Adventures in Zambia and Zimbabwe

After leaving the Refugee camp we went a bit further up north (like an hour or so) to where the nearest paved road was - I have a new appreciation for tar- and ten of us were dropped off at a gas station, around 4 o'clock to wait for our 10 pm bus to Zambia. After killing an inordinate amount of time we finally boarded our 16 hour bus to Victoria Falls Zambia. It was a very rough start, involving a truly Namibian queue, which is a total mass of people pushing and shoving. Once we did finally get onto the bus there were almost no seats. I ended up next to a mom with a small child (or large baby) on her lap, which is code word for... a mother taking up her seat and part of mine, with a baby kicking me, and bottles being stored in the small of my back, bags piled up so my chin and knees were abnormally close- and the general feeling of misery that would accompany this inhuman position I was in for 4 hours. Finally the bus cleared out and I switched to sit with a friend- while the seats were still insanely small, it was slightly more comfortable having no personal space with a friend over a stranger, and at least friends can be used as pillows!!!

Eventually (what seemed like eons later) we arrived in Zambia, went through customs, got our visas and stamps in our passports, and within a few hours we were in the town of Victoria Falls. Our hostel was absolutely gorgeous, the nicest backpacker's I have ever stayed at! There were mango trees, and a pool, a bar, two separate comfy pillow areas, some hammocks, and many extremely well built kayakers from all over the world.

The first day we just hung around the hostel and walked around town. I went to the ATM and i was a millionaire- I took out 1 million kwachas (zambian currency) and still had millions left in the bank- It was a great feeling!!!! The next day we went to see Victoria Falls, hiked on top of the falls where water covers during rainy season but since it is dry season we were literally at the top of the falls walking along the edge. I even climbed down the falls a bit and took some pictures with a small water fall!! (Probably not the safest-sorry mom- but I survived!)

The next day we went to Zimbabwe to see the falls from the other side. The Zimbabwe side has much more water this time of year, so we got to see the larger falls and get soaking wet from all the mist. In addition, we got to see the rain-forest that exists only immediately across from the falls, because of the amount of mist. With the rain-forest came baboons. This was quite exciting at first, until one went ape shit- literally- and attacked a woman, try to steal her bag, and then ran around and charged at us!! After hiking around the falls we walked around the town of Livingstone. There were a lot of craft shops and at one I found a ceramic mezuzah with a giraffe on it. But because Zim switched to the US dollar and we were in a tourist town everything was pretty expensive. 

After a day in Zim we headed back to Zambia and made plans for the rest of our trip. Most of the group left on Wednesday but I stayed with a couple others to do more activities. We took micro-light flights over the falls, which were essentially hang-gliders with engines, that hold two people. It was so amazing, and slightly terrifying, but it was the best view of the falls you could possibly have. We also saw hippos, a heard of elephants, crocodiles, and a giraffe. Then we went to a crocodile farm, and on the way we literally drove past a heard of elephants. Later that day I went with a friend to the Devil's armchair, which is a pool at the top of the waterfall where the water is rushing down, but there is a ledge that prevents you from being washed over- this was possibly the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. The next day we went horse back riding along the Zambezi River which was lots of fun and pretty relaxing until my horse went crazy and almost fell off a steep ledge into the water and I jumped off to save myself and landed directly on my tailbone, which is still killing me a week later!!! Not to mention I jumped off, landed ungracefully on my butt, and then was in so much pain I was crying hysterically and rolling around in the elephant poop I fell into. Not my finest moment, that is for sure. But on a happier note I was within ten feet of a baby giraffe and a heard of water buffalo. To make this insane day that much better, after horseback riding we went on a safari cruise with free alcohol. We saw lots of animals, and had a a little bit of wine. There must have been something wrong with the South African wine we consumed because within twenty minutes of returning from the cruise everyone that had wine (1 glass-4 glasses) was throwing up. I guess I was extra sensitive, because I didn't have any more than I normally have on passover and yet I threw up about twenty times in 6 hours. This was clearly the only way to perfect my already ridiculous day of pain!! I spent the next day recovering, and hanging around the hostel with other travelers. Then spent saturday shopping for gifts at the marketplace and walking around Livingstone. By Sunday I was ready to come back to Windhoek but I would have done just about anything not to board that awful bus again. However, there was no choice, so we got on the bus for 20 hours of semi paved, unlit roads, crammed with people, that went from excruciatingly hot to ridiculously cold. I survived, despite the remnants of my horse injury, and at 7:30 am on monday morning we arrived in Windhoek. By 10 I was at my internship for a full day of work-needless to say it was brutal!

The miserable 36 hours total spent on the bus were totally worth it because Victoria Falls is the most amazing place I have ever seen, I enjoyed it almost as much as I love visiting Israel! Which is obviously saying something. Now that I'm back in Windhoek though it is time to get to work, we have about 8 assignments at least in the next 4 weeks!!