Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: ZIM, ZAM, BOTS & NAM

Although it’s less than two weeks since we set off on TBA 2, we seem to have packed a lot in already. We are currently catching our breath in a cracking little Airbnb in Windhoek, capital of Namibia, before going out exploring tomorrow, then setting off for the coast on Saturday.

After a tiring, but uneventful flight from Heathrow to Victoria Falls via Addis Ababa (strangely, no postcards of AdAb airport – wonder why?), we staggered into our pleasant little hotel in VF, tried and failed to have a quick kip, then wandered into the Zimbabwean night to see what delights this little town holds.

Thankfully, we were only a short distance from some very good bars and restaurants – special shoutout to The River microbrewery, which proudly boasts a quote from Frank Zappa in a prominent place on its wall (see pix below) – and most of the main attractions in this intriguing place.

I say ‘intriguing’, as it’s trying to promote itself as a tourist hotspot, quite rightly considering the attraction on its doorstep, yet offers the contradiction of conspicuous consumption adjacent to extreme poverty. Lots of hawkers on the streets trying to sell you curios and souvenirs, or a complete set of Zimbabwean currency – from $10 to $50,000,000,000 (billion) notes – for two or three US$. The locals are paid in Zim $, but all prices are in US$. We noticed a piece of cheese in a poorly-stocked supermarket, for which you would pay perhaps £3.50 in Sainsbury’s, on sale for $29.00! Who can afford those prices when you barely get a living wage?

We felt quite guilty eating in a mostly-white restaurant, being served exclusively by black people, who were uniformly friendly and charming without being obsequious. We made our contributions more privately than buying from the street hawkers as 20 or 30 would mob us if they saw us putting our hand in our pocket when talking to one. And they are very persistent.

After a refreshing night, we ventured out the next day to find these ‘Falls’ that everyone goes on about. Mad Dogs and Englishmen or what? We set off just before the midday sun and it was about 36C. Thankfully, the walk was only about a mile, so we just lost the one stone (each) before arriving at the National Park, where the credit card machine was conveniently broken, so they could only take cash…

We won’t bore you with stats about Victoria Falls – if you want to you can look it up on Google – but suffice to say it is, quite rightly, the Seventh Natural Wonder of the World. It’s vast and huge. The largest, most beautiful and most majestic waterfall on the planet. You can hear the Thunder (‘The Smoke That Thunders’ is the Lozi name for it) from the town. We visited at the end of the dry season, which meant that we could see the falls, as they weren’t obscured by too much mist. We did get wet, but took about 60 seconds to dry again, each time. It was quite awe-inspiring.

After a quick lunch, where we were entertained by wart hogs and thieving monkeys, we set off back and relaxed for the rest of the day.

The next day brought more sightseeing and wandering to The Lookout café near the Falls – obvs – followed by another bucket list moment. High Tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel, one of the last vestiges of the British colonial influence in this part of the country. It was built originally at the beginning of the 20^thcentury to cater for the railway that stopped here. It was known as Jungle Junction, then. It’s not now. Slightly decadent, but relying on a beautiful location and lovely tea.

Other highlights of our stay in Vic Falls were the sunset river cruise on the Zambezi, where we saw our first significant game – elephants, hippos and zebra, particularly, plus loads of different birds. Not being twitchers, we couldn’t identify any of them except Egret and Ibis, bat, vulture and eagle…

The Boma is a typical African attraction – a lovely braai-type (bbq) dinner, followed by African drumming, which we joined in with, singing and dancing. Andy ate the Mopane Worm, which tasted sort of fishy and very chewy. Oh, and while we were in Zim, we walked into Zam(bia) he said nonchalantly, to watch Deathwish Debbie and her mates jump off the bridge over the Zambezi.

On the Sunday, we caught the transfer to our Airbnb just outside Kasane, a small town in Botswana very near the border. Its main attraction is its proximity to Chobe National Park, which is noted for its large herds of elephants, so naturally, we had to go on a game drive.

Our guide, Albert, was charming and informative and tried very hard to give us a great experience. Although we were only there for three hours, we saw loads of stuff (animals – not stuffed animals) and Albert risked a 2500 Botswana Pula fine to let us see a lion up close just before the Park was due to shut!

Later we discussed the way these ‘drives’ are set up. They tell you they can’t guarantee seeing anything, so you are thrilled when you see a couple of interesting birds, baboons and wart hogs, then the drivers (probably about 8-10 drives in our part of the Park each morning and evening) start to talk to each other and the excitement builds as we see, elephants – up very close! – more elephants, hippos, giraffe, zebra, then from a distance a lion laying under a tree. Not moving. You’re quite excited as you think you can just see a lion. Then they drive frantically around a few sandy, dusty tracks, getting stuck, lots of low ratio driving [wtf is that? – ed.], until we turn a bend and there it is – a young male, just chillin’ by the side of the trail, watching us watching him. Then it’s the race to the Park entrance before closing time and we make it at 6.29!! Hooray!!

Anyway, after that excitement, we had dinner in a place called The Old House, which freaked Gillie out a bit as she could see a colony of bats making their regular forays out for feeding from a tree just a few feet from where we were eating.

Another river cruise the next day where we got up close and personal with some more wildlife – what more elephants? No matter how many times you see them, they are still an awesome sight. Because we had snapped away madly the day before, we could just sit and watch them this time and admire their majesty and laugh at the infants. More glorious sunsets.

A slight cock-up with the planning meant we were back in Vic Falls the next day for overnight, then set off on Wednesday on the bus to our current location in Windoek, Namibia. It was due to leave at 12.50 and we were told to be at the ‘bus stop’ at 12.00. Hoping to get our choice of seats, we arrived about 11.45. After seemingly endless fannying around, we finally set off at about 2.15! Needless to say, we were quite hot and bothered by then, sitting in the stifling coach in 36C. Just as we started to cool down thanks to the aircon, we stopped at the Zimbabwe border. Long queues. Exit Formalities. Then we drove the short distance to the Botswana border. More long queues. Visa formalities. Then we drove to Botswana customs. More endless queues. Customs formalities – more on this from Gillie anon. Back on the bus until the border between Botswana and Namibia. You can guess what’s coming. We didn’t start making significant progress until well after 6 pm. Then we stopped for a 15-minute break. An hour later we were back on the road. Due to arrive in Windhoek at 10, we eventually got here at 12.30…

Will post again in about 10 days, when we have been to the seaside (and maybe the safari – more elephants!). Toodle pip.

PS Hi there, it’s me again. Golly 2 years since I last did this! We’ve just spent a very restful night in our current Airbnb. It’s a beautiful little cottage in the grounds of a very posh house in what I’m calling the ‘Beverley Hills’ of Windhoek. All the houses in the area are amazing; eat your heart out Grand Designs. The German influence is everywhere. From what we’ve seen so far the country is very well run.

However I must just air a bee that I’ve found in my bonnet. (So early you ask?) Last Sunday we travelled into Botswana on a tourist bus. We had a bit of baggage and a carrier bag with fruit plus avocados for our lunch when we arrived. We whizzed through Border control no one checked our bags all was well.

Two days ago at the start of our 24 hour bus trip to Namibia we crossed into Botswana again, same Border Post. This time all our bags came out and were searched thoroughly plus our fruit for this journey was confiscated!! Why? We were going straight through to Namibia anyway with no stops! We feel it was because we were on a locals bus, so it’s ok for (white) tourists!!!! Nowhere in the guidebooks does it say you can’t take fruit into Botswana grrrr.

Anyway apart from that rather big bee we really are having an amazing time and have already had some wonderful experiences. Africa is such a lovely country with a laidback and friendly atmosphere. Today we are going downtown Windhoek to sample some German pastries and to have a mooch around what looks to be a really lovely city. Love to all. Gillie xxxx