Why would anyone go to Zimbabwe? One spectacular reason is, “Mosi-oa-Tunya”, translated as the ’smoke that thunders’, and more commonly known as Victoria Falls. Measuring over a kilometer in length, the Zambezi River separates Zimbabwe and Zambia, forming one of the most spectacular border crossings in the world. The small town that goes by the same name offers high adventure, haute cuisine, amazing scenery and even wildlife roaming its streets. A blend that makes it unique in African adventure travel.

Almost every wildlife safari that takes in Zimbabwe, will include Victoria Falls on the itinerary. But with a airport equipped to handle small planes, one can also fly directly there to take in the sites.

We arrived on our safari truck and set up tents in the centre of town at the municipal campsite. After a shower in the well equipped camp ground facilities, we dropped off our road weary dirty laundry sack at the camp laundry and headed for the Falls. A brief walk through town, eyeing luxury hotels, a few stray warthogs and residents busily going about their business we found ourselves quickly on the outskirts at the other side of town and quite suddenly in a small forest divided by the road and criscrossed by a railroad track. A loud sound drew our attention to an elephant emerging from the woods and stepping gingerly over the rails, less than a stone’s throw from our path! We hurried on and after about a kilometer the air became thick with mist and the roar was a constant reminder of our destination. Then, there it was. Tons of water cascading over the long, island studded brim into the Zambezi River below. We crossed the old iron bridge and came to the Immigration facility for entry into Zambia. Documents stamped, (Some countries have a visa requirement and must pay $25 US)we walked on via an old stone path that faces the falls. The spray, more a steady rain now, penetrated even our rain coats like a warm misty bath. The tropical forest through which the path winds is punctuated with stone benches and thankfully railings to hang on to in the more slippery sections. The path literally hangs on the cliff edge opposite the falls and offers a most spectacular view – up close and personal!! The real surprise and great thing about the falls is the lack of commercialization. Here is a true wonder, known throughout the world, yet not one hotel, souvenier store or merchandising gimmick to be seen. Raw beauty. The smell of blosums from the rain forest, the mind numbing roar, the feel of the warm spray, the sight of the might and power of untamed energy – sense tingling. Unforgetable.

Victoria Falls offers lots of excitement with river rafting (when the water is high – after the rains, the river is pretty tame, but it can be really a great run a month before the dry season), helicopter flights over the falls, horseback riding around the falls, night safaris into the bush around the area, tandem parachute jumps, river booze cruises, and best of all – bunji jumping off the bridge into the gorge, just in front of the falls!

Since Zimbabwe farms their large game wildlife – such as elephants – hunting to cull the herds is legal, with profits from hunts and the meat being shared with locals. They have no poaching problem, unlike their neighbours to the North East. As a result, wonderful carved ivory pieces are sold legally with a Government permit. But do be careful to have a CITIES permit to import your purchases back to other CITIES signator countries, such a North America.

Do take time to have a leisurely lunch at the famous old and luxurious Victoria Falls Hotel overlooking the gorge below the falls. And your trip won’t be complete without a visit to the craft market which has one of the most vast and varied collections of carvings, crochet and batiks in South Africa. And enjoy the bargaining. There is a wonderful up scale mall near the village market that has museum quality pieces at very reasonable prices and is well worth a look just for interest value.

Throughout town the food is good and reasonable in price. And no need to camp, there are many mid to high end hotels geared to fit any budget.

Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe is a beautiful, vibrant and friendly town, with surprises around every turn and it is still one of those special destinations where your sense of adventure is satisfied along with your need for comfort.

Our first adventure was arriving in Nairobi, a rather intimidating city, with its aggressive child beggars and high crime. Nevertheless, we quite enjoyed the markets and handicrafts there and we had a wonderful meat-laden dinner at “Carnivore” just outside the city. The restaurant serves all-you-can-eat of a variety of meats, including the more exotic native species (e.g., ostrich, zebra, crocodile, hartbeest). We took our first Safari drive in Nairobi too. There is a small game reserve at the edge of the city, near the airport. We went driving there with a group for an afternoon and saw zebra, many other grazing animals (wildebeest, hartbeest, gazelle, buffalo) and monkeys, a coyotee and warthogs. Just outside of the city there is also a Giraffe preserve where you can stand on a platform and feed giraffe — they wrench food out of your hand with their strong, long, grey tongues!

Our safari experience in ernest began the next day when we went to the Masai Mara by truck. The roads (supposedly the best in Africa) are very sketchy and we spent several hours waiting by the side of the road for tire changes and car breakdown fixes. We finally arrived in camp (ours was a camping safari — the only kind I””””d reccommend). We spent three days in the Masai Mara reserve, nighting in a camp earshot of wildlife, and going on 2-3 game drives every day. We saw everything we expected to and more (except a leopard, which we saw later in Tanzania, and a rhino, which we saw later in N. Kenya). We saw lazy male lions waiting in the shade while females tended hordes of cute cubs or stalked prey (we never did see a kill, though). We saw a male & female lion “on their honeymoon”, as our guide put it. We saw elephants of all ages, from the youngest calf to old, wrinkly grandpa elephants with long tusks. We saw cheetah, hippos, crocodiles, I could go on and on. There was the minor migration going on at the time and we saw hordes of wildebeest running skittishly across the savannah. One of the highlights of the Masai Mara was the sunrise champagne balloon ride. We could look down and see the animals and the topography from a completely new perspective. Plus, riding in a hot air balloon was wonderful! (My first opportunity to do so). Another highlight of that part of the trip was a visit to the Masai villiage nearby. We got to interact with and observe the native people of this area of the world in a real villiage. They tried to teach me some Masai and the guides tried to teach me Kikuyu. I had only learned some Swahili before the trip, which is the official language, but nearly everyone I met spoke another of Kenya”””’’s many hundreds of languages as their native tounge.

After leaving the Serengeti plain (where the Masai Mara reserve is located), we went northward where we stopped at several other parks and sites including an orphanage for a rhino (whom I fed), a beautiful lake with wild white rhino nearby, and Samburu reserve, where we saw countless other animals and had our campsite repeatedly threatened by baboons!

We then went to Tanzania, to Arusha, from whence we started out on our Kilimanjaro tour. Our tour company was horrible (we had prepaid for the trip in Nairobi — BIG MISTAKE.) We had never met the people face to face until Arusha and they had not set up a trip/made reservations in huts, so we were stuck trying to cram what should be a 5-day climb into 3 days. From a cardio-demanding point of view, this was tough but possible, but from an altitude-sickness point of view, this was suicide! I made it up to Gillman”””’’s Point (on the crater, but not the highest point, Uhuru) vomiting and dizzy and with some terrible “runs.” Everyone else on the trip bagged the climb after the midpoint of the mountain (except one stupid guy who passed out at Kibo Hut after smoking a cigarette in the thin air — DUMB DUMB DUMB! Don””””t do anything like this in Africa. All the guides just watched as he lay on the rocks unconscious & bleeding. I had to give him first aid and revive him. Lucky for him I was prepared). Anyway, Kili was a beautiful and demanding climb and if I ever do it again, I will DEFINITELY TAKE AT LEAST 5 (better 6) DAYS TO DO IT: If you cut it short, your body can””””t adjust to the altitude and you just won””””t make it!

After Kili, we did another two-day safari in Ngorongoro Crater. I thought an additional safari in Tanzania might be overkill, but it was different enough from the Serengeti safari and the N. Kenya safari that it really rounded out the experience. The crater funnels all the animals into a fairly defined space, called the garden of eden (for the intensity of wildlife rather than beautiful greenery). We saw black maned lions and a leopard there, along with more of the many fascinating animals we had already gotten to know.

After Tanzania, we travelled by train from Nairobi to Mombasa. The train was circa early 20th century, nothing (even the linens) had been changed, so it was like going back in time except that everything had deteriorated to an embarrassing extent. Still, it was an experience.

In Mombasa, we visited the Portuguese fort (quite interesting) and had good seafood (whew! The food in the interior is basically stewed beef and vegetables and rice — all without much spice or taste). We then went up the coast, staying at a couple nice little towns on the ocean, before flying to the island of Lamu. Lamu is a Swahili, Muslim island, much like Zanzibar (so I””””m told). It was FASCINATING! I have never been anywhere like this island. It is a complete pedestrian (& mule) zone and nearly everyone seemed to be native. I loved it there: the beautiful teal sea and the white washed walls, Men all in white and women draped in black, brightly colored dhows (little sailboats) plowing the water. We swam, ate, idled around, got henna painting done on our feet, and otherwise just really relaxed. We were only there 3 days: I””””d advise spending a week at least!

The trip was wonderful! I””””d highly recommend it to anyone. Just keep your wits about you (especially in Nairobi) and don””””t give any tour companies money until you have a written deal and have gone over the details face to face with the actual people you””””re dealing with. Good luck!

We traveled along the Garden Route, staying overnight in Hermanus. Hermanus is a coastal resort that is famous for whale watching. From the sea cliffs we watched southern right whales frolick in the surf.

We stayed at two reserves while in South Africa. The first one was called Shamwari and it is the southern most privately held game reserve in South Africa. It is a relatively small reserve but the game viewing was spectacular and the staff were very informative and friendly.

We also stayed at Chapungu Lodge in the Thornybush Game Reserve bordering Kruger National Park. Here, we saw the big 5. We had some exhilirating experiences such as being charged by a bull elephant and tracking a female leopard for two days. In a game of hide and seek, the leopard usually wins and remains hidden. Lucky for us, we were able to find her because her presence in the area had alarmed a troupe of monkeys and the racket they made aided our guide in locating her. We were able to study her from a distance of 30 feet as she languished in a tree. Her belly was so full that she couldn’t possibly move from her perch.

We also spent some time fly fishing in the Drakensberg Mountains. Draken means dragon in Afrikaans and the mountains rise up from the earth like the spine of a dragon.

Our favorite part of the trip was our canoe safari on the Zambezi River. For four days we paddled eight hours enjoying the diversity of birdlife and animals that we encountered. We camped on islands and it wasn’t unusual to wake up in the middle of the night and see an elephant walk by the tent. One of the highlights for me was when we paddled by a male elephant that was wading in the river and grazing. We were scarcely fifteen feet away from him as we floated by. The hippos have a reputation for being mean and aggressive and it is well-deserved. We had several adrenaline producing encounters with the “river horses” but our guide kept us cool and focused.

We had a memorable trip and the beauty of South Africa and Zimbabwe are incomparable.

Established in 1929, it offers some of the densest wildlife concentrations in Africa with more than 100 species of animals and 400 species of birds.

Hwange’s main entrance at Dete Gate is about 81 miles south of Victoria Falls along the A-8 highway.

The northeastern tip of the Kalahari Desert encompasses the park’s central and southern areas. Indeed Hwange may have been a desert at one time. There are remains of huge fossil dunes in the southeast. The northeast of the park boasts some of the country’s finest teak forests.

Hwange is one of few elephant sanctuaries remaining in Africa. You may see herds of up to a hundred of these magnificent animals at dusk, searching for watering holes. Hwange also boasts about 15,000 buffalo, 3,000 zebra, 3,000 giraffe, 5,000 kudu, 2,000 sable antelope and 6,000 impala, as well as a variety of other animals.

Following their extinction within the park, black and white rhinos have been successfully reintroduced.

Hippos and crocodiles are also present in Hwange. The great predators are plentiful, including the lion and leopard.

Camps are available in the park where visitors can stay in lodges, chalets, tents or caravans. There is also an extensive network of roads for viewing game.

Besides the delta, Botswana offers other superb national parks, such as:

Moremi Wildlife Reserve: a large and scenically diverse game reserve that is home to the largest population of wild dogs in Africa. One of the continent’s best-kept secrets.

Chobe: Only 50 miles from Victoria Falls, Chobe is known for lots of active elephants, as well as boat safaris along the Chobe River. (The Savuti, an arid region in the southern region of the park, is famous for its lions.)