With only a few months left in our time here in South Africa, it was time to finally visit the one country that Phil had been itching to visit since we first arrived 1.5 years ago - Zimbabwe. Despite it being the dry season following an unusually long drought, we still wanted to see Victoria Falls. The falls were impressive, even with the low water level. I was surprised to read that the area surrounding the falls was considered a rainforest. It was lush with vegetation and there were views of rainbows from every viewpoint.
We also got to watch people swimming in Devils pool - an activity only offered in the low season. This is where people can swim at the very top of the falls. It was wild to see how close to the edge these people were.
We read that in the rainy season during peak flow, the falls can be 30x more powerful and that sometimes you can’t see anything because of the mist/spray- yet you can hear the thundering of the falls all across town. We hope to come back one day to experience this.
Victoria Falls at ~50 m^3/s. Peak flow is 100 times as powerful (5000 m3/s)
Following Victoria Falls we rented a car (a sedan which clearly had seen better days and had dents all around and the bumper falling off) and drove 2 hours South to Hwange National Park.
At the entrance to Hwange National Park, we were informed their credit card machine had not worked for 3 weeks and only accepted cash for the $110 entrance fee. We did not appreciate how much Zimbabwe relies on cash transactions and quickly realized we were underprepared for such transactions. We sat around the main entrance for about an hour while they attempted to reach out lodge to see if we could pay the entrance fee through them with our card. Thankfully they agreed.
As we finally entered the park, the true adventure began. The roads which started out nice and flat became increasingly more rocky. The 39 km to camp was estimated to take about an hour. The further in we drove, the bigger the rocks in the road. I held my breath as with every thump and thud I imagined the bottom of our car falling out. I now understood why our rental car was in such rough shape when we first received it.
As we passed the last sign, “5KM to Verney’s Camp,” I felt a sigh of relief. We were almost there! Sand started to replace the rocks and Phil did a great job of keeping our speed up until the sand got deeper and the road got steeper. Finally, the car stopped. We were stuck. Phil did everything he could to get us out, but alas our front right tire was too deep. It was 2:30 PM and neither of us had cell service. We even brought a satellite phone which we quickly found out that the account had been deactivated. Keeping optimistic, we assured ourselves that we were on the main road and that they would find us when they went out for their evening game drive, usually around 4:30. However, as 4:30 came and went we had a serious question to answer. Should Phil walk the 5 km to camp to get help and risk encountering lions or whatever wildlife was out there, or do we camp out in the car for the night after having just used the last of our water to make Sonja a bottle of milk.
Sonja tries her best to dig our car out of the sand
As the gravity of our situation started to sink in, we saw a safari car round the corner. We were saved! Two of the camp’s guides, Trust and Simon, rode in light knights in shining armor. The first thing they did was to bring out a cooler of cold drinks and hors d’oeuvres. What a change in circumstance! They loaded us and our luggage up and whisked us off to camp then later returned to tow our car the rest of the way.
The camp was incredible and wild. There were no fences separating us from the wild animals and at night you had to be escorted to your tent by an armed guard. There was a watering hole just 30 meters from the camp which attracted up to 100 elephants at one time. The camp also provided babysitting services so that Phil and I could go out and enjoy the game drives (thanks Chipo!)
left: The back porch of our family tent, with over 100 elephants at the watering hole ❖ right: The Verney’s Camp crew! Trust (Guide), Chipo (host) and two of the chefs
That night we slept (or tried to sleep) to the sound of elephants around the watering hole. Phil watched an elephant stop just a few feet from where Sonja was sleeping to feed on a nearby bush. This place truly was WILD.
On our first morning, the guides said there were 2 lions in camp and ushered us into the cars so that we could go find them. I couldn’t believe how close they were to our tents and how they casually wandered through the buildings.
Our stay at Verneys was perfect. As we prepared for our final day, one major question loomed over our heads - how will we ever get out of here? Vernie’s staff was amazing - on the morning of our departure they towed our car back out past the sandy section and back on the main (rocky) road. They also casually mentioned that they had repaired 2 tires that had been punctured.
As we retraced our steps on the rocky road, we couldn’t help but think about the 2 flat tires and prayed that the car would last us all the way back to Victoria Falls Airport. 3 hours later we finally arrived at the airport and car rental return. With Sonja’s vomit all over the backseat and my outfit, we were relieved to have survived!
To keep things interesting, as we were checking in (this took about 40 minutes as their ‘system was down’) we noticed that they had bumped our departure time up by 45 minutes and rather than getting there with a few minutes to spare, instead we had to run to the gate and were the last ones to board the plane. Finally I could breathe, we had made it.
Photos
Birds
