I started my safari at Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia. In addition to being one of the world’s natural wonders, Victoria Falls is located near the conjunction of four African countries: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Botswana making it a logical place to start or end visits to these nations. We were met at the airport in Zambia by our local guide, who brought us to our hotel in Livingstone to drop off our things ands get ready to visit the falls. The hotel is on the shore of the Zambezi River with a view of Zimbabwe on the other bank. Looking downstream, we could see the mist rising from Victoria Falls a few miles away.
This is the second part of a four part series on my trip to Botswana. All photographs are mine and are available for sale in my gallery. Click on the links below (which will become live as I finish the posts) to read the rest of the story.
- Intro, Logistics and Camping
- Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park (this post)
- The Savuti
- Khwai and Moremi Game Reserve
Victoria Falls can be visited from either Zambia or Zimbabwe, and there are visas available that allow visitors to cover both sides. We decided to just visit from the Zambia side, in part driven by being tired from the three flights that were necessary to get there. Our guide brought us to the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park (“The Smoke Which Thunders”), we paid our entrance fee, and we started just upstream of the waterfall.
Victoria Falls pours into a gorge that runs perpendicular to the flow of the river, providing a viewing area just across that gorge from the waterfall. Depending on the wind, though, that viewing area can be completely soaked by the mist from the falls.
My best luck photographing the falls was from the Eastern edge of the waterfall, which was clear of mist that day. I spent some time photographing both the wider scene as well as details showing the power of the waterfall.
The mist provided a great source of droplets for creating rainbows too. The challenge was keeping the camera and lens dry enough to actually capture them. I have a plastic cover for my camera and I composed and focused with it in place. I would then pull it back and quickly snap the shutter. Then I could cover my camera again, clean the lens, and repeat.
Looking downstream we could see the bridge across the gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe. This provides a good indication of the depth of the waterfall. Bungee jumping and other activities are available on the bridge.
The next morning our Zambia guide picked us up from our hotel and took us to the Botswana border crossing. The crossing was empty when we arrived and they did a brief health screening, stamped our passports, and we met a Botswana driver to take us on the next stage of our journey. We were taken to a lodge on the Chobe River in the town of Kasane for a river cruise in Chobe National Park. As we started down the river, we passed several lodges but didn’t see any animals. It didn’t take long, though, once the lodges were behind us to find herds of elephants and hippos, many birds, crocodiles, and buffalo. Seeing them from the low vantage point of the water was a very different experience than we would have in our safari vehicle later.
The following photos were captured during the river cruise and shown in the order taken.
After the cruise, we were given a box lunch and were met by Prince Wright who would be our guide and driver for the rest of our trip. We spent the remaining daylight hours driving along the shoreline of the Chobe River. This gave us our first close encounter with the wildlife (a bull elephant who walked within a few feet of our vehicle) and it became clear that we were participants in this safari and not just observers.
