The Johannesburg Blizzard of 2012 and Victoria Falls (Zambia/Zimbabwe)

The weather changed dramatically on Tuesday; for the last few weeks it has been getting steadily warmer, with the biggest "help" being warmer nights. The change, for the worse, brought cold wind, frigid temperatures… and snow! It hasn't snowed since 2007 and before that, 1981. Funny enough, Mariann and I were working in our office when we heard people yelling and screaming with excitement outside of our window. I got up to look at the commotion and saw the snow starting, with students taking in this rare occasion. It continued to snow for about two hours, even accumulating in the grass and on the trees. As I walked to class, students were outside playing in the snow. For many, this was the first time that had ever seen snow (most likely not in Johannesburg in 2007). On the news, there was mention of road closures and the Johannesburgers didn't know how to drive in the snow (a "dusting" and not cold enough to do anything to the roads). Aside from the snow, it was a normal week, with Thursday a public holiday (Women's Day). The holiday gave me a chance to grade (all day) and pack for my trip to Victoria Falls over the weekend.

Outside of my office

I left on Friday morning, with Rob and Ben (Pretoria Fulbrighters) and Rob's friend, Melody, who was visiting South Africa from the US. We flew into Livingstone, Zambia (named after David Livingstone the English medical missionary of "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" fame) and stayed at a hostel that one of the other Fulbrighters recommended. A bus to the hostel greeted us a drove us to the booming metropolis (insert: irony) that is the closest major city to Victoria Falls. It was an immediate realization that we were in "Africa," much more than the first-world of South Africa. The weather was warm and the landscape much different than South Africa. Our bus driver told us that in the summer it is between 45-50 degrees Celsius (113-122 degrees Fahrenheit), with the heat melting the low-quality asphalt. Moreover, as we walked around the town you could see bottle caps that had melted into the asphalt. We arrived and checked in to our hostel; the hostel was really nice - open and airy, in the local architecture.

With no agenda or plans, we hopped in a taxi and drove to the Zambian-side of Victoria Falls (about 15 minutes), keeping the Zimbabwe-side (notoriously the more beautiful) for Saturday. As we walked through the park to get to the falls, the sound of rushing water became more intense until we got to an opening. The Victoria Falls were incredible… indescribable, really. We followed the pathway along the falls and investigated the massive canyon. Fortunately, we visited at a good time of the year, with a low water level, allowing us to see most of the Falls (in the Spring/Summer it is very misty and harder to see). After walking around, we stopped to watch a bridge across the canyon that goes from Zambia to Zimbabwe, where they were bungee jumping, but after watching for a few minutes no one jumped. A woman bungee jumped in January, the rope snapped, and she fell into the crocodile-infested water. Luckily, she was able to free herself and swim to safety. Afterward, the Zambian Minister of Tourism bungee jumped there to symbolically show tourists it was safe. We headed back to Livingstone and went out in the town for dinner, hoping to find local cuisine. We walked into a restaurant and ordered, but unfortunately it wasn't traditional Zambian… an hour and a half later our food came ("TIA Bru"). My "vegetable curry" had little vegetables and no curry - in fact, it was the side for the other dishes that everyone else ordered. Still hungry, we all went out fast-food place still open and grabbed a burger before heading back to the hostel.

The next morning, we left for the Zimbabwean side of Victoria Falls early, knowing that we were going to walk from the Zambian side and had to go through customs. After our taxi driver dropped us off, we walked along a tarred road, over the bungee jumping bridge, and watched the warthogs and baboons scavenge while we walked to the border post. To get into Zimbabwe we needed and official visa and they only accept USD because their currency has massive hyperinflation (comparable to 1920s Weimar Germany). After we passed through the border, we walked to the national park. The park is nicely laid out with a main walkway and veins spawning off of the walkway to viewpoints of the falls. We spent time walking to each viewpoint to see the different angle of the falls. The last viewpoint, "Danger Point," was a collection of rocks, wet with mist from the waterfall that overlook the major gorge in Victoria Falls (no railings, incredibly enough). You could climb to the edge and look both through the Zambian-side of the falls and left through the Zimbabwean-side… it was stunning. After spending some more time walking through the park, we headed back to the hostel for our next activity, rafting. Along the way, we stopped at the bungee bridge, watching a couple swing over the Zambezi River below and a women bungee jump…both activities you would never catch me doing.

Baboon sleeping on the roof of the border  

Warthogs

Danger Point 

Dr. Livingstone, who "discovered" and named Victoria Falls

Great paint job!

When we got back to the hostel, we changed into shorts and other water-appropriate clothes before being picked up by a rafting company to take us to the launch on the Zambezi. The brochure used words like, "relaxing," "paddle if you want to," "have a beer and soak up the sun," and "enjoy a sunset on the Zambezi"… not exactly. We arrived at the launch and met our guide, "Potatoe" and his 12-foot inflatable raft. After giving us the safety talk, including what to do if a hippopotamus attacks the boat or a crocodile punctures one of the four air chambers on the raft, we set off (about 30 km north of Victoria Falls). Crossing the river to follow the Zimbabwean coast, we encountered a "school" (the correct term) of hippopotami, roughly 30 feet away. They surfaced, breathed out and made a warning noise. Not to be outdone, a 9-foot crocodile was on the shore…we continued to paddle. We passed another school of hippopotami - our guide knew that there were five distinct families with their own territories that he knew about. At one point we were in a narrow part of the river, in between the shore and an island. On the island, a 12-foot crocodile was sunbathing (I'm not exaggerating) and we passed closely by. It didn't move or seem to notice us until we approached one of its offspring on the other side of the river, to which is preceded to enter the water. "Paddle" was the command and paddle, we did! After flowing through a few more rapids and seeing other wildlife, we arrived at the pick up point. Our guide nicely told us how a crocodile attacked the landowner, a farmer, and took one of his legs at ramp we were being picked up at (very reassuring, I might add). We jumped (and ran) out, helped pack up the raft and headed back to the hostel. Along the way, a group of forty or so elephants passed us in the road, with the smallest elephant I've ever seen (most have been newly born). After "decompressing" from the afternoon of rafting, we went out for pizza, having given up on our local Zambian cuisine desires.

(Pictures to be added - I didn't bring my camera on the raft)

We left around lunchtime on Sunday for Johannesburg, with one of the wackiest (for a lack of better words) airport experiences. After arriving in plenty of time for the one-terminal Livingstone airport, we found ourselves in the back of a long line for security checks, with multiple tour groups arriving at one time. The amount of people overwhelmed the airport staff and they lackadaisically ushered people through. We arrived in another room, with airport check in counters (?). Meaning, that you technically go through security without a boarding pass. Since I printed off my ticket, I continued forward into another line for customs. We all found our ways in the one-door terminal, it being packed from all of the tour groups. Five minutes before departure, staff members came into the room and made an announcement that they needed to see "Fry, S." at the check in counter. I walked back to the check-in counter was slightly scolded for not "checking in" (mind you I had my ticket, with my seat number in hand). I was issued a new ticket, walked past the customs agents (!) to my bag. A few minutes later, another message for "Fry, S." at the ticket counter. I walked back and they told me that they need to move my seat because "its not the same plane" (that I picked my seat on). Fine. After walking past the customs agents yet again, they decided to start boarding my flight. I walked toward the door to find another set of security… the entire plane had to go through security again, with one machine and two people working. After making it through security, we crossed a wooden (board) bridge and walked to our unmarked plane (!).

Currency: Currency was an interesting case in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has adopted the US dollar as currency, since it is more stable than their old currency, the Zimbabwean dollar. In fact, I bought an old copy of a 50,000,000,000 Zimbabwean dollar for fun ("I'm a billionaire!"). Zambia uses kwacha, which is roughly 5,000 to $1 … My mental math increased exponentially over the weekend. I found myself carrying three currencies: Rand, USD, and kwacha, with establishments accepting all three, two, or sometimes just one currency. Wild!

My 50,000,000,000 Zimbabwean Dollars

Overall, it was a wonderful trip - an experience that I'll always cherish and remember. Although Victoria Falls was beautiful and incredible to see, I find that the cultural experiences are what really make the trip. It was my first time traveling to central Africa and it was a completely different world than what I have been used to in South Africa. It definitely won't be my last.