Welcome to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

On this trip we wanted to see some "real" Africa, so we went to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.  As Zimbabwe has been in the news for hyperinflation and all of the problems associated with it (more on this later), we really didn't know what to expect.

Upon arrival in Victoria Falls Airport, a set of stairs came to the side of the plane for deboarding and that is where things became eerily different.  There was only an old Russian propeller Zimbabwe Airlines plane sitting there on the tarmac and a long walk to the terminal - the smallest terminal ever!  Upon arrival, everyone has to get a visa. However, the price you pay is determined based on what country you are from. Yes, Americans pay more! Strangely enough for some reason, Canadians pay the most - twice as much as Americans!


The immigration line took FOREVER.  First you had to pay one person, (make sure you get that receipt to prove you paid or you might have to pay again) then you go to the next desk where someone prepares a hand written visa in your passport and a duplicate copy for their records. Despite how long we were there (which was bad enough), what made it worse was that Zimbabwe is....HOT and there was no A/C and the "terminal" like I said is the smallest terminal ever! 

As we didn't have that much time on the ground, we hurried to the hotel, checked in and headed down to Victoria Falls.  The front desk said "go out the front and turn right," simple enough.  So we headed out then turned right, until there was a fork in the road, so we decided to head back to the hotel and get some clarification.  Before we got half way back, we ran into a very nicely dressed guy (dressed like someone you could have run into during rush hour in HK) heading our direction.  I stopped him and asked him how to get to the Falls and he said "I show you, follow me." He walked us all the way to the Falls, around 15-20 minutes. It turns out he is a tobacco farmer in neighboring Zambia and was walking back home from his business meetings in Zimbabwe. 

After paying the hefty foreigner entrance fee ($30 pp tourist versus less than $10 pp local) we were finally at the famous Victoria Falls Park! The Falls were absolutely amazing.  As we hit the perfect time of the day, there were rainbows in the spray! 

After enjoying the Falls, we began to head back to the hotel.  A tourist police stopped us.  "Where you  going? I take you!" He said that there had been some issues with locals harassing tourists (we never encountered any of this, just a lot of people trying to sell us things but after 5-7 "No thank yous," they would go along on their way) I think it was more about him getting a small tip so I gave him $2 USD. Over the next couple of days, we were "accompanied" by several tourist police.

After the Falls, we were starving so we asked the front desk for a restaurant recommendation. They said Mama Africa, a local cuisine restaurant about a 10 minute walk down the road. As it was early, we were the only people there and they gave us a table under a huge mango tree in the courtyard.  We scoured the menu for something that looked good and became a little concerned as nothing jumped out at us.  The waiter recommended the national dish, Sadza Ndiuraye... sure why not? Surprisingly, it was excellent! We also enjoyed some local Zimbabwe beer and a creme brûlée!

We talked with the waiter for a bit and his story really gave us a lot of perspective into Zimbabwe.  His wife and 2 kids live 100km away and he only see them 4 days per month as he does not have a car and public transportation is very expensive for him.  It is also not practical or affordable for his family to live in Victoria Falls (where the jobs are). His shared house (room) is over a 8km walk away.  His hospitable attitude and enthusiasm were so overwhelming, we thought he was the owner of the restaurant and were shocked to find out he was "just a waiter!" How inspiring!