Wonderstruck!

 Thursday, March 16, 2023

Victoria Falls is the largest curtain of falling water in the world, and is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World!  It is also a National Heritage Site. We were showered with awe (and lots of water) as we walked along the edge of the falls with the mist and spray following us.  The first picture is before we got wet!

The spray from the water caught the sun and formed a perfect rainbow over the gorge.  The bridge in the background is the Victoria Bridge that connects Zimbabwe and Zambia.  It was built in 1905.  

The falls are more than 5000 ft wide and drop 354 ft, twice as high as Niagra Falls!  It is truly a magnificent sight.   The cascade of water is created by the Zambezi river as it falls into the gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  You can hear the thunder of the water as it rushes over the rocky cliffs.

The falls were first viewed by David Livingstone in 1855, and the town on the Zambia side is named Linvingstone for him.  He named the falls Victoria Falls after Queen Victoria.  

You could never quite see the entire width of the falls because of the enormous amount of spray and mist coming off the water.   It was like walking through a rainstorm, and we all were soaking wet, down to the underwear, despite rain gear. 

Several from our group took a helicopter ride over the falls and into the gorge and shared this photo from the air.  It is a great view and also shows how close our hotel is to the falls.

After seeing this wonderful place, you can appreciate it being named as a natural Wonder of the World!

The falls are just a short walk from our hotel, and we all went back to change into dry clothes for our visit to Mukuni Village.  It is a village close to Livingstone that is home to 7,000 people, who live in huts with straw roofs.  We were given a tour of part of the village to get an idea of how people live in this area.  It was quite an education.  

This lady was preparing dinner for her family of six children.

The kids were all curious about the white people walking through their village, but all seemed very happy.  They loved to have their picture taken and then see it on the phone.

The villagers support themselves by selling their crafts.  Tourism is their "industry".

Village offenders must spend itme in the local prison.  One of the offenses is foul language--yikes!

This tour certainly gave us more insight into life in a third world country.  These people are happy, but have nothing. It is humbling as we think about everything we have done in the past month.

We returned to the hotel which is truly a resort.  In addition to the pool and outside bar, there are animals all over the grounds and a special full-time security guard with a slingshot in case the animals get too close!  (The baboons are the worst offenders.)

A baboon got into the room of one of our friends and stole sugar from the sugar bowl just as Suzanne shooed him away.  I screamed when I saw a baboon on our balcony, checking out Jim's shorts that were laying on the rail to dry from our trip to the Falls.  Now I understand the slingshots! 

We closed out the evening with our Farewell Dinner, complete with local dancers that guided us down the garden path to a dinner of South African fare.  I didn't try the worms.

Some of our group joined in the dancing.

Everyone shared favorite memories and feelings about the trip.  What a wonderful finale to a wonderful trip. We have just one more day together.....