Left South Africa and headed to Victoria Falls to celebrate my birthday.

The Waterberry Lodge on the Zambezi River provided us an awesome view and lots of privacy. Only issue was the hippos came up in the yard at night to eat the fresh grass 😝….i.e. don’t leave your villa after dark!

We were treated like royalty, complete with a candle light private dinner on our patio, when we returned from a sunset cruise they arranged on their private boat for us. Flowers on all the banisters, small fireplace, Champagne with dinner, and the staff delivering a small cake while singing for us after dinner. Blew us away with how romantic they made my birthday. Pays to get older.😍

On the river cruise we saw several crocodiles…and learned they are protected in this area. They breed in July and lay 1-60 eggs in Oct… which take 90 days to hatch. Baboons eat most of the eggs with only a few hatching. A crocodile usually lives 80-100 years. The biggest one we saw was about 40 years old. We also saw hippos…and lots of baboons.

My favorite part of our Zambia visit was when a guy from our lodge offered pto take us to his village nearby. This is rare now days as most villages do not like visitors. It was eye-opening as to the conditions of their lifestyle. Everyone in a village is related. The immediate family each builds their hut around the Father so they can help the elderly. The houses are frames of sticks filled in with mud. The floors are just the dirt and the tin roofs are held down by big rocks stacked on the corners. And imagine this… they have to rebuild their house every 2 years because the termites eat the sticks! The good news is they finally got solar panels 6 years ago, so now they are able to have some electricity for tv…but most can’t afford it. Their only cash comes from cows, pigs, goats, and sheep … and is used for school tuition or hospital expenses… the more animals you have the richer you are… a fat cow could bring up to $200… BUT, they have to tie the cows up or they will eat the bathroom huts (which are made of straw) 😜

There are 7 major languages in Zambia, but 72 tribal languages … our guide spoke 25 of these because he was employed previously at a boarding school. Almost every country I visit, the people speak multiple languages…thank goodness one of them is usually English.

What really surprised me… they drink water directly from the river. They develop immunities to the bacteria from their mother’s milk and it’s in their genetic makeup. The women carry all dishes and clothes on top of their heads down to the river for washing. Now let me tell you… that’s no easy feat. I didn’t have anything on my head, but a ball cap…and I stumbled several times, finding it very challenging to remain upright. The children are assigned the task of carrying two buckets of water …at one time…up from the river for drinking, bathing and cooking. The children were laughing and delighted to pose for my photos as long as I showed them their picture. One boy was teaching his sister to play cards, some other boys were helping their Dad with the job of putting mud on their new house, and others were at the river helping their mothers wash clothes. One group of kids were playing a game of simply rolling a bicycle wheel down the hill hoping it would not fall over before it reached the bottom. Everyone seemed happy… lots of smiles.

Onward to the airstrip for a helicopter view of Victoria Falls. Not only did this allow us to get a good prospective on how massive the stretch of falls are, but it also shows you how the different sections of the Zambezi river come together to form the Falls. Victoria Falls is the HIGHEST Falls at 351 feet vs Igwacu Falls in Brazil (which is still my favorite) at 269 feet and Niagra Falls at 137 feet. But Igwacu is the widest at 8800 feet with Victoria following at 5700 feet and Niagra last at a little less than 4,000. Once we saw the Falls, the pilot asked if we’d like to go whitewater rafting… they have 10 sets of rapids going thru the canyon beyond the Falls. We told him we were too old for that and he said we could do it without getting wet… just hold on. Then with no further notice the helicopter made a dive straight down towards the water… my heart skipped a couple beats and then my whole body filled with adrenaline. As we flew just a few feet above the water thru the entire canyon twisting and turning the whole ride, it actually felt like we were experiencing the rush of each set of rapids. Rapid number 9 is referred to as the “suicide” rapids and I can assure you that is the appropriate name… I didn’t see any rafts attempting it…thank goodness.

Back on the ground, we crossed over from Zambia into Zimbabwe to view the Falls. This was a little uncomfortable at customs, the police all had long BIG rifles…I thought seriously about getting back in the car instead of walking up to immigration… SCARY! But once we crossed the border and took the short hike to view the Falls at ground level, we knew the trip was worth it. The spray from the Falls showered us long before we reached the first viewing point…and when we finally stepped out to get a good look, we were both captivated by the sheer volume of water flowing over and the deafening sound it produced as it hit the river below. It was truly a magnificent sight! You know how people always say “how small you feel when you stand beside the ocean”, well I can testify that you feel REALLY TINY when you stand beside this huge body of water falling 351 feet right in front of you. One thing was slightly disappointing…We had seen several rainbows when we flew over earlier, but the angle of the sun at ground level was not cooperating. All in all, I’m so grateful to have had the privilege of seeing such an amazing work of Mother Nature…and cross it off my bucket list. As most of my family and friends know my favorite saying is… I don’t need to have it all, I just want to see it all.