Victoria Falls

Check out our trip to Victoria Falls. The Falls border Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa.

Right when we got off the plane in Zambia we headed for a guided hike to Devil's Pool at Victoria Falls.


Check out the "loo with a view"
"The magnificent Victoria Falls has a drop of 128m. There is a place where one can swim called the Devil’s Pool ("Devil's Swimming Pool") but only during the months of September to December (the dry season). People can swim as close as possible to the edge of the falls without falling over. These falls are becoming well known amongst the "radical tourist" industry, when more and more people search for the ultimate experience."




To get in you have to jump! They call it "The leap of faith," b/c you must have faith you won't go over the edge.






You have to hold hands to get there and back.
Below: Our guide shows us how we must jump in and swim back.
The tour with Devil's Pool covers the Livingstone Island...named after David Livingstone.

"David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish missionary and explorer of the Victorian era, now best remembered because of his meeting with Henry Morton Stanley which gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?""
"David Livingstone explored the African interior to the north, in the period 1852–56, and was the first European to see the Mosi-oa-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") waterfall (which he renamed Victoria Falls after his monarch, Queen Victoria), of which he wrote (later), "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.""
Below: They call this one Angel's Pool!


After the tour was over we met our driver and he took us across the border to Zimbabwe. We stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel.

The next morning we were up early for the Chobe Day Trip. We crossed the border into Botswana to go for a boat ride down the Chobe River.


Can you see us in the photo above? We are the two in front at the front of the boat. Look for Pat's orange shirt.








Below: A croc getting a baby elephant.

Above: Cape Buffalo
Below: some hippos


We came back for lunch. Pat had a nap! Then off for the game drive.

We saw tons of elephants in Botswana. They are over populated. We loved the baby elephant the best!






After the game drive we headed back over the border to our hotel again in Zimbabwe.
We went out to dinner and enjoyed some African dancing and saw David Hasselhoff! Too bad we didn't get a picture of him!!

Time for an Elephant Back Safari!



Our Hotel!

We enjoyed the pool.



That evening we got to go on a Sunset Cruise down the Zambezi River. It was all you can drink - I wasn't sure if that was going to be a good or bad thing.

Having some Zimbabwe beer! Yum!

A hippo sighting...

We made friends with the Koreans on the cruise. It was us, the Koreans and one french couple. Those Koreans can drink - let me tell ya!
This little family was signing and dancing for tips when we got off the boat. Pat and I said hi to the little boy.
"The next morning it was time to leave. We stopped at "The Big Tree" in Zimbabwe. The Baobab tree is over 1000 years old. It is neither big nor old by Baobab standards. It's 20 meters tall and 16 meters around and only 1/3 of the way to its full life expectation."
We went back across to Zambia and headed to the Livingstone Airport where we caught our plane back to Johannesburg.
Thanks to Randy and Cody (Pat's parents) for watching Isabel and Lillie while we were on our last big African trip!!!

Sources about Devil's Pool:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/devilspool.asp
http://goafrica.about.com/od/zambia/p/devilspool.htm