Victoria Falls
on Marika VSO-ing in Namibia (Namibia), 01/Mar/2010 19:00, 34 days ago
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So to end the week, Vivien was kind enough to offer me an opportunity to see the all-talked-about, one of seven wonders of the world Victoria Falls. And the timing was just brilliant, as the full moon fell on the weekend. This means that for three nights they open the National park in the evenings so people can see the lunar rainbow formed by the falls. What a way to be introduced to them. In the dark, you just hear this roaring of water as you walk up towards them through the bushes, peering through gaps until you reach a viewing point. Just awesome. I’m not sure how else to sum it up. The lunar rainbow forms in the spray of the falls. I think this is only possible during the rainy season as the river has swollen up. There is enough water to make you suitably wet as you walk opposite the falls. It is said to be very variable at different timesof the year depending on the water level. It is common to go throughout the seasons to see the difference. So we went the next morning as well to enjoy the daytime rainbows and where you can see over to Zimbabwe from the Zambian side we viewed it from.Having already had expenditures at the Zambian border (one car border payment involving an office in caravan), the higher costs to cross to Zimbabwe were spared, although a special occasion might warrant it, as it is known to have longer stretch to walk opposite the falls. You can walk up to halfway across the bordering bridge and get a good view in the meantime. We camped at a backpacker’s hostel in Livingstone with a young atmosphere and spent the day dodging tourist hasslers on the streets trying to change you money offering you variable rates, and at the markets. Livinsgtone is an unusual place, 11km from the falls, very touristy, but still pretty rugged, and the nearest official cinema to us I think – a mere 200km away. Once again, I am grateful to Sanne for some copies of films to keep me entertained when I feel the need. Unusually, there was a big group of Scandanavian student teachers at the backpacker’s to do teaching placements in the local schools.
