I can’t tell you how excited I was to visit Vic Falls again, especially getting to see it through the eyes of my partner who has always wanted to travel there.  We were both so keen to start off our day of activities, that we were up super early and bouncing around the room.  At least Luch was, I don’t bounce that early in the morning.

Breakfast was included in our room rate, so we went downstairs, ate as much as we could at the buffet; because we really didn’t want to have to pay the exorbitant prices at the restaurants we knew we would find later in the day.  They were always exorbitant prices in the tourist areas, as is the way of the world.

We were so excited that we ended up outside at least 15 minutes before our taxi was supposed to arrive and watched the minutes tick away.  After waiting more than half an hour, we started to get a bit frustrated.  Luch went inside to ask what was happening and we were assured someone was on their way.  Cut to us sitting there for another 10 minutes before they eventually arrived.  Of course we had booked all of our activities through the same company, so this being the second late arrival of taxis on our trip didn’t bode well for the rest.

As it turned out, the helicopter strip was only 5 minutes down the road.  I ended up shouting for Luch because he was off wondering around taking videos when we were supposed to be getting on a huge scale to see how much we weighed.  The guy working there could barely speak English and was incredibly rude to me the entire time, so to say I was in a shitty mood when we eventually got on the helicopter was a bit of an understatement.  Not only that, but I also ended up having to climb on the scale with our very heavy backpack, so ended up weighing about 6 kg’s more.

Not a happy camper, I climbed into the helicopter with a video crew following our every move.  I saw the photos and video afterwards and I wasn’t smiling in any of them.  I was pissed and I was scared.  This was my first trip in a helicopter and since I don’t like flying or heights, I didn’t feel great.

 

I was so happy that I’d only booked the 15 minute flight, not only because it was the only one we could afford, but also because you can feel turbulence in helicopters.  I didn’t know that was a thing.  Every time the pilot turned, or went up into the air, he hit a pocket of turbulence and I thought I was going to die.  One thing I can say is that the view was incredible.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Maybe Niagara Falls from the air can compare, but I think they are the only ones that can.

After the flight, we had another confusing issue of who would be driving us where.  We saw a taxi with the name of the tour company we’d booked through, so we ended up getting in, but then I realised we weren’t on their list; so we would have to get out and wait for our actual taxi.  I feel like for a tour company that has been running for so many years (my mom went white water rafting with them in 1992) you would think that they would be better at the planning aspect of things.  Every time we waited more than 10 minutes for our driver, I kept regretting ever having booked through them.

We were more excited for our next activity than any others we had planned.  It was going to be a guided tour of the falls.  What we didn’t realise was how many other tourists were actually going on the same day as us.  About 2 minutes into the tour, I realised that Luch and I could have totally toured the falls ourselves and saved a lot of money.  Don’t get me wrong, our tour guide was very friendly, but I don’t feel like he gave us enough history of the Falls.  He explained to us about the different times of the year and how when the falls is at its peak, you can feel the spray all the way into town, but that was about it.  He literally just walked with us and showed us where all the viewpoints were.  There wasn’t even a ‘look, here is a secret place to take amazing photos’.  In fact, once we were done with the tour and Luch and I had shared half a toasted sandwich (breakfast didn’t last long enough), we did the tour ourselves much faster.

 

 

Our last activity actually ended up being the most fun.  We had decided to do a Historic Bridge Tour which started on the Zambian side of the bridge.  So four of us piled into the taxi, and headed through the border control and to the other side.  Our taxi driver stopped and walked us through to the reception.  Then we were to have a short presentation before heading off.

The presentation and the staff were incredible.  We met the designer of the Victoria Falls Bridge and heard all about the hardships that happened when they were building it.  It was more like a play than a presentation and then we were getting into harnesses and hearing about how we needing to unhook and re attach these carabiners when we got to the joints under the bridge.

We walked a few metres across the bridge and then down the stairs where we started our journey.  We were going to be walking on this narrow bridge walkway which had gaps in the floor underneath the actual bridge while being attached to a metal cable along the way.  The weird thing was, I wasn’t scared.  I mean, usually if I’m up high and look down I tend to freeze and not be able to move at all, but I was fine.  I’m not sure if thee helicopter flight had knocked it out of me, or if it was the fact that I was attached with a harness so that made me feel safe, but it was great.

 

As we walked, we could see the Victoria Falls, a few different viewpoints; the Zambian side of the falls and also the Royal Victoria Hotel in the distance.  We got to hear more about the history and also the present in Zimbabwe and Zambia.  It was incredibly interesting and he was by far the best guide we had on the entire trip.

After we returned from the bridge, we made our way back to the hotel and quickly changed into our swimming costumes before heading for the pool.  It had been so hot all day, so even though the water was super cold, we still thoroughly enjoyed it.  We spent our last evening walking around the gardens of the hotel and laughing because there was a sign right next to this little body of water to say ‘Watch out for Crocodiles’.  We stopped laughing when we saw a crocodile lying only a few metres away from us and we headed back up the path to our room.

After a day of being bombarded by tourists at every corner, we were keen to just be alone for a bit.  Funnily enough, we had actually run into a few people that had been on Rovos with us while doing our activities.  Our trip as a whole was amazing, but I just realised that I don’t want to go to main tourist destinations anymore.  I want to see the big sights, but they just don’t have a great vibe.  Everyone is rushing.  Everyone is rude and everyone gets overcharged for everything.  It was great to see the falls again and the activities made the trip worthwhile, but I don’t think I’ll be back again.

 

When it comes to Rovos though, I would travel every weekend if I could.  Maybe next year.  Even if it is just to Cape Town, but the Namibia trip would be incredible!