Wes & Sally "On the Road" Exploring South Africa

Victoria Falls Day 3 Apr 1, 2008

Zambia Day 3 April, 1

We took advantage of an open schedule til 10 am to sleep in. Lots of monkeys greeted us on the way to breakfast, including one young white monkey. Couldn't tell for sure if it was an albino. It's eyes didn't appear to be red. In the true wild something would surely soon make a meal of it but the hotel chain encourages them to live here with lots of trees with nuts and seeds for them on the grounds. The hotel does have "monkey patrol guards" at mealtimes which are mostly successful at keeping them from stealing food off the tables. But, if you leave your plate unattended there's a good chance something will be missing when you return.

Our trip today was to a "Cultural Village". It could be called a Show Village. It was a combination of mud hut, thatch roof, and evolving modern. We were told only two buildings have electricity, but I saw two satellite antennas, a solar panel on a thatch roof, and Coke and DHL signs on other buildings. The village was roughly comparable to small villages I saw in Georgia and Alabama when I first went to the South in the 50's. Even though the yards were dirt, they were swept clean.

A craft market was part of out tour, naturally, complete with a DHL sign offering to ship your purchases home. It consisted of lots of young men with 4-5 feet of display space in a U shaped complex. 90% of the items looked identical in shape and workmanship. I suspect the origin is China, India, or Indonesia. Sellers were very aggressive. Sally bought a small wooden bowl; not at a bargain price. I waited until called to board the bus and negotiated a conversation piece carved walking stick at a good price.

On the way back the bus dropped us off at the Zambia/Zimbabwe bridge. Our tour specifically avoided Zimbabwe and we were strongly discouraged from crossing the border. The border customs offices are located on each end leaving the bridge a "no man's land". Our guide negotiated us past the Zambia customs and onto the bridge for photo ops. The bridge had plenty of very aggressive Zimbabwean peddlers. They sold Sally a good sized Big 5 Carving. The vendor claimed it was Ironwood - could be; heavy enough and we're at max suitcase weight already. They were also selling 10 million Zimbabwe bills for the princely sum of $3 US. Bought one so I could say I was once rich. Later found that a 50 million bill was selling for $1 US. Good indication of the destruction one Idiot can do to a country. Just a few years back Zimbabwe currency was on par with the US dollar. All their new inflated bills expire in 90 days, and they print larger ones.

Our afternoon was unscheduled. I would have taken a flight over the Falls, but Bummer: Ultra light wouldn't let you take a camera, and helicopter flights would not guarantee you a window seat. Voted with my feet on that policy. Walked around the grounds and relaxed getting more photos of the falls, a Monitor Water Lizard in front of the room, and Giraffe and Zebra out back.

Dinner was an African Boma: traditional food, entertainment of song and dance. Lots of energy and few words. Possibly origin of our Rock music. The most different food we had was corn on the cob; but mature corn and not boiled long enough to really soften it. It was somewhat like undercooked hominy.