Chapter 13 - Zimbabwe 2 - Final chapter

It's taken me forever to sit down and write this final entry.  I've really enjoyed re-living the trip and a little of me doesn't want to be done with the blog.  Fortunately we're headed to Italy in early June so I shouldn't be without inspiration for too long.

As I write Kate is putting the finishing touches on a made from scratch meat sauce for pasta.  It's an old, family recipe from a close college friend (what up Lou!) of hers.  The hand made meat balls are next.  Our house smells incredible...

So with a cheese plate and a Surly Furious in front of me, I am ready to finish...

We join the tour back on the booze cruise amidst the gaggle of (camera) trigger happy tourists.  At this point this search is on for hippos. 

We have seen them on several occasions but always in the water.  With their reputation for aggression it is definitely the safest place to view them, but we were eager to see one these giants on land.  This wish would not be granted, but we would capture them in a few dramatic poses...

I was dying to get a photo with the mouth wide open.  It seems like the only way you ever see them pictured.

Jackpot

 





As much as it may look like these are yawns, we would read later that hippos do this as a sign of aggression.



Glad we learned that one after the fact....

The cruise would end shortly after running into the last pod of hippos.  As we headed back to our hotel, we realized we both were craving some normal, even boring, american cuisine.  It doesn't matter where I am in the world, every now and then I crave dull, american food.  The food in Africa was fine but we were getting sick of having to worry about whether or not it was safe to eat or drink.  The solution to our problem would be pizza.  The casino attached to the hotel we stayed in has a few different places to eat.  We found the one that had pizza on the menu and indulged.

Our last day in Zim was meant to be spent exploring Victoria Falls.  It's indigenous name, Mosi-oa-Tunya means the "Smoke that Thunders."  It is neither the widest or tallest waterfall in the world but but is considered the biggest due to the fact it forms the largest sheet of falling water in the world.  The mist that the falls kick up can be seen from as far as thirty miles away. 



 As I mentioned before, we were in Afica during the rainy season.  I thought this was going to be a huge plus for the Vic Falls visit.  Little did I know the water flows even during the dry season.  The difference is that the rainy season brings such a high volume of water, it makes it tough to view from on foot.  In the dry season, the water is calm enough that people will swim and bathe at the top of the falls...and every now and then someone goes over the falls and down the 350 ft drop.  That doesn't usually end well.

There were different view points along a river walk and some were more clear than others.  Regardless of where we were, it was more or less raining the entire time.  I was afraid to pull the camera out of the waterproof bag so we didn't take too many photos. 

As we were planning this portion of the trip, two activites at Vic Falls had peaked my interest.  One was bungee jumping.  At the end of the riverwalk lies a bridge with a platform for just the thing.  As perfect of an opportunity this seemed to be for such an escapade, the look in my wife's eyes was all it took to decide against it. 

It's amazing what suddenly seems unneccessary when there is someone else that worries about you.

The second activity of note was a helicopter ride above the falls.  We bailed on that because we were worried the heavy mist would make even that view average at best.  That and with my photgraphy skills being amature, I figured we could save the money and buy an awesome aerial shot of the falls when we got home.   The magic of google images once again helps illustrate the beauty of a subject I could not capture.

Victoria Falls

This was really the end of the trip.  After this excursion we headed back to the hotel and hid for the rest of the day.  We were supposed to be going on a "cultural village tour" but after passing through the village we were supposed to tour, we decided against it.  We were a little tired of being hounded to buy things everywhere we went. 

We were ready to come home.

And home we are.  Hard to believe this was two months ago already.  We made so many memories that will last the rest of our lives. 

On a final note, our guide David told us something when we first arrived that still lingers with me.  He said to us that our trip was "Africa for beginners."  I think mostly because we were traveling in comfort and in the safer parts of the continent.  I don't know if we will ever make it back but I know my mind wanders and I wonder what the rest of that continent is like.  I would love to safari in other parts of Africa and see more of the plains.  Maybe see what "Advanced Africa" has to offer.

And here we are faced with the quandry that all travellers encounter:  Go back to the place you love...or go to the place you have yet to explore??? 

Now that I've got Kate, I want to find new places to love.

Sobonana...See you.