Todays pre-booked activities with Victoria Falls Guide
Activity
Pick up time
Drop off time
Remarks
Historical Bridge Tour
09h30
Boiling Pot Hike
15h00
Cancelled as no other people want to go
!! BACK ON!! I paid for 4 PAX and I will take this trip by myself
Aladdin cancelled the hike on the way to the site. Sky opened up and the rain poured down
!! BACK ON!! I paid for 4 PAX and I will take this trip by myself
Aladdin cancelled the hike on the way to the site. Sky opened up and the rain poured down
Sunday 9 th of November 2014 and I had asked for a 8 o'clock wake up call. Good, my first day with long sleep. They call and I rush out of bed and I'm about to go for breakfast. My wrist watch is 8, did the battery run flat? On the TV clock the time shows 8 and the phone starts to ring. Now I get the 8 o'clock wake-up call. First call was at 7 and I got a bonus hour awake.
They will pick me up at 9 thirty and when I'm going for breakfast at 9 when the phone is ringing again. It is my Guide and he is here to pick me up. He told me that the pickup time was at 9.
- No, according to my papers it is 9 thirty
- No, it is 9
- I come in 20 minutes
I went for breakfast and I was at the reception 20 past nine. By then they had left, but my Guide was soon back. He asked if I had my passport.
- Do I need the passport? Are we going to Zambia?
We were just passing the Zimbabwean border post and the passport was more of a formality. I returned to my room to get my passport and we were soon on our way to the border post. The
driver handed me over to another driver at the border post and we crossed the bridge.On the other side of the bridge there is a coffee shop/ restaurant and they are the ones in charge of the bungee jump and high wire activities. And the historical bridge tour started at this coffee shop.
There was an old American couple waiting for me, they had been in the car at 9 o'clock so they
had been waiting for quite some while. Their pick up time was 9 o'clock and my time was 9 thirty. So there was a gap of thirty minutes, someone had foocked up. And of course, it was the customers that had to take the weight by waiting and having their morning foocked up. Well, lucky it is not 6 in the morning
I spotted a fridge with Pepsi Light and I asked the girl if they bought them in Zambia. Well, the coffee shop is actually located on the Zambian side of the bridge. And they got their Pepsi Light from Zambia. I have only seen Coke products in Zimbabwe.
I bought a bottle and I enjoyed the diet drink while waiting for them to get ready with the historical bridge tour. And why are they not ready? They knew that we were coming, and they knew what time we were going to come, cannot be too hard to plan for this. They called us after 15 minutes and we went to a shed behind the coffee shop.
It was some kind of museum and there was a guy sitting on a chair pretending to work on a drawing on the bridge. The girl tried to wake him up. So this was a live performance and I had expected a boring video. The shed/ museum was nice and it was a relaxing atmosphere at the place. And the performance was really very good in interesting
In the museum
In the museum
In the museum
It was easy to imagine how it would have been here 109 years ago when they built the bridge. Victoria Falls Hotel were just completed and many of the people working on the bridge spent their
evenings at the hotel drinking after a long day of hard work.The bridge was an essential part of building a railway between Cape Town and Cairo and I learnt that Victoria Falls Hotel's logo represent this dream. There is a lion symbolising South Africa and the Sfinks on the right hand side representing Cairo.
History, I really like history and I was very pleased with the performance, and they guy was good in what he was doing. Of course, the dram never came true. The railway ended in DRC in
Ljungbuka or what ever the name of the town is.But the railway are now having branches reaching Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, effects of the dreams more than 100 years ago.
We were going to cross the bridge, under the bridge. They have a cat walk and we're going to cross the river on this catwalk. Safety harness required and our Guide instructed us in the use of the safety harness.
I was for sure not looking forward to this walk, but as I had paid my fee it was crossing the river or bust. We were soon on the bridge taking a ladder leading down under the bridge and the cat walk. I was the last man getting on the ladder.
Victoria Falls Bridge
Getting down under the Victoria Falls Bridge
Under the Victoria Falls Bridge
Boiling pot under the Victoria Falls Bridge
I'm hiking down here in the afternoon
Victoria Falls Hotel
Passing the bungee jump place
We made it to the other side
We made it to the other side
Maintenance on the bridge
Bungee Jump station
We got a certificate that we had crossed the bridge
We crossed the bridge and the whole bridge were shaking when trucks passed over the bridge. This movements are making the bridge so strong. Hot African sun and expansion of the steel. So the bridge needs to be able to move. Of course, this knowledge didn't made me feel any better while
standing on the cat walk under the bridge.We got a certificate that we had crossed the bridge and we were soon on our way back to Victoria Falls Town. I asked the driver to drop me in town as I was going to buy a bag for my safari flights.
I walked around the area with souvenir shop but not any bags that I liked so I walked back to Victoria Falls Hotel and I bought the 229 US Dollars bag. Seems that there is no end to how much money this trip will cost me.
My Guide for the Boiling Pot wars here quarter to 3 and I told him to wait for 15 minutes as I was going to have a salmon bruschetta and a pot of tea on the terrace. As we can see on the pictures above it is a long hike and I need energy for the hike. And it is a very steep hike, border line to climbing. But I will give it a try, I can always turn around. But I really want to get down to the Boiling Pot as I have seen the falls from above.
Camera and water proof bag
Camera and water proof bag
I had decided to try my raincoat for the camera as I expected that we could encounter some mist. And I had not used the bag yet and I wanted to try it and I brought it to the terrace. I prepared
my camera while waiting for my food. This bag is pretty nifty.I got my food and suddenly we had a black sky with thunder and lightning. I got worried about our hike, rain is no good. Then it will be very dangerous to hike in the mud and the wet grass.
Easy to imagine 2 ton Swedish Adventurer sliding down the steeps hitting bottom. Or as I told our Guide, we were very lucky, imagine if the rain had started when we were at the bottom of the gorge. Impossible to get back up again.
We turned back and we went to Shearwater's office as I wanted to see if there was any other activities I could do. They told me that I had done everything that there was to do. Well, except the stuff I didn't dare to do, bungee jump, swinging from wires 200 meters up the air etc. They told me that they would refund my money, the hike is 45 US Dollars and as I was alone I had to pay 180 US Dollars as 4 PAX was minimum to do the hike.
Seriously, I had not expect any refund as it was what I call an “act of God” But they would start to process my refund and they would bring it to my hotel room tomorrow morning. And I had got 220
US Dollars from Victoria Falls Guide for the Sunset Cruise and Dinner Cruise debacle and the cancelled Lunar Rainbow.Yes, suddenly I had more money than I could spend and never mind that I had bought the 229 US Dollar duffle bag.
They wanted to drive me back to my hotel from Shearwater's office but I told them that I would like to walk. Killing as much time as possible as I was looking forward to a tedious night on my hotel room.
Well, it is Sunday and they are supposed to be boring, and I can do a little on my web page, I'm behind with several days as there had been no time to do anything with the web page. I have a 7 o'clock wake-up call tomorrow morning and they will pick me up at 10 o'clock for transfer to Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana.
So just click HERE and you will soon be on your way to Botswana. The adventure of a life time!
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizen visiting my web page. How hard can it
be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page. Jiffy (also jiff)
noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next”
ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? NJET PROBLEMA! Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
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