Day 10 South Africa Adventures

Thursday, September 20th

Today we visited Victoria Falls early in the morning because the high today was going to be 100 degrees!  It was warm even leaving at 7:30 AM.  Our hotel was located close to the falls so it didn’t take long to get there. IMG_1397

Victoria Falls is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world and is also a UNESCO World Heritage site.  David Livingstone didn’t discover the falls but he spread the word to others in the Western world and he named the falls Victoria after Queen Victoria.

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David Livingstone

The picture below shows the orange path we walked as we viewed the falls.  Our walk around the various gorges and stops was over 2 miles.

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The “thunder” of the falls was incredible and the spray reached us in many places from across the gorge.  The power was incredible.

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It looks like fog but it’s the spray from the falls!
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The “thunder” of the water as it spills over the rocks and a vertical drop of about 325 feet!

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One of the rainbows that we saw as we explored the falls.
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A view of the falls from the path.

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A double rainbow.

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The water was really moving quickly.

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Look at how the water is converging!

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Employees were using these tree branch brooms to sweep the walkways.

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Below is the Victoria Falls Bridge that crosses over the Zambezi River and is built over the second gorge of the falls.  The border of Zambia and Zimbabwe is on the bridge.

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The sign on the Victoria Falls Bridge that lets you know that you are leaving Zimbabwe and entering Zambia!

When we were looking at the bridge these Vervet monkeys were playing!

Warthogs were wondering around the area.

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When we left Victoria Falls we stopped to see “The Big Tree”.  It is a Baobab tree that is thought to be between 1,000- 1,500 years old.  It is believed to be the largest in Zimbabwe.

The Big Tree is about 75 feet tall and its circumference about 59 feet.  Duncan, our guide, opened a fruit from the baobab.  We could try the fruit.  It tasted chalky and was dry.

After our stop here to see the Big Tree, we were dropped back at our hotel.  We had a few hours of free time and some people went to visit the market in town.

Later this afternoon and into the early evening, we went on a game drive with Stanley & Livingstone Safaris and Experiences.  We were really hoping to see the black rhino because we missed them in Kruger National Park.  Below is our driver and the jeep we were riding in as we explored the area!

The first animals we saw were giraffes eating.IMG_1620IMG_1624

We saw many impalas here.

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We finally got a view of our first black rhinoceros!  Our jeep was very excited!

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This lone rhino was busy eating.

Quite a few baboons were hanging out by a water hole.

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The youngsters are having a good time playing!

A couple of water bucks were nearby.img_1650.jpg

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Look closely below and you can see a sable antelope.IMG_1651

As the sun was getting close to setting we came upon a 2 1/2 year old female rhino and as we were observing her, up walked her mother with her 2 week old male!  They were fun to watch and photograph!

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The 2 1/2 year old female.
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Up walks Mom and her 2 week old son following her.
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Older sister watches her mom with the young rhino.

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We watched a hippo go from the land into the river.

We stopped by the water to have a sunset toast and hor d’oeuvres!

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Our jeep became a cocktail bar!

It was a beautiful sunset!

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After our cocktails, it was dark as we traveled back to the entrance.  Our driver drove with a red light which was the only light around!  You can see below how dark it was as we spotted some water buffalo.  No other lights were around.

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It was quite an experience!

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