Ending our overland journey, we landed in the town of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, where we planned to celebrate Christmas.
Victoria Falls was named as such by David Livingstone in 1855, although the local name is Mosi-oa-Tunya which means “the smoke that thunders.” Truly, you can see the mist rising up from the falls in the distance without being able to see the falls themselves. The Zambezi River, which contains the falls, serves as the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. In December, the water flows are low, but we were still able to catch some spray and rainbows while hiking along the beautiful paths.
Returning from the falls we crossed paths with a family of baboons. The large male was rather close to the trail and Logan squatted down to take advantage of a good photo opportunity. Unfortunately, these guys were very acclimatized to visitors and the male baboon quickly closed the distance. When Logan rose to his full height the baboon switched course and came straight for the kids and I, baring his teeth. It took some shouting and swinging of water bottles to encourage a safe distance again, and Tim has zero interest in further baboon experiences. Which is too bad, because we had to dodge them on our way to Christmas Mass a few days later. We decided as a family to add a baboon to our family nativity set, grateful that there are NO baboons in Colorado.
Once we had seen the falls, we still had time to kill. We spent a few hours at an elephant sanctuary where we had the opportunity to stand alongside the elephants, and even feed them some treats. We enjoyed a sunset cruise on the upper Zambezi where we enjoyed all sorts of wildlife, including a drunk tourist on a different ship to who jumped off the bow of his boat to chase the Cape Buffalo (yes, he survived, but don’t try it at home). Logan rafted the lower Zambezi River for a day (children not allowed - the rapids were big!) And we spent lots of time dodging the touts around town and their endless wooden carvings.
One of our favorite experiences was set up by one of the folks from our overland tour, who lived in Victoria Falls. She was in the process of purchasing land in nearby Monde Village, and arranged for us to meet the chief. The title of chief is hereditary and Mr. Mpala was the 14th generation in his family to hold the title. The position isn’t paid, but apparently it is a full time job managing sub-chiefs, settling disputes and solving problems. For everything short of murder and rape, guilt and consequences are determined on a community level without police involvement. It was a very neat opportunity to get to know at least one local community and culture in Zimbabwe.
Our other standout activity was a cooking class set up with our chef from the overland tour, who also lives in Victoria Falls. Tembe was an excellent cook during our 3-week adventure, and she was considering other career options as the travel can be quite exhausting and the frequency inconsistent. So we volunteered to be her first clients for a trial cooking class, and we spent several hours cooking a variety of her favorite foods in her kitchen. We ended up with far more food than we were capable of eating, but it was a fantastic chance to cook a bunch of new foods from scratch and enjoy a feast with new friends.
Notable quotables:
Neil: I've never had mosquito bites for Christmas.
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