or pounded yam but is made with corn maize instead of yam or cassava.
Along with the sadza, we had Huku Nedovi, chicken and peanut butter sauce, African spinach, and game cooked in a potji pot with rice. All were super delicious and not spicy like I was expecting. The food we tried in that area was flavorful and savory but not as spicy as you’d find in West African cuisine or tangy, slightly sweet, or full of warm spices like you’d find in North or East African cuisines. The restaurant had colorfully traditional décor, open air, and we had it all to ourselves because we went at an awkward lunch hour where they weren’t typically busy.
After we ate and we checked out the Elephant's Walk Shopping Village for a bit before heading to the party.
We headed over to Shoestring Backpackers which was another hostel that turned into a club at a certain hour. There was a full bar, live music, pool tables, and people dancing. I would recommend staying at this hostel over the one we were at simply because it had more amenities. A lot of the locals came there to party on the weekends and after work so we got to experience the night life in Victoria Falls. At the party we met up with a girl who was staying there that my travel buddy knew from her travels in Europe. We also met up with Kelvin and he introduced us to his friends who worked at the game parks we would later visit. I think he had a thing for my travel buddy as well, lol.
That night we listened to music, danced a bit, and tried some local cane liquor; very cheap and it did the job but not smooth going down in the least, but *shrugs* Turn up tho!
Needless to say, we ended up sleeping in the next day.
At the party, we made an appointment to meet up with Kelvin’s friend and do the safari but this was also the appointment I was referring to in the Zambia blog that we were late to. We had to reschedule first to do it later in the day since we overslept and then to do it the next morning before our flight to Cape Town, South Africa because we got back from Zambia too late for him to take us. Plus, the animals would probably be napping by the time we were tryna go anyway. He was very accommodating and patient with us which we completely appreciated since we couldn’t get our lives together, smh.
Since our plans changed after Zambia, we had time to go back to the Elephant's Walk Shopping Village and get souvenirs for family and friends. We ended up in a women-owned and operated section of the market and had to support because of course!!
There were beautiful hand-crafted bowls, bags, beads, etc. I went overboard and got a lot of stuff and had to try and fit all these souvenirs in my back pack or carry-on which was not an easy feat especially since I still needed to make room for the pounds of fabric I bought for my brother to use in his Muddaland clothing designs.
In terms of food, for the remainder of the time we went grocery shopping and ate what we bought (lots of peanut butter toast) or purchased food from the hostel or when to Chicken Inn. We were there for about two and a half days and an hour of that time was spent in Zambia where we ate as well.
The next morning, we got up for the, let’s call it “personalized" safari. We paid about $20 US dollars for an hour and a half ride with just the three of us vs hundreds for 4+ hours with a bunch of randoms. That’s why it’s good to have extroverted travel buddy friends who like to talk to people. That’s the only way we would have met Kelvin and his friend and got the discounted safari. Kelvin’s friend had access to the park because he worked there and lived close by.
He came and got us from our hostel in the morning and we drove to the Chamabondo Game Drive Park entrance which seemed deserted. It seemed a bit iffy but it was $20 so what are you gonna do? We had each other and he seemed trustworthy. Plus, if this is how we were gonna go then *shrugs* I guess it would happen either way, ya know. Anyway, so we piled into the front of the pickup truck and drove down the dirt roads of the park to look for animals. We listened to music on the radio. He gave us brief animal behavior explanations and explained the lay of the land, where the watering holes were, and where to look for animals. We ended up seeing a baby giraffe, a baby elephant, zebras, sable antelopes, baboons, and a few other animals.
The landscape looked kind of like the Lion King and was extraordinary. I really appreciated seeing the animals in their natural habitats, ESPECIALLY for $20, because we all know I love to travel on a budget!
On our way back to the park entrance, we were talking about what we each do for work and what we wanted to end up doing. I shared that I was a food scientist and he shared that he was interested in opening a grain milling company based in Zimbabwe for export of maize and other grains. That was a pretty interesting conversation because he seemed to have a lot of knowledge about the growing and milling process and had a very entrepreneurial spirit. I was refreshing to hear.
He dropped us off at our hostel, we collected our belongings and made our way to the airport. While we were waiting to enter security, we saw locals dressed in traditional garments but I believe they were also performing because they were collecting tips. We had to get a picture because duh! Especially in my Muddaland "Melanin" sweatshirt.
We made our way back to South Africa to finish out our trip. SA blog coming later. Victoria Falls was amazing not only for the falls themselves but for the people we met, the food we tried, the animals we saw, and the beautiful landscape.
Thanks for reading all these words!
Love ya!
Taste Tutor