Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
November 20, 2022
Breakfast at 6:30 am. We sat with Nancy and Stan with whom we shared the partial dinner last night with. They left at dinner at 8:50 pm. We made it until 9. It turns out that they were stuck in the elevator for 30 mins after they left dinner. The elevators probably haven’t been used like they were yesterday in years. Covid 19 devastated the tourist industry here. The AC in our room didn’t operate either. I did complain to the HAL rep on the trip and she had the hotel send someone up during our wait for dinner. When we arrived after it dinner it still wasn’t working. “It’s working fine” is what I heard when I called the front desk. I told him it will not turn on. He said an employee was just up there and everything is working. He did agree to send another up another employee. “It doesn’t work”, said the second employee. They offered another room. We told him we would stay and open the windows. There was a nice cool breeze.
We boarded the bus and started for the airport at 8:30 am. Uneventful ride. Luggage caused many to be concerned. Our guide told us they would deliver it to check in and they did but ship people panic easily. We had an issue at the check in with Terri’s passport. The scanner would not read it. I guess that’s why we spent 30 minutes there. We had to have our vaccination cards to check in also. The world of government control. Makes life so much easier and people happy.
Another check point before we boarded the bus that takes us to the plane. Another look at passports and vaccination cards.
A quote I remember kept lurking in the back of my head.
The closest thing to eternal life is a government program. Ronald Reagan.
Let’s see what we know. The vaccines do not prevent the disease, they do not stop the spread of the disease, they do not lessen the severity of the disease. Let’s make everyone get vaccinated. I don’t do well with government requirements.
We received some immigration forms to fill out. All kinds of ridiculous information is asked for. No one will ever read these. For the question about what countries I have visited in the last 3 weeks, I put down what I ordered for dinner last night but didn’t receive. At least this info is useful.
The free airport WiFi? You must enter your name and email address and then agree to receive crap from whom ever they sell this info to. You may be thinking that making up an email address and a name to go with it will prevent you from connecting on the free WiFi. The answer is no. Joe@schmoe.com worked just fine. Its much cheaper just to demand things from people. Why bother paying for the additional infrastructure? Most people will comply.
The bus to the plane was standing room only and stand we did. Maybe 30 minutes. What is the problem we all began to think. Maybe it was a loose government form on the floor.
The flight was obviously a charter. Nice, new jet filled with folks on this tour. Easy 90 minute flight to Zimbabwe.
We de-planed and then got in line to turn in our worthless forms. No one batted an eye. I think the immigration officer agreed that the pork belly I ordered for dinner was a good choice.
Another line for Visas. $30 each. Credit card machine is down. Cash only. Not sure what happens if someone has no cash. Floors looked like they needed sweeping.
This immigration officer was using a receipt book with carbon paper. I didn’t even know that still existed. A hand written receipt from the immigration officer. This needs framing.
Another bus ride to the hotel and another bus driver looking for a tip. His English was quite poor. There were yield signs along the way with an image of an elephant. We did see baboons crossing the road and more in the jungle. I didn’t realize that people lived amongst these wild animals.
We checked into the hotel and went right to lunch. Three restaurants at the hotel. Our lunch was at the Jungle Safari Restaurant. Food was very good. We ate outside and enjoyed the view. The hotel is old and magnificent. Reminded me of the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.
4:30 we had a cruise down the Zambezi River. This river will lead to Victoria Falls but that was not our goal today. Tomorrow we will take a short hike to the falls.
The 2 hour cruise was very nice. Lots of wildlife to see. We returned to the hotel for dinner and watched a group perform for us. A marimba band and lots of drummers. The marimbas looked quite crude but did produce a nice sound. The drummers and dancers were entertaining.
