Livingstone, Part I

June 20, 2022

Hanging out and seeing the sights

Monday - I basically did nothing today, except to chill and regroup from yesterdays ride that wore me out

Tuesday - still feeling lazy, but finally decided to ride my bike out to the falls and scope things out. The ride out was nice and I detoured by Thorn Tree Safari to check things out. Cyclists get a bit of a discount there and a it’s affiliated with Claire, who is very active in the Africa WhatsApp group. I believe I read once her parents own it. The hosts were nice and showed me around and it was very peaceful, but I realized I’ll be happier staying in town with shopping right across the street. It’s a short dirt road to her place with lots of bushes. My mantra, “please, no elephants, please, no elephants” 😂

Back to the main road and continue yes I’m towards the falls. I see a cyclist stopped ahead and he asks, “Did you see the elephant?” Me thinking to myself, “wtf, how did I not see it?!” That’s the thing, I’m on full alert scanning for wildlife, and yet, they can blend in enough that I still missed it. He goes in to tell me, “Lone elephant.” Very dangerous.” Sure, I can’t wait for the return cycle trip now.

When I crossed the border into Zambia, I bought a visa that's good for both Zambia and Zimbabwe for 30 days. I've learned the falls are visible from both countries so rather than pay extra fees, I'd minimized my time in Zambia and be free to explore both sides. In the end, I didn't need that as they actually just hold your passport at the border and give you a gate pass if you want to go see the falls from the bridge. The bridge divides the two countries and offered my first views of the falls from the Zimbabwe side. Because the water levels are still high, there is still a lot of mist. Think "free shower." I was in absolute awe, but the annoying people trying to sell me stuff distracted from the incredible moment. I told them, "I just want to enjoy the falls right now."

I thought I would maybe do an adventure called the canyon swing, but I couldn't quite workout where it was and not a single person bungy jumped which was a bit disappointing.

Victoria Falls: "The Smoke That Thunders"

5,604 feet combined width, 354 feet tall, resulting in the world's largest sheet of falling water

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe side (Zambia side barely visible on upper right hand side)

Looking off the bridge side opposite the falls

Can make out the line of the falls when the mist lets up a bit

After getting my fill of the views, time to ride back. I was riding by another cyclist and see him cros over to the other side of the road. Zambians tend to ride facing oncoming traffic so I stayed put...until I saw the big elephant to my left. Needless to say, I immediately crossed over. I was already going strong with the encouragement from the locals, but when I saw two more elephants, I found an ounce of extra energy and pedaled for my life!!! That was after I let out a string of obscenities. I was trying to see if there were more and/or if they were moving, not to mention, getting the hell out of there. My poor heart can't take it! I can check "cycling past an elephant" off my bucket list, but wait, it was never on it!

Wednesday - Rode out to the falls again today to enter the national park on the Zambian side. The falls were beautiful, mesmerizing and I loved being there. Oh, and I forgot to mention wet. Very wet. People told me I would get drenched, but you really have to experience it to fully understand the meaning of "drenched." All from the mist/spray/wind. It was like a torrential downpour!! I put on my rain pants and less than stellar rain jacket. Let's just say, time for a new rain jacket, but on the bright side, my Keen sandals are very clean again.

It's expensive to get into the national park. The equivalent of $20 US dollars. I started to hike a trail that would take me out to the bridge, but then I started to get harassed by a guy. I ended up cutting that hike short as I felt very uncomfortable and unsafe. I later learned he was likely a Zimbabwean who had entered illegally and was trying to sell stuff. I was kind of pissed because for that price, I feel like the trails should be monitored and I should be able to safely walk the trails.

I ate lunch up above because I was warned not to take food on the next trail I wanted to hike as there were numerous baboons on that trail. I hiked it down to the Boiling Pot which is at the bottom. There was indeed a baboon gauntlet which was a bit unnerving, but I had a big stick to scare anything away. I relaxed at the bottom for awhile before climbing back up for a solid 20 minutes. Workout complete. What a fun day spent at the falls. Oh, and the Boiling Point has a very cool water feature. The water actually swirls back around. Part of the river is going downstream, but there's a sections that goes upstream. I have a cool video, but the one time I tried to upload a video here, formats were not compatible. You'll have to trust me that it was cool.

It wasn't long before I was getting a little wet

Walked across that bridge. Went to grab the rail to steady myself and it was covered in slimy algae.

See the baby clinging to mom under the belly?

At the Boiling Point. Just taking it all in and being present in the moment.

Some more of just enjoying the beauty and grandeur of the falls

David Livingstone. I know there's some history here, but I never did google it :)

This is the river and the spray in the distance is from where the water drops over

Today's ride: 24 miles (39 km)
Total: 3,128 miles (5,034 km)

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