Trip Report - Zambia & Zimbabwe
Our Trip & Itinerary
Continuing on our 25-day overlanding tour, we entered Zambia at the joining of the Chobe and Zambezi rivers, just sixty kilometers from the mighty Victoria Falls. Although Zambia is a huge country, we spent only 2 days here and saw almost none of the nation, just spending our time in Livingstone and the Victoria Falls area. On our third morning we crossed the bridge into Zimbabwe and headed south ___ kilometers to Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe. From here we spent a full day exploring the small but mighty Matobo National Park before driving south to the South African Border the following day.
We DO NOT recommend traveling through Southern Africa on a tour like we did, as it’s completely possible to see most of these places and more on a self-drive trip. However, if you do your own research and decide an overlanding tour like this is the right fit for you, we implore you DO NOT book with Acacia Africa. Consider Nomads or Intrepid instead who we have heard good things about.
Livingstone & Victoria Falls
The small town of Livingston lies just 15 kilometers from the famous Victoria Falls, but unlike other towns near natural wonders, it hides most evidence of the extensive tourism found in this area. Stopping in town for lunch we were a bit disappointed by the lack of restaurants and cafes near the center of town, relegating us to a quiet lunch at Debbonaire’s Pizza, a pizza chain with average offerings but nothing to write home about. Rather quickly, it became apparent that we wouldn’t need to spend much time here. Everyone in our group seemed to agree with this sentiment as we all spontaneously arrived back at the bus earlier than planned, letting us get on to the day’s highlight: Victoria Falls. Noted as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls is imagined as a kilometer long, mighty wall of water, cascading with great power over a 110 meter tall basalt wall into the gorge below. Sadly for us, we were visiting the falls at the end of the dry season, and the water level was lower than it had been in several years. When we entered the park on the Zambian side of the falls, we were shocked to see that the only water flowing over the massive rock wall was on the Zimbabwean side of the gorge, almost 750 meters away. Nevertheless, we walked around the park here, trying our best to catch a glimpse of the trickle sprouting through the rock. The impact of the presence of water could be seen in the mossy trail the little falls left behind them and the plant life soaking up the moisture below. Despite finding the gorge impressive without the falls, we walked away feeling we hadn’t quite experienced the true force of the falls that draws in thousands of tourists. Leaving the park, we got back into the bus – our home for the last eighteen days – one final time and drove to our final campsite.
The Victoria Falls Waterfront Hotel & Campground is a beautiful spot overlooking the Zambezi river where it’s easy to spot hippos or relax by the pool on a hot afternoon. There’s just one catch, thousands and thousands of mosquitos, some of which may well carry Malaria. We decided to ditch our small tent and sleeping bags for a larger pre-erected tent with actual mattresses and sheets for our two nights here. This was a very welcome break from the last two weeks of patchy sleep on the ground. When checking out our new tarp mansion, was when we first realized we weren’t alone. Mosquitoes buzzed in the small space, resting on the netting inside as well as outside, in search of our blood. Every minute spent in our new tent that first night was a war of attrition against the battalion of mosquitos, determined to eat us alive. Things got so bad, we were forced to resort to chemical warfare, filling our tent with insect killer and running away before it knocked us out too. When we weren’t battling mosquitoes, we spent our time taking care of unfinished chores or relaxing by the pool. While there are many exciting activities on offer here, from white water rafting to ziplining or sitting in Devil’s Pool at the edge of the falls, they do come at a pretty hefty price. One unfortunate reality of being on a fixed-budget on an extended trip is that sometimes we just don’t have the money to spend. To make sure we’re still on track for the remainder of the year, these activities, each costing upwards of $100 per person, are typically not a realistic expense. If we’re deciding on whether we want to spend it on an activity at the falls versus one day in Belize right before our trip ends, we made the decision to keep the money in our pockets for now. On our last night here, we met with our new guide and solitary companion for the remainder of our trip to Pretoria. We also had the chance to take our first look at our new bus, complete with air-conditioning, reclining seats, and tinted windows. We decided we could get through these next six days just fine. Our last activity in Zambia was a rather sad one for us, saying goodbye to our fellow travelers, whom we’ve gotten to know so well after the last three weeks. Sitting together for our Last Supper, we realized how much better we made each other’s time in southern Africa – giving each other something to laugh about or bringing a bit of levity to a frustrating moment. We’ll miss them quite a lot really…well, most of them.
Climbing into our new *fancy* bus with our new tour crew Shyrod and Vincent at 6 am, we embarked on what we hoped would be a much better ending to our overlanding trip. Much to our relief, things immediately improved. Seeing that the Zimbabwean border was still shut for early morning cleaning, our new guide searched out one of the border security officials and “asked him very nicely” *wink wink* if we could go in the back way to fill out our paperwork early. This sped our entire morning up considerably, especially as a line of people had begun to form outside of women carrying babies on their backs, young men with loaded bikes, and elderly ladies clutching their flimsy ID paper. The border agent, a rather meaty square of a man, took his sweet time, much like the sloth from Zootopia – browsing his selection of stamps, chatting with other agents, slowly peeling the visa before slapping it into our passport. While on this side of the falls, we had gotten our guide to agree to give us some time to see the natural wonder from Zimbabwe. Although we had a bit of sticker-shock from the $50 admission fee, we knew this side would give us a taste of the sheer power of the falls. Walking to the viewpoints we were able to stand right on the edge and look down into the gorge below. This side still had thousands of liters of water flowing over every minute, crashing onto the rocks below with a thunderous bellow, whipping spray into our faces and lifting our hair into a static breeze. The water seemed to drop in slow motion, gently sweeping past the needy greenery. In one magical moment, the sun broke through the clouds and illuminated a rainbow that stretched from the top of the gorge and down to where the rocks met the water. Little water droplets swirled around the bands of ROYGBIV – a hopeful start to our long day of driving to Bulawayo.
On The Road | Victoria Falls to Matobo National Park
Leaving the town of Victoria Falls, the road immediately deteriorated into a patchwork of pavement interwoven with tire-killing potholes. Ignoring their imminent danger, our new driver Shyrod shot our truck down this perilous main road at sixty kilometers per hour or more, weaving across the full width of the pavement. Our bus bounced and weaved along this road for hours, passing through small towns, very dry forests, and thousands of seemingly abandoned farm animals wandering aimlessly across the highway. Around five hours into our tiring journey, the almost inevitable happened. We failed to avoid one particularly deep pothole and instantly heard a loud ‘POP!’, followed by a violent hiss. We pulled over and hurried out of the vehicle to inspect the damage: a flat tire caused by a significant dent in the rim. Fantastic. After jacking up the car, we all attempted to unfasten the wheel’s nuts, but quickly realized they had been set by a machine and that none of us had the strength to loosen them. Unfortunately, even though our robust truck comes equipped with an emergency kit, an extender bar was not included. Luckily for us, this potholed patch of deteriorating pavement is the main north-south road across this part of Zimbabwe, so plenty of trucks were flying by us and one was kind enough to stop. Our driver and guide pulled apart this poor driver’s entire emergency kit to get to his extender bar, but once they had it in hand, it took only a few seconds to remove all six bolts. Suddenly we were making progress pretty quickly – popping off the broken wheel, loading it into our cabin, and unscrewing the new tire from below the truck. Unfortunately, Shyrod received an uncomfortable ‘whack’ to the head when the tire unexpectedly released before he could shift out of the way – don’t worry, he was okay! With the new tire, we got back on the road in no time. With our first flat tire of the trip, we continued our treacherous journey down this primary road towards Bulawayo, the gateway to Matobo National Park.
Matobo National Park
Unlike our previous safari experiences, there was no early morning wake up required for our 4x4 adventure to Matobo National Park. Instead our gomgat guide, Ian, picked us up in his ancient Land Rover around 9 am. For once, a perfectly reasonable time to start our day! The unseasonable cold in Bulawayo and our lack of real cold-weather clothing however, resigned us to a very chilly hour-long drive in the open-air truck. We arrived at Matobo with the wind still whipping around us at 50 kph (31 mph), when Ian casually mentioned that the rhino’s we had come to find “really hate wind” and would probably be “difficult to spot today”. Thanks, Ian. We set off with our slightly pessimistic guide and over the next several hours came to understand his frustrations. Our morning activity seemed to be running on a loop - drive for 30 minutes, get out and go for a walk, find nothing, return to the truck, listen to Ian swear under his breath…repeat. In four hours we saw next to nothing – some far off zebras, a few kudu, and a blip of klipspringers on some rocks across a valley. At this point, Ian was getting visibly peeved, as his guests usually see five to ten rhinos a day, but none of his go-to spots were occupied. On top of this lack of sightings, Ian had noticed that all of the rangers (his best source of intel ) had been diverted to deal with a suspected poaching incursion. As we crept up to 2 pm with grumbling bellies, Ian abandoned his promise to see rhinos before lunch and drove across the park to fill our stomachs.
Apparently, a bit of food was all we needed, or the universe was simply ready to reward our patience. Leaving our lunch spot, Ian spotted what he had been missing all day, a ranger! Dressed in his full fighting kit – AK-47 strapped around his back, tan jumpsuit on, combat boots strapped up – he hopped in our truck and directed us to the two rhinos he was watching over. When we arrived, it took all of ten seconds for us to spot the pair of rhinos munching away in the grass. We had all missed them on our previous two passes on this road, showing us just how easy it is to mistake a rhino for a rock. We quietly approached the pair on foot, giving them plenty of space as we moved around them to a rocky outcropping nearby. We all sat in stunned silence, just three or four meters from these impressive animals, or “the world’s largest lawn mower” as Ian described them. Both of these rhinos, a mother and 2-year old calf, had just had their horns removed to make them less attractive to poachers, but they seemed to do just fine without their spikes. They didn’t mind our presence either, continuing to trim the grasses and shielding themselves from the cool breeze. When they lowered themselves for a nap by our rocky outcropping, we decided to give them some space to continue our search.
Feeling thrilled with our first close-up rhino encounter we changed tack and drove to look at ancient bushmen paintings, now with a much chipier guide. We stopped at one of the smaller, but still mightily impressive, bushmen caves. The paintings here were 10,000 years older than the ones we had seen 1,367 kilometers away at Spitzkoppe, but more refined, as if made by more passionate artists. Ian explained the collage of animal and stick-figures sketches, noting their individual meaning and importance. The bushmen nomadically inhabited this region of Africa for over 100,000 years in total isolation and used these paintings to communicate with each other, as well as their spirit world. The distinct rhino, giraffe, and kudu drawings in this cave were indications of what animals could be found in the area, and the lion indicated specifically what predator lurked nearby. Their presence on the wall acted as a type of instruction manual of the area for other bushmen to live by. The stick-figures represented people in hunting parties, some of half-men, half-animal hybrids. These hybrid creatures were typically made by tribal shamans who painted them either during or after healing rituals. Matobo and many sites around Africa house historical accounts of bushmen life, who’s ancient bloodline continued to create them until the late 1800’s.
To finish our full day drive, Ian was keen on circling back to an area we had passed before. Driving down a familiar 4x4 track, the vehicle suddenly came to a stop – our guide had spotted his best prize: three rhinos walking towards us down a gully. Quietly climbing from the car, we attempted to hike up one side of the gully to get an elevated view of these beasts, but unfortunately the dried leaves and twigs littered on the ground blew our cover. Before we could reach our chosen vantage point, the rhinos heard us with their impressive antennas and retreated, moving further away. Determined to grant us one last moment with the elusive rhino, Ian led us right into their path, just a few meters from their beefy bodies. The bull, decorated with battle scars, was pursuing the female, despite her determination to fight him off with the help of her juvenile half-brother. As it was our luck, this particular bull (‘Number 12’) was particularly aggressive and had managed to hospitalize a ranger fairly recently. Knowing the risk of being so close, Ian pointed out our escape options and said, “at the very latest, you’ll know when to run when you see me pass you”. Very funny, Ian. Feeling the gravity of being in their presence, all of us stood still and listened to the rhinos munch on grasses, breathing in huffs as they walked closer. Occasionally, the bull paused as if listening to our heartbeats quicken, then went on searching for snacks. After backing up a few times, Ian decided we’d better hightail it outta there before the bull changed his mind. Once back inside the false safety of our vehicle, the excitement started to pour out as we headed for a nearby sunset viewing spot. On the way, the park gave us one last treat: a leopard sprawled on boulders, which took off in full sprint when she noticed us watching. As the sky transformed into our favorite watercolors, Sarah and I celebrated a successful day with a couple shots of Amarula, one of our new favorite drinks.
On The Road | Matobo National Park to the South African Border
Leaving Bulawayo early in the morning we began our long drive to the South African border, about 320 kilometers away. This final drive through Zimbabwe was much like our drive from Victoria Falls to Bulawayo. The road was almost always in a terrible state, with the amount of road covered with potholes almost outnumbering the functional highway. We stopped along our way to take in the beauty of a towering baobab tree, but quickly got back into our truck when we saw two high-up signs that read “Beware Robbers!” Don’t you think the robbers would have taken those signs down?
Recommendations
Where We Stayed:
Livingstone
On The Road