KalahariLog

On our trip to the north of the country we went for a day trip to Victoria Falls on the Zambezi. The Zambezi river forms the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia and, as there are not many rivers in this part of the world, it is of big importance to all countries it goes through. The Falls are nothing short of spectacular. The sight it much more enjoyable than Niagara as everything is inside national parks, without any development. There are no cheesy motels, no boat-tours, no factories. The falls are also bigger than Niagara in all respects (height, width, volume). The river volume varies with the seasons but even at its lowest before the rains it is a spectacular sight as these pictures hopefully convey. Only when the river is low can one "see" the waterfall. During high water the whole area is shrouded in mist often a kilometer up in the air and visible for miles, which is probably why the local name for the waterfall is "Mosi-oa-Tunya" or the "smoke that thunders". Like most things in this part of the world, the "discovery" of the waterfall is credited to David Linvingstone and the date attached to it is the not so distant 1855.

Near the waterfall and bathed in the mist is a tropical rain forest in the middle of what is otherwise a desert climate. Beautiful fig trees and a thick green canopy near the falls offer a sharp contrast with the surrounding burnt grass and scrubland. We only saw the Zimbabwean side of the falls as most who have been to both sides say that the view is better on the this side. We did walk on the bridge to Zambia that goes over the gorge -- the view down is terrifying, especially in the section where the see-through barrier leans over a little bit. Naturally, that's where they have set up the bungee jumping site. There were no takers when we were there, but it looked much higher than the bungee jump that I did a few years back.

Tourism in Zimbabwe has gone downhill in the last few years, together with the standard of living of its citizens. By all accounts, the troubles are in no small part due to the enlightened leadership of their dictator Mugabe. What used to be Africa's bread-basket is now a land of starving people, forced to import grain from countries it used to sell grain to. The economy has suffered greatly and these troubles have let to the largest inflation on record, year after year. In many places people have stopped trying to use the local currency and have reverted to old-fahsioned bartering. Some say that there are fewer wild animals in the national parks because starving people from the surrounding areas have eaten some of them. I don't know how true this claim is, but we didn't see many antelopes on the 2-hour drive through the large Zambezi NP. What is particularly sad to see is the excellent infrastructure falling apart -- great roads, nice buildings, good schools and universities, some of the best national parks -- they are getting close to being beyond repair.

There used to be over 300,000 tourists per year at Victoria Falls just a few years back. On the day we were there, we were the only visitors for a good hour. On our way out of the park we saw another 10-15 people and that was it. The hotels, lodges, casinos are empty. The stores have no customers and the restaurants have no patrons. Desperate people beg on the streets, and going to the local vendors of tourist-fare (table cloths, wooden bowls, etc.) results in dozens of the vendors surrounding you and bidding lower and lower in an effort to get a few bills in hard currency. The contrast between the incredible natural surrounding and the plight of the people living there will be hard to forget.