Wonderful aerial views of African falls…
When in Zimbabwe late last year, my friend Jenny decided to book a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls. I had walked around them on the Zimbabwe side (which I am told is better than seeing them from the Zambia side – but this was from our Zimbabwe guide so he probably is a little biased!!) so an aerial view sounded good…and boy was it worthwhile with sensational views firstly of the Zambezi River…
And then stunning views of the falls….
A bus pick up service arrives at the hotel to take you to the helicopter pad and the ride lasts for about fifteen minutes preceded by a safety briefing. The flight afforded some fabulous views of the falls and the gorges and to see the water spray from above was something else.
What an experience; a touch expensive but definitely worthwhile…
And also great to see the bridge I had seen from the ground the day before – the bridge that my brother bungee jumped off many years ago and the same one that separates Zimbabwe from Zambia…
What an experience!!
It was a relatively small boat with about twenty or so of us passengers on board. On board we were offered hot and cold snacks and both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. I had some lovely local fruit and a glass of wine. My friend Jenny enjoyed some hot chicken and a soft drink.
And as it was the lead up to Christmas, the staff had made placed Christmas baubles onto a tree on the boat; a nice way to celebrate the festive season along with some festive music.
There were plenty of hippopotamus along the way; all in the water relaxing…
We were also fortunate to see a couple of zebra along the shore, but a bit far away to get a good shot…
A better shot was taken of the buffalo and the crocodile and an ok shot of a lovely blue bird. I wanted the crocodile to turn around for a facial shot but he/she didn’t.
As we were nearing the end of our cruise, we went close by Victoria Falls so we could see the actual spray of the falls – and at that stage I hadn’t been to the falls, I was pretty excited just seeing the spray.
Along the two hour cruise we also got to see some very lovely scenery…
On my second day in Zimbabwe, my tour guide picked me up and off we went to Victoria Falls which is located on the Zambezi River at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is also known as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world (as is our beautiful Great Barrier Reef here in Australia)…and after I saw the falls, I now know why!!
Our first stop was to walk down thirty-eight steps to see a gully and part of the falls. Pretty spectacular even though I couldn’t see the falls from this point as the spray was huge…still wonderful to see.
We then we stopped at the statue of the Scottish missionary and explorer, David Livingstone who is believed to have been the first European to view Victoria Falls in 1855. Mr Livingstone named his discovery in honour of Queen Victoria of Britain.
Along the walk there are fifteen stops to view the falls from different aspects. I loved each and every one. Spectacular doesn’t seem to sum up these views.
One of the last stops was the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia – we saw some [crazy] people bunny jumping from the bridge…way too scary for me but when I told my brother about this, he reminded me that he had done just that when he visited Zambia many years ago.
What a spectacular couple of hours to see such a magnificent sight…
