Victoria Falls

This is a journal Lucy (and parts added by Robin) took on Tuesday as we traveled to and experienced Victoria Falls. It just gives you an idea of how things are different and alike in dailly living:

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

248 miles to Victoria Falls. Sherrie says it will take us 6 hours. Stopped half way for a Coke but had to get Sprite because that was all she had. We gave a woman selling bananas there a gospel tract, which we were able to do all along the day with various people we came into contact with.

Next stop was to take pictures of a baobab tree on the side of the road, about one hour from the falls. It was a good place to stretch our legs. Had to stop for goats in the road and have seen lots of cows on the side of the highway. There’s a donkey on the side now. Lots of people walking - women carrying babies on their backs wrapped around with a blanket or towel, and most also with a bucket, box or bag balanced on top of their head as well. Children run around here alongside the road and crossing like no where we’ve seen. An old man with a cane s walking across with a large bundle of wood... The roads are scattered consistently with pot holes, some filled with dirt...extremely bumpy.

A sign for elephant crossing..among several other animal signs we would never see at home. Went through a toll “gate”, which are people just sitting in the middle of the road...no booth. We can tell it is the beginning of fall here because some leaves are turning yellow and orange.

Today is cloudy and warm. Rainy season is from November through March 31. It has been unseasonably dry and some fear for no crop...which those in rural areas live off of and sell. Vic Falls has a small airport. We just saw some baboons sitting along the roadside eating bananas among some nationals. Nationals set up booths along the roads selling their crop or art pieces. We stopped earlier for Sherrie to get some yams. We have also seen some small carts filled with people and crop being pulled by a team of 4 donkey. Trucks and cars of nationals are usually stuffed full of people as they pick up walkers who they pass on the highway and roads.

As we pull into our first hotel to negotiate a price, there are roaming warthogs all over the beautifully green manicured lawn rooting and eating it. We land at a lodging that is filled with thatched-roofed condos which have an opening at the top and are covered on one side by a canvas wall that can be pulled back during the day. All must be enclosed before dusk as mosquitos swarm and baboons go scavaging for food among the cottages and vehicles.

The rest of the day unfolds first with a lunch in a open-air restaurant on the side of the hill over-looking the plains and watering hole for the animals. We then head to the Falls which is through the look of a national park back home. Breath-taking only begins to describe the majestic landscape our awesome God has displayed. We walk alongside the mountain facing them and every now and then walk toward the paths that lead to the cliffs that show differnt views of the magnificent falls. Mist, spray and water droplets fall on us so fully that by the end we look as if we’ve jumped in a river fully clothed!

We then head to change clothes and on to our sunset cruise on the Zambezi River..upstream from where these very waters crash down into the falls. We see an elephant and a hippo as well as the sun sets beautifully on the horizon of the river with the spray of the falls in the background. What a way to end our time in Africa!