Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe

Border Crossing

The crossing to Zimbabwe from Zambia is across a bridge which separates the two countries.  Half of the bridge is on the Zambia side and the rest on the Zimbabwe side.  The immigration for Zambia is right before the bridge and the Zimbabwe immigration is around a kilometer from the bridge.

Bag Thief

I was at the Zambia immigration and had one of my bags on the ground near my feet, when an opportunistic thief grabbed it and ran outside.  I gave chase and caught up with him.  My bag had a bag of crisps and a water bottle in it.  Another guy's bag that the thief grabbed had his mobile phone it in.  He also went running after the thief.  He managed to get his phone because it went flying on the ground.  I was able to get my water bottle back but my crisps packet was being eaten up by the thief.  I wanted to kick the baboons pink arse for his audacity, but decided not to.

Zimbabwe Immigration

The visa fee for a British national to enter Zimbabwe is US $55.  I tried to haggle with them but they were not as accommodating as the Zambians and it got to the point where I was concerned that they would even refuse me entry if I carried on.  So, I paid the money and got through.  I had to pay US $30 at the park entrance to the falls but I persuaded the official there to let me pay as a South African citizen, which was US $20.

Victoria Falls - Zimbabwe

I personally think that the falls on this side are better than the Zambian side.  The ferocity of the water is much more and the visibility is better as well.  The trails are much prettier and the vegetation is much nicer.  There is also the statue of David Livingstone in the Vic Falls park.  The view of Livingstone Island is also much better from there as it is directly opposite the Victoria Falls park.  There is a place called Danger Point which on a clear day is a spectacular place to stand because it is right in the middle of the falls so quite a dramatic place to be standing.  The sound of the water and the panorama is quite overwhelming and to some extent unnerving.

Victoria Falls Town

When the park closed at 6pm, I went to Victoria Falls Town which is a couple of kilometers away.  It was very quiet and hardly any tourists around.  The restaurants were all empty.  The few locals that I met were all very kind and friendly.  I engaged some of them in conversations and got the impression that life was quite hard for them, and they had a real fear for the current regime and Robert Mugabe, who had just celebrated his birthday a few days earlier and had spent well in excess of US $1 million on it.

Crossing the Border at Night - Undercover Policeman

I was eating a delicious local food which is made of maize and a vegetable called Rape, as well as some chicken.  You eat it by hand and it is just divine.  After the meal, the father of the restaurant owner, a White Zimbabwean man who had emigrated to Australia with his wife but was visiting his daughter, gave me a lift to the border because it was nearing 10pm when the border would close.  I was concerned about not making it on time.  At the Zimbabwean side, one of the officials decided to have a lengthy conversation with me about the world economy and politics and I was trying to politely get away so that I could make it to Zambia before they closed the border.  After a few attempts, I finally bade farewell to him and got into a taxi that took me to the Zambia border for US $2.  The driver eventually told me that he was an undercover policeman and that he was using the taxi as a means to carry out surveillance on some smugglers who were at that very moment smuggling some goods across the border from Zambia into Zimbabwe.  I managed to get through to Zambia in time and catch a shared taxi back to Livingstone.