Placeholder Content Image

Indulging in the wonders of Victoria Falls in Zambia

<p>The natural consequence of being a 60-plus traveller is that you become a bucket list basher, racing to tick off as many items as possible before time and health run out.</p> <p>Victoria Falls was a list topper, but I was determined not to hurry this visit. The world’s largest curtain of water had intrigued me for decades, and I would wallow in the wider experience of it like a great, fat Zambezi River hippo.</p> <p>When explorer David Livingstone discovered the Falls, he described them as ‘the most wonderful sight I have seen in Africa’, marking the occasion by carving his initials and the date on a nearby tree. He then introduced them to the world through his writings, thus generating myriad stories of romance and adventure around them.</p> <p>A lover of all things African, I wanted to see that most wonderful sight and soak up the romance and adventure at my own pace and in comfort. Victoria Falls is an ideal and popular place for a safari wind-in or wind-down, so I booked a week of its thrills, frills and animals before my own safari departed.</p> <p>Most centre around the region’s physical, scenic and economic artery, the Zambezi River, Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park and the Falls themselves. Daredevils fly above them in microlights, small planes or helicopters, or get a closer view by jet boat, cruise, canoe or fishing adventure. Adrenaline junkies bungy, flying fox, swing or zip line from Victoria Falls Bridge, or whitewater raft beneath it.</p> <p>My days of scaring myself silly long gone, my first view of Victoria Falls was by walking the rainforest section of Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park. Donning a hired yellow raincoat and with a quick salute to Livingstone’s statue at the Park entrance, I walked reverently towards the ‘thick, unbroken fleece falling all the way to the bottom’ of Livingstone’s description, its thunderous noise, cumulus mist and legendary rainbow.</p> <p>It exceeded my imaginings and I returned many times during the week to gaze again at this marvel of nature. That’s when I wasn’t soaking up the other delights of the Park, River and Falls area, especially the wildlife. Steering clear of the cheetah and lion walks with reports of dodgy conservation practices, I instead created life highlights from a rhino walk and elephant interaction.</p> <p>Two rangers guided the rhino walk, picking up spoor an hour into the park. The trail led to a lone male on the scent of a female, so we crept quietly in the direction he was headed until we found her – and baby. Our guides positioned us to watch the age-old scenario of male approaches female, female rebuffs him, male tries again, female leaves him in no doubt, male slinks away, mum and baby get on with life. I delighted in this opportunity to be part of my own dramatic wildlife documentary, as I did with its sequel at The Elephant Café.</p> <p>An exciting 10-kilometre jet boat ride from the Falls, The Elephant Café’s herd of ten rescued elephants filled our hearts, and its incredible African chefs, our bellies. The Café supports these mainly orphaned elephants who wander freely in the spacious park but scurry to the Café at tourist time to be fed treats.</p> <p>The elephants aren’t the only ones getting a treat. Feeding them, and then watching them interact, play in the Zambezi and wander back into the park, was a mammoth privilege, as was the magnificent lunch that followed. Elephant Café chefs have revived traditional recipes using locally-sourced ingredients to create heavenly, Africa-style haute cuisine, which they serve at their beautiful Zambezi-side restaurant.</p> <p>I topped this pleasurable afternoon with a genteel Zambezi cruise, wildlife viewing and canapes on the Lady Livingstone. This stately river boat departs the David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spa every evening in time for the reliably stunning African sunset, which was handy because I was staying there.</p> <p>Victoria Falls accommodation is the stuff of exotic dreams, the African decor, Zambezi views and ultra comfort of The Royal Livingstone Hotel, David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spa, and The River Club totally blowing my Afrophile mind.</p> <p>Each offered exemplary fine living and dining, infused with its own stand-out character. I thought I had died and gone to romance heaven at the Royal Livingstone Hotel, just a few minutes’ walk from Victoria Falls. I couldn’t have imagined more magical al-fresco dining, a more opulent suite or delightful aspect, Falls’ mist framing the Zambezi as giraffe, antelope and zebra wandered the expansive grounds at will.</p> <p>Not far upriver at the David Livingstone Safari Lodge and Spa, sumptuous grandeur met tasteful safari chic. The cultured grounds, charming rooms and character-filled dining areas oozed Africa. After an exquisite dinner of monumental proportions in one of them, I sank into my luxurious four-poster bed, listened to hippos and elephants across the Zambezi, and once more thanked Dr. David for his extraordinary legacy to the world.</p> <p>It was almost cruel to take this ‘Out of Africa’ obsessive to The River Club and expect her to leave again. Around 18 kilometres by road transfer from Victoria Falls, this oasis of tree-filled tranquility on a sweeping curve of the Zambezi had me captivated. At any moment I expected a pith-helmetted Robert Redford to stride through the colonial grace of the lounge and al-fresco dining areas, or up the dark-wooded stairs of our multi-storeyed, elegantly furnished chalet, to whisk me upriver in search of wildlife and a wild time. That pretty much described the sunset cruise on our second evening at The River Club, although the animals took the starring roles due to Robert’s disappointing no-show.</p> <p>Another Victoria Falls evening saw me transported back in time on the painstakingly restored Royal Livingstone Express. Steam billowed, whistles tooted and drinks flowed as we chugged to the Victoria Falls Bridge and back in this magnificent piece of Zambian railroad history with its five courses of silver-serviced dinner.</p> <p>The area’s rich and fascinating history gets broad coverage on the daily cultural tours starting and finishing in nearby Livingstone Town. While there, I also recommend visiting Wayawaya on Livingstone’s main Mosi-oa-Tunya Road, a vibrant collective of local ladies being taught to design, make and market high quality leather and cotton products. Their showroom and workshop are open most days, and by making a purchase you support a project aimed at empowering vulnerable women.</p> <p>Meeting these beautiful women was my final Victoria Falls indulgence. Like Livingstone, I had seen ‘scenes so lovely they must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight’, although unlike him, I wouldn’t be marking any trees to commemorate them. Rather, I would be marking off the bucket list and extracting this old lady hippo from her happy Zambezi wallow for the next adventure.</p>

International Travel

Placeholder Content Image

The beauty of going on safari in Zambia

<p>In Africa the lion may sleep tonight, but on Zambia’s Nanzhila Plains he rises early.</p> <p>Every sense stood to attention as the male lion gave his family a predawn roar-up along our camp perimeter. Thinking ahead to our morning game drive, I took comfort knowing I’d be layered up against the morning cold and hopefully harder to unwrap. But, for now, I revelled in the sanctuary of my cosy bed as I listened for a response from his pride.</p> <p>There was none. Leo was alone in the wilderness, and I knew the feeling. However, while he was trying to rustle up company, I was mighty glad not to have much of it. Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp in Kafue National Park is part of Zambia’s best and longest kept secret, and I wanted it to stay that way.</p> <p>It may not for long, as increasing numbers of safari lovers discover what has been right under their noses. Until now, Zambia visitors were more likely to head for the tourist hotspots of Livingstone, Victoria Falls and Luangwa National Park, or Botswana’s busy Chobe National Park. However, with the market ever seeking fresh frontiers, eyes have suddenly opened to Kafue’s rich resource.</p> <p>Proclaimed in the 1950s but with vast tracts still unexplored, Kafue is Zambia’s oldest and largest national park at roughly the size of Wales. With Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp being the closest true safari experience to Livingstone, and southern Kafue’s only accommodation option, the rumble of safari trucks may not be far away.</p> <p>A new road between Livingstone and the park’s southern Dundumwezi gate will hasten that. Due for completion by the 2019 tourist season, it will cut a three hour drive to the gate almost in half. Once there, the Camp is another hour into the park through pretty miombo woodland, although only in the dry and high season of April to October. Travel in the wetter months along the longer, higher access can add another two hours to the journey.</p> <p>Flying in is another possibility, although it costs. Airstrips service each of Kafue’s distinct regions -southern plains, central lakes and northern rivers - which can also be reached along Kafue’s spinal main road, making self driving an option. Each sector of the park has its unique character and wildlife, so they are worth a look if you have the time.</p> <p>We had just four days, so elected to spend them all at Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp. Its proximity to Livingstone, affordable rates, range of accommodation options and activities, easy booking and transfer arrangements attracted us, as did its diversity of wildlife.</p> <p>This included Leo and his buddies. While the big cats become more prolific the further north in the park you go, the south’s burgeoning antelope numbers now draw all the large predators, including hyena and wild dogs.</p> <p>As I lay in bed listening to Leo’s frustrated rant, I chuckled over our wild leopard chase of the previous day. Many times we drove the same few kilometres of track looking for the maker of leopard prints in the dirt, only to discover the elusive feline had walked over our previous tyre marks in our short absence and vanished once more. In the end we left him to his game playing and returned to camp, to have our host hear him rasping later that night, as if teasing us again.</p> <p>While it may not have the animal numbers of other parks, Kafue hosts greater diversity of wildlife than almost any other African nature preserve. Nearly 500 bird species call it home, some found nowhere else in southern Africa. The rare sable and roan feature among its 21 antelope species, and it boasts all the major predators, buffalo and large populations of elephant. Yet, in 2017 it attracted just over 11,000 visitors, compared with similar sized parks like South Africa’s Kruger, which got almost a million.</p> <p>Tucked up in bed anticipating a morning’s wildlife viewing, I considered that a good thing. There is no jostling for view here, and the few safari trucks have little impact. The animals haven’t retreated from frenzied human activity and are easily visible, particularly in the drier months when they congregate near waterholes like the reedy oasis directly in front of Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp.</p> <p>They dictated our daily schedule. When the wildlife was active early morning or late afternoon, we got active, and when it rested in the midday heat, we retired to our comfortable chalet or the open-walled communal lounge to chat with other guests.</p> <p>Come evening we would be back on the safari truck searching for animals and a scenic spot to enjoy a sundowner and the glorious sunset. Only as the dense African night descended would we turn the truck for camp, eagerly anticipating an haute-cuisine dinner and lively discussion around the open fire.</p> <p>Here the topic would often turn to poaching. Hosts, Steve and Cindy, and their local villager staff know the park, its animals and threats well, and seemed positive about their recovery from decades of plunder by poachers. For Leo’s sake, I hope they are right.</p> <p>Early indications are promising. An October 2017 Wilderness Safari survey reported Kafue’s antelope numbers increased exponentially from 2007, populations of red lechwe up by an astounding 487%. This is no doubt due to the colossal and combined anti-poaching efforts of the Zambian Wildlife Authority, local operators like Steve and Cindy, villagers, Game Rangers International and other conservation NGOs.</p> <p>The time had come to see some of these recovering populations for myself; leave my luxurious bed and roar up my own buddies and breakfast. Leo had gone quiet, although he wasn’t fooling me, and I would still be layering up, at least from the cold.</p> <p>Kafue mornings are so unadulterated you want to pull them over the rest of the day to seal in the purity and promise. I stepped into this one not knowing what was ahead of me or around the corner, except that it wouldn’t be many other humans. I liked that.</p> <p>I liked that I was in a fresh safari frontier where people now help animals to thrive but don’t yet overwhelm them with their presence. I could see wildlife as nature intended it to be, which is what a true safari experience – for both animals and humans – is all about.</p>

International Travel

Placeholder Content Image

Tourists hang off the edge of 91-metre waterfall

<p>If you ever find yourself near Victoria Falls in Zambia and you’re feeling a little adventurous, it might be worth your while visiting the famous Devil’s Pool.</p> <p>The main feature of Devil’s Pool is an angled rock which lets tourists get right up to the edge of the waterfall in relative safety and take amazing photographs. </p> <p>The attraction of Devil’s Pool is seems to be in a similar same vain to Sydney’s Wedding Cake Rock or <a href="/news/news/2016/01/rouge-wave-at-sydney-figure-eight-pools/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Figure Eight Pools</span></strong></a> in the sense that it attracts a range of tourists looking to take great photos despite the dangers.</p> <p>As we see in the video above, Victoria Falls’ Devil’s Pool is a little bit safer as an angled rock and guide helps prevent tourists from slipping the 91-metre drop.</p> <p>It’s a certainly a beautiful part of the world, but we’re not too sure if you’d see us taking a photo from that vantage point!</p> <p><em>Video credit: YouTube / quang long</em></p> <p><em><strong>Have you arranged your travel insurance yet? Tailor your cover to your needs and save money by not paying for things you don’t need. <a href="https://elevate.agatravelinsurance.com.au/oversixty?utm_source=over60&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=link1&amp;utm_campaign=travel-insurance" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Click here to read more about Over60 Travel Insurance</span></a>.</strong></em></p> <p><em><strong>For more information about Over60 Travel Insurance, call 1800 622 966.</strong></em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/02/a-look-inside-first-class-cabins/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Inside 8 first class cabins that will amaze you</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/02/most-photographed-locations-in-london/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>London’s 8 most photographed locations</strong></em></span></a></p> <p><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international/2016/02/holiday-ideas-for-animal-lovers/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>8 holiday ideas every animal lover needs to experience</strong></em></span></a></p>

International Travel

Our Partners