Day 83 Wednesday April 3 Third rest day in Livingstone

by Henry

Rest day #3 in Livingstone.

Zimbabwe has no stable currency and uses US dollars, currently the only African country to do so. The history of their currency is complex, but they have experienced periods of extreme hyperinflation.  I found this about their inflation rate online, and it is hard to believe:

98.0% per day in mid-November 2008 or 8.97×10²²% per year. The currency lost half its value every 24 hours and 42 minutes.

There was a point where Zimbabwe issued a $100 trillion banknote.

Much like the other countries we have visited, Zimbabwe is mired in poverty. The tourist zones appear to do better.

We are creatures of comfort; the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge did not disappoint. Amazing how much better we can sleep with AC and a fan, compared to sticky humidity when camping.

Morning view of the watering hole, with the lighting yet again different. Visitors this morning included eland, kudu, impala, and crocodiles.

Breakfast buffet included this rarely seen (in Africa) Southeast Asian fruit.

Make-your-own Bloody Mary was an unusual offering. 

We took the hotel shuttle to Victoria Falls National Park, which allowed us to see the Falls on the Zimbabwean side of the border.

Only a small portion of the Falls, which is a giant curtain 1,737 m wide, and 107 m tall. The water here is entering the beginning of the Batoka Gorge.

We left the national park, walked across the Victoria Falls Bridge to cross the border back into Zambia, and entered Mosi-oa-Tunya (“the smoke that thunders”) National Park. 

The general perception is that more of the waterfall’s curtain can be seen on the Zimbabwean side, but we were equally impressed with the Zambian views of the waterfall.

On the Zambian side, we seemed physically closer to the waterfalls.

An aerial view of the entire waterfall, as seen by one of the riders from a helicopter flight. Zimbabwe is in the upper part of the picture above the gorge, and Zambia below the gorge. 

All very exhilarating, but we had to get back to the campsite to re-organize and get our permanent bags back into the truck. I scrubbed and applied fresh lube to my drivetrain.

There was a scheduled birthday party at 4 PM for Helen, who turned 50 today. We were blessed with a surprise performance by an ABBA tribute band of “Waterloo”, the winning Eurovision song 50 years ago on the day Helen was born in 1974.

After the party, we strolled to the David Livingstone Safari Lodge next door to enjoy dinner on the deck overlooking the Zambezi River.

Small joys in life – pecan nut sundae.

Tomorrow we bike into Botswana, the 8th country in which we will be riding.