The Trip, Part One: Welcome to Livingstone!

I arrived safely back in Cape Town on Thursday after an amazing, crazy week traveling throughout Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. To see a map of our journey, go to my pictures blog: http://samincapetown.blogspot.com/

Our trip, as originally planned, focused upon Victoria Falls. And we did see the falls, but essentially everything else happened off the cuff. Before going any further, let me introduce you to my traveling buddies and good friends in the program. There’s Bryan from Iowa who goes to Drake University, Kate from Cambridge who goes to Hamilton, and Will from Washington, DC who also goes to Hamilton. It’s a little insane to think that we met just two weeks ago and even crazier to realize that we planned this trip after knowing one another for only three days. But when you know you’ve met great friends, you just know. We all agree it feels like we’ve known each other for a lot longer.

Of course, trips can strain friendships. I was a little nervous about messing up a good thing so early on in the program by taking a trip with these guys. But no need– everything was fine, and we’ve all only gotten closer.

But back to the trip… In this post, I’ll focus on Livingstone and Victoria Falls. But for those of you freaking out a little when reading that I traveled through Zimbabwe, I’ll explain just a bit. In my African history courses, I learned much about Great Zimbabwe, the ancient/medieval ruins built by a fascinating African society. They sit in Central Zimbabwe, though, far into the interior and not very close to Vic Falls. So we didn’t have much hope that we’d be able to make it there, but my friends were so interested when I told them about this site that we all decided that we would try to make it there if safe and feasible. And we did. But that story will be the next post.

Livingstone is Zambia’s gateway to Victoria Falls, the world’s largest waterfall, much larger than even Niagara. It forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. I had read that the area is fairly touristy, so I was expecting a crowded, moderately developed city. I was wrong– “touristy” by Southern African standards is quite different from the images conjured when thinking of Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. The airport was tiny and town small and not really developed at all.

When I say not developed, I should emphasize that the town is one of contrasts, not uncommon in the developing world. One minute, we were driving in a taxi down a dirt road through a crowded marketplace. But literally just a few blocks down the road, we came upon a small strip mall that wouldn’t look out of place in the American suburbs. I’m not kidding– this place even had a Subway. But just when I thought I was in the “developed part,” I noticed this long line of people waiting for these giant bags of maize. Curious, I asked our cab driver for the day–his name was Bison– what the queue was all about. Because of the shortage of food in Zimbabwe, he informed me, smugglers had been taking maize from the Zambian government to sell for a profit to Zambia’s southern neighbor. But this practice became so excessive that now, Zambia has a shortage. So people wait all day for food. Right outside an empty Subway and American-style pizza joint.

Victoria Falls is just a short drive from town. The national park on the Zambian side offers trails that take you right to the edge of a cliff opposite the falls. It is no exaggeration to say that this landmark is stunning. I won’t narrate too much here because the pictures will get the job done. As you get closer to the falls, though, a slight mist turns into a heavy downpour transported by the wind across the chasm separating Zambia and Zimbabwe. For about two hours, we hiked along the cliff and across a pretty scary bridge.

If the natural beauty of the falls were not surprising enough, we were shocked to find that so few people were there. Even in Zambia, which is a stable country, the number of tourists has dropped off considerably. This is likely due to the political situation in close-by Zimbabwe, as well as the global economic crisis. But for us, for those two hours, the solitude looking over one of the world’s most beautiful, awe-inspiring places was quite a treat.

We spent the night at a wonderful hostel in town, ate dinner along the banks of the Zambezi River, then prepared for what we thought to be the wildest leg of journey (it was not–just wait until you hear about a very special night drive in Botswana) into the heart of Zimbabwe.

FOR PICTURES: Visit my pics blog: http://samincapetown.blogspot.com/.

Until next time (I’m hoping tomorrow)…