Victoria Falls Madness

Zimbabwe - infamous for Mugabe and its corrupt political system, land seizures, hyper-inflation, and devastating cholera outbreak. We weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived.

Our first impression, which held true for our entire stay, was that the Zim’s were THE friendliest and most welcoming people we had met in Africa.  It’s almost as if all of the adversity and strife that they have gone through has been transformed into good natured resilience and warmth.

We arrived in Zimbabwe after a quick 2 hour drive from Botswana. Due to some miscommunication about the onward ferry times for Lake Kariba (the June schedule was still the only one posted as of late July, allowing for some confusion!) we had to cut our time in Victoria Falls short by a day.  Needing to make the most of it, as soon as we arrived we dropped our gear at the backpackers and headed into the Victoria Falls National Park to have a look at the seventh Natural Wonder of the World. During the wet season when the falls are really pumping, 1 million liters pours over the lip every SECOND!

Having kept its natural surroundings, the falls were truly spectacular. 

Vic Falls is known as the adrenaline capital of Southern Africa. We scanned the list of options, including bungee jumping, white water rafting, gorge jumping but for the price nothing got us too excited. Luckily, friends of ours who had been here recently told us that if we crossed the border to Zambia, we might be able to find a local ‘guide’ who, for a negotiated price, could take us on foot through the Zambezi River, literally to the lip of the falls.

So, off we set with Pauline and Sebastian, a French couple we met at the hostel, with our passports in tow to see if we could push our limits and do something a little different.   After entering the Zambian side, we first hiked to the bottom of the gorge to get a view up to appreciate the full size of the falls.  Unlike in many places (think Niagara), the Vic Falls are not at the edge of an escarpment, but rather were formed by a change in the composition of the soil allowing for a massive crevice to erode into the landscape.  This means that you can stand level with the top of the falls and look down from most vantage points.  The falls are even more impressive when seen from below.

We then headed back up to meet up with the gatekeeper for the Zambian parks -who knew what we were after and took us a bit off the beaten track to meet Gift, a local guide who would lead us along the edge of the falls and (fingers crossed) keep us from being swept over the precipice!

Walking slowly, hand-in-hand and stepping cautiously on slippery rocks, we made our way across various parts of the fast flowing Zambezi river – finally arriving at a spot on the lip of the falls that provided a stunning and exciting view. If you had vertigo, you would not want to be standing here.

 

Gift then led us across to Angel’s Pool – a deep pool formed by a 10m set of falls just before the main falls.  With the water rushing down into the pool, and then only meters later over the precipice to drop hundreds of meters down to the bottom of the crevice below, the idea of diving in and swimming got the adrenaline pumping!  Mike was the first to go!

After a few jumps, the guides and Mike had a small chat where they suggested he could get right up to the edge of the falls and lean over.  Megan – not knowing what was being said and manning the camera, had a look of sheer panic after Mike dove off the cliff again, but this time swam straight for the falls themselves!  (Sorry for the blurry video quality, but it gives you a sense of the action!)

A small vortex had created a deep well with almost no current through it, which allowed Mike to wedge his legs against the sides and lean out over the falls.  The tourists on the Vic Falls side were snapping away!

We returned from our adventure thrilled and eager for the next part of our Zimbabwe travels – sailing Lake Kariba. 

Although our time in Vic Falls was brief, the warm welcome we received from the Zims and general optimistic attitudes alleviated all our country concerns and provided confidence that we would love our time here. 

Beaches, Beaches, Beaches - Southern Mozambique!

After three long days travelling down from northern Mozambique, we were excited to relax at Vilankulos, the gateway to Mozambique's southern beaches.

We spent our first day taking a dhow trip across to Magaruque Island, in the Bazaruto Archipelago.  We enjoyed food cooked in the sandpit built into the dhow – tea on the way across, fish for lunch and some popcorn on the ride home.

We shared the dhow trip with the Bolognese family – a lovely couple and their two daughters from South Africa.  The following day we took a diving trip to Two Mile Reef, a protected marine sanctuary off Bazaruto Island, and were again able to enjoy the Bolognese family’s company – who were generous enough to later invite us to a great dinner out!

The diving on Two Mile Reef was quite good with wonderful visibility and we saw many devil rays, huge groupers (1.5m) as well as a number of large turtles sleeping in cavities under the reefs.  Megan was jokingly disappointed in the “lazy turtles” who had no interest in swimming around for her!

The highlight, however, would have to be the view from the top of the sand dunes on Bazaruto that we climbed after having lunch.  The dunes, which tower over the coast, provide a vantage point from which the color of the water and beauty of this archipelago can be fully appreciated!

Our final day in Vilankulos was spent wandering the markets and enjoying the bustle of this ‘boom’ town.  Mike, in need of a haircut, ducked into one of the barbers off the side of the road.

After a few hours of sleep, we rose at 12:30am to catch the 1:30am bus down the coast to Maxixe, we then caught the first ferry across to Inhambane at 6am, and enjoyed our most crowded Chapas yet from Inhambane to our final destination -Tofo.

Nuarro - Getting Into The African Vibe!

Nuarro, an ‘Eco’ diving resort up the coast from Coral Lodge, was our next destination. 

We were dropped off by boat from Coral Lodge at Ilha de Mocambique, where we had our first African scam experience.  The photographer for our wedding was holding our photos hostage!  Supported by an old expat who had obviously smelled the opportunity for a scam and inserted himself into the situation; the photographer was now asking for significantly more than the $50 she had agreed to. We left her to haggle with one of the guys from the lodge and decided to walk around Ilia de Mocambique to soak up the atmosphere.

In the little time we had to visit the island, we were impressed by the contradiction between the historic importance of the city – clearly visible in the 17^th century architecture and buildings, and the current deterioration as the city falls from grace.  Despite numerous attempts to convert parts of the city into a tourist location, this small island, only 3km long and 200-500m wide, is home to some 18,000 locals, many of whom live in the ruins of the past.  The beaches around the island are covered with the effluence of this population and it is sad to see the meat of what was, at one time, one of the most important cities in east Africa erode away leaving only a skeleton of her past greatness.

 

After a brief walk, we returned to find that the price had grown to $400!  After a heated exchange we left without the photos!  

Needless to say, the 4 hour drive from Ilia de Mocambique to Nuarro did not start off with us in a good mood!

The drive took us from paved roads to the dirt tracks, which form much of northern Mozambique’s travel network.  We passed through villages clustered around the roadway, with our driver constantly honking to let villagers carrying their goods down the roads know we were coming – allowing them to dive into the bushes!

 

Upon arriving at Nuarro, the stress of our morning encounter was forgotten as we were greeted with more beautiful beach views and the prospect of some wonderful diving.

Joining us at Nuarro were Glynn, John and Nick – three gentlemen with years of travelling experience.  Another friend of theirs, Richard, was on his way – and together with these four we shared the Nuarro experience over the next week.

And what an experience it was – upon arrival we were informed that the normal manager was on holiday.  As was the normal dive master.  And the replacement manager had just come down with malaria.  So … the entire resort appeared to be in the hands of a pair of 20 year old South Africans.

While our first impression made us nervous, Aaron and Kerrie actually excelled at managing the lodge.  The second night we were at Nuarro, the power failed and, while we had intermittent light from a backup generator for the next few nights, it was insufficient to power the compressor.

Needless to say, a dive resort without diving begins to tire quickly.  We suggested to Aaron and Kerrie that they send the dive tanks to Nacala, a port town about two hours away, to be filled.  They jumped on the idea, only to find that once the tanks were taken away, they failed to come back for two days!

While we did do several dives, we also spent a lot of time walking the beach, reading (and making friends with a stray kitten that had been adopted by a charity worker living by the lodge), watching the fishermen prepare their nets and haul in their catches and seeing a number of dhows being constructed and repaired. We also took advantage of the lodge’s dhow and had two wonderful sunset cruises with our new friends!

  

We spent one morning going to the local weekend market.  Glynn borrowed one of the local’s motorbikes to go to the market – which Mike rode home (no brakes on sand roads was interesting!).  The market was a bustle of activity – Mike decided not to take photos of the kids to start, having learnt from past experience he would be swarmed if he did.  Kerrie, on the other hand, started snapping away from the moment we arrived and was soon followed by a pack of 20-30 kids for the entire morning!

We also took a morning to go to the local lighthouse, which provided stunning views of the sandbanks and village below.

The diving we were able to do was surprisingly good – the coral life was superb and there was wonderful visibility (15m+).  Kerrie and Aaron were wonderful hosts, and despite their young age we all agreed they had the makings of fantastic resort managers in their future.

After 7 restful days, we left Nuarro as we had arrived, with a long 4 hour drive to Nampula for our flight down the coast.  And also like our arrival, our departure was afflicted by the adventure of being in Africa.  Upon arriving at the airport, we learnt that the airline had cancelled our flight, so we ended up having a three day journey, staying in two of Mozambiques least attractive cities (Nampula and Beira) before finally getting to Vilankulos!

PS - the lodge ended up paying 1600% more than originally agreed to the photographer to get our wedding photos (some of which appeared in our wedding post), who then sent us a thank you email for being able to participate in our wonderful day.