FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Dr Chin, I presume?

A big thank you to Euhan Chin for many of the photos! Thank you for bringing your nice cameras and lens!

We farewelled Namibia and flew to Zimbabwe! After a near mishap of being directed to walk behind a 737 which was about to leave, flight delays which were on and off, and a few power outages at the airport, we arrived safely in Zimbabwe. After the deserts of Namibia, it was so refreshing to see the colour green in abundance! Our arrival to Zimbabwe was somewhat marred by a pushy Maltese family of 6. Long story short…we were first in line at immigration off the plane and were the last to leave because of them…Fortunately, our transfer was still waiting outside for us. We met another person with a cool name to add to our list, Admire!

Waiting at the lounge at Windhoek Airport. Wifi = happy children

The drive from Victoria Falls airport to the town of Victoria Falls itself was short, around 25 minutes. Our base for the next 2 nights was Ilala Lodge about 500m away from the Falls itself. The children were relieved that the cool drinks and towels upon check in remained the same in Zimbabwe. Our check in, though, was delayed from them not being able to find the second room in a fully booked Lodge! After seemingly forever, they managed to locate the reservation. However the children would be on the 1^st floor while we were on the 3^rd enjoying the superb view of the falls.

Something about a big king bed with mosquito netting that makes it seem special....

The room keeps going and around the corner, the third bed for Jonah!

You can see the mists of Victoria Falls in the horizon

Another bonus of being in Zimbabwe was new travelling companions! We met up with the Chins who would be joining us for a big chunk of our remaining legs in Africa. Our many delays saw us arrive just in time for 7pm pick up to the Boma dinner and dance show. Temba, our driver, drove us there, talked us through the evening, and checked us in. After adorning the appropriate traditional garb (chitenges) and having our faces enhanced with paint, we sat down to feast upon the offerings ranging from seemingly endless choices of game to the challenge of eating the mopani worm. There was entertainment throughout dinner which finished with an interactive drumming session towards the end. It was obviously angled towards tourists but was still a lot of fun. We are yet to see the beauty of the falls or any of the area so we don’t want to be negative, but one thing we’ve noticed was that there was a different vibe to the encounters with people here. There is a separate currency for tourists and this is clearly a whole town that runs on the tourist dollar. After the natural kindness of Namibia where we were happy to tip to help individuals (and where the whole country seemed grateful for tourists to help their economy) this feels a little more themed and there is a fear of being exploited only to help the “haves”. Maybe this is the African tourism equivalent of a Western Chinese restaurant! Or perhaps this is simply Victoria Falls being a huge tourist trap. On the plus side, the rooms are large, the air con works, the wifi is quick and the minibar is complimentary. Victoria Falls tomorrow.