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To Zambia and Victoria FallsMar 30, 2008
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Our check-in at Royal Livingstone
Just outside our room door
Zambezi Sun, our planned accomodations
To Zambia March 30 (Sunday)
The Jo-burg airport was a zoo. Disney like lines at each point. It took us over an hour to check in and our flight boarding was called before we finished the security check. The aircraft did not have a gate. We had to take a bus out to it.
The Zambia airport is very small. We walked from the plane to the terminal. Bad news: our reservation at the Zambezi Sun 4 Star hotel didn't get made. The good news: whoever screwed it up had to book us into the Royal Livingstone next door (both owned by the Sun System), a 5 Star hotel. We'll get breakfast at the RL and our other prepaid meals at the Zambezi Sun.
It was a short ride to the RL. In keeping with the "big bucks" status our group checkin was in the elaborate bar as they served complimentary iced tea. The rooms are in small buildings of 10 rooms each spread along, and fronting, the Zambezi River. The grounds are tropical and had a large population of monkeys. We have a view of the mist from Victoria Falls from our rooms and can hear the falls. An electrified fence runs along the river edge to keep the Crocs out. Both hotels are connected by a walkway/golf cart path. The Zambezi Sun has an Arizona look; the RL an old colonial Africa atmosphere. Just outside our door away from the river we have Zebra and Giraffe grazing.
Shortly after arrival we departed again for our sunset cruise on the "African Queen". Actually, we were on it's lesser twin - African Princess. Same river, same route. Alongside the river we spotted Cape Buffalo, antelo-bok of some kind, Hippo, Crocs, and Elephant. A spectacular river sunset completed our day.
