Once in Lusaka we made our way to the hostel which was only a short walk away. Again the bus station was hectic with taxi men surrounding us wanting to take us to the hostel. Some people saying they are the official representatives for the hostel.
The hostel was nice, small pool, bar and nice lodges. We stayed there for two days just as we where eager to get to Livingstone. We walked around Lusaka getting a feel for another capital city in Africa. It was quite different to Dar as it seemed much more organised and the women wore more westernised clothing. There are also a lot of fast food restaurants along the main Cairo Road. We visited one local cultural village where people were selling home made arts and crafts. It would have been nice to buy everything but money and kilo limits restricted us. Daladalas (mini buses) in Lusaka are not filled to the top with people as they are in Tanzania. They only take in those who have a sitting place. As a result the majority are in good condition.
It was soon time to move on to Livingstone. We took a morning bus at 6.30 and arrived at around 11.00. Feeling tired we relaxed around the hostel for the day and choose a few activities which we would do during our time there. We decided to do the sunset cruise, which was amazing. Initially we thought due to cloud cover we weren’t going to have a good sunset but just at the right time the clouds clear and the colours produced where amazing.
The next day we went to Victoria Falls. The amount of spray produced by the falls was just unbelievable. I didn’t think it could be so much as it was. So much water falling constantly producing a thunderous noise. We took the walk individually over the bridge, although a bit hairy due to the spray in my eyes the whole time and the slippery bridge. It was like being in a shower the whole time while walking there for 20 minutes the spray was just relentless. An amazing site when the spray stopped for seconds was the water gushing over the side of the falls and full circle rainbows could be seen everywhere.
We continued to walk around the rest of the falls seeing them from different vantage points. The next day we intended to leave but due to flights being full we stayed another day in Livingstone. That night we visited a local restaurant which was just great. Staff members where dressed in local clothing, paint on their face and the whole place decorated with Africa objects. Local food was ready on buffet, the Zambian version of Ugali was available although we didn’t take this. After some time some traditional dancing was done which was much more impressive than at the Village museum in Dar. To get the crowd involved all the girls present where invited/dragged to the stage to learn a new dance. It was great fun looking at them, thankfully the guys didn’t have to go up!
The next day we walked across the bridge where the bungee jumps takes place and into the Zimbabwe side for a few minutes. We planned an adventure day for Annukka – abseiling, High wire and Gorge swinging. Each of which would be done twice. I would have done the first two but the gorge swing I don’t think so. A free fall of over 50 metres and then the rope takes hold and you swing from side to side in the gorge. It looked pretty scary and don’t know how Annukka done it. During the day we met up with a couple from Australia who where also going to Cape Town as us, so we stuck together most of the time during the next week.
We enjoyed Zambia a lot although hardly seeing the real side of Zambia we only see what the majority of tourist see. The falls where amazing and would be nice to return in October/November time when the falls are dry and apparently one can walk across them. Still it was amazing how close we could get to the falls actually jumping in if we wanted to!
The hostel was nice, small pool, bar and nice lodges. We stayed there for two days just as we where eager to get to Livingstone. We walked around Lusaka getting a feel for another capital city in Africa. It was quite different to Dar as it seemed much more organised and the women wore more westernised clothing. There are also a lot of fast food restaurants along the main Cairo Road. We visited one local cultural village where people were selling home made arts and crafts. It would have been nice to buy everything but money and kilo limits restricted us. Daladalas (mini buses) in Lusaka are not filled to the top with people as they are in Tanzania. They only take in those who have a sitting place. As a result the majority are in good condition.
It was soon time to move on to Livingstone. We took a morning bus at 6.30 and arrived at around 11.00. Feeling tired we relaxed around the hostel for the day and choose a few activities which we would do during our time there. We decided to do the sunset cruise, which was amazing. Initially we thought due to cloud cover we weren’t going to have a good sunset but just at the right time the clouds clear and the colours produced where amazing.
The next day we went to Victoria Falls. The amount of spray produced by the falls was just unbelievable. I didn’t think it could be so much as it was. So much water falling constantly producing a thunderous noise. We took the walk individually over the bridge, although a bit hairy due to the spray in my eyes the whole time and the slippery bridge. It was like being in a shower the whole time while walking there for 20 minutes the spray was just relentless. An amazing site when the spray stopped for seconds was the water gushing over the side of the falls and full circle rainbows could be seen everywhere.
We continued to walk around the rest of the falls seeing them from different vantage points. The next day we intended to leave but due to flights being full we stayed another day in Livingstone. That night we visited a local restaurant which was just great. Staff members where dressed in local clothing, paint on their face and the whole place decorated with Africa objects. Local food was ready on buffet, the Zambian version of Ugali was available although we didn’t take this. After some time some traditional dancing was done which was much more impressive than at the Village museum in Dar. To get the crowd involved all the girls present where invited/dragged to the stage to learn a new dance. It was great fun looking at them, thankfully the guys didn’t have to go up!
The next day we walked across the bridge where the bungee jumps takes place and into the Zimbabwe side for a few minutes. We planned an adventure day for Annukka – abseiling, High wire and Gorge swinging. Each of which would be done twice. I would have done the first two but the gorge swing I don’t think so. A free fall of over 50 metres and then the rope takes hold and you swing from side to side in the gorge. It looked pretty scary and don’t know how Annukka done it. During the day we met up with a couple from Australia who where also going to Cape Town as us, so we stuck together most of the time during the next week.
We enjoyed Zambia a lot although hardly seeing the real side of Zambia we only see what the majority of tourist see. The falls where amazing and would be nice to return in October/November time when the falls are dry and apparently one can walk across them. Still it was amazing how close we could get to the falls actually jumping in if we wanted to!
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