Civilised time to start today. Breakfast then 9am we leave for Victoria Falls with a private guide, Gerald. Gerald is quietly spoken, knowledgable, with a disarming smile, a little hard to understand when he speaks. Most people speak Shona here, and English. David Livingstone put these falls on to the map in 1855, the local people call them ” The Smoke That Thunders”.

We stop at a 1200  year old baobab tree, the locals have used for ceremonial occassions and now have it fenced off so it isn’t graffitti’d. Warwick (aka Cowboy) trades a few South African rand for a 50 billion Zimbabwe note, its not counterfeit but not used any more. Hyper inflation meant their local currency was worth nothing, its a very poor country, so Mugabe made their currency redundant. Now, the currency is 1. USD$ or 2. South African Rand, we’re carrying both. 1 AUD = about 11 Rand.

The falls are amazing, the mighty Zambezi River is wide, and the falls spread over a wide cliff into the ravine. We’re doing an early breakfast run on a boat in the morning under the falls before we fly to Nairobi in Kenya later in the day. The photos speak for themselves, the mist keeps it cool and in parts you need a raincoat to stay dry.

After a 2 mile walk we’re back and The Navigator and the Dancer are shopping.

The Dancer and Warwick head into The Victoria Hotel for high tea, we have a light lunch and rest.

Tonight is the BOMA tribal dinner and music. We’re drumming, clapping, I don’t sing or dance ( long held tradition of mine) but happily watch the others embarrass themselves although the dancer does move sort of rhymically, Warwick dances like he’s eaten a worm. Which he has, eaten a worm that is, what a clown, although the rum would have killed it and preserved it, maybe. He’s got a certificate to hang on the toilet wall to prove he’s a certified worm water- I’ll say no more!

Its a good night. Tomorrow we’re off at 5.30am for a sunrise cruise on the Zambesi River. Then fly to Nairobi.

Ciao

Pauolo