I spent my last week in Africa in
Zambia, at Victoria Falls. We took the bus overnight to get there. The
exchange rate in Zambia is $1 for 5000 kwachas, so I felt rich walking out of
the bureau de change with 1.5 million in my rather fat wallet. But it
was rather annoying dealing with all these large numbers all of the
time.
In my first evening I did a river cruise on the Zambezi above the falls. Isaw an elephant and some hippos having a bath, along with some crocodiles. But there were much more animals to come. The next day we went to Victoria Falls (traditionally known as 'the Smoke that Thunders'). Vic Falls is the biggest in the world, at a height of 108 meters its more than twice as tall the Niagara falls. Although neither the tallest nor the widest (1.7 km wide) in the world, the combination of the large width and height makes it the largest waterfall in the world.
In my first evening I did a river cruise on the Zambezi above the falls. Isaw an elephant and some hippos having a bath, along with some crocodiles. But there were much more animals to come. The next day we went to Victoria Falls (traditionally known as 'the Smoke that Thunders'). Vic Falls is the biggest in the world, at a height of 108 meters its more than twice as tall the Niagara falls. Although neither the tallest nor the widest (1.7 km wide) in the world, the combination of the large width and height makes it the largest waterfall in the world.
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| Vic Falls - not much water here in the dry season (you can't see the whole falls from here) |
It was the dry season so we were able
to do a walking tour of the top of the falls where there was not as
much water falling as usual. We also went swimming near the top of
the falls, at a place called the Devil's pool. This is a natural pool
of water formed at the edge of the fall, separated from the edge by a
rock wall. Although this sounds rather scary, it was a very
controlled situation, and an incredibly beautiful place to swim.
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| Devil's Pool (which has a wide stone wall between the edge of the falls) |
The following day I did a small safari
on jeep and boat of the Chobe National Park, known for having the highest concentration of elephants in the world.
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| There are over 50,000 elephants at Chobe |
We also saw hippos, buffalo and a pride
of lions. It was an incredible experience to be so close to so many
huge and wild animals.
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| Pride of Lions |
The following day I went for a day of
white water rafting down the Zambezi river, starting from just below
the falls going through 25 rapids. I'm not much of a water person so
it was quite intense particularly when my raft flipped twice. But it
was a lot of fun.
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| Rafting on the Zambezi |
On Saturday I took a plane to
Johannesburg. I was supposed to catch my flight from there to
Amsterdam, but unfortunately this was not allowed because my flight
was originally supposed to leave from Gaborone. So I spent Sunday in
Johannesburg, where I did a tour of the Soweto township and went to
the Apartheid museum.
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| The spot where Hector Pieterson was killed in the Soweto uprising during Apartheid times |
Then I took a bus to Gaborone, and the
following day took my flight from Gaborone back to Johannesburg and
finally to Amsterdam. While I was back in Gaborone I found out that an interview I did about a month ago was finally published in The Voice, a national newspaper in Botswana. I was pleasantly surprised that I received almost a page in the newspaper. You can read the online version at http://www.thevoicebw.com/2011/11/25/culture-matters/. I think its the perfect finish to a great student exchange.
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| On the Zambezi |
And that was all of Africa for this
time. What an amazing place, and what an amazing experience there. So
many great people and so many amazing things done and seen. I now
look forward to being with family and a different continent of
experiences...
