Since I have not updated the blog in a while, I need to catch all of you up on my weekend trip to Victoria Falls. My village, Divundu, is at the beginning of the Caprivi Strip (google image it), so all cars heading from Namibia to Zambia, northern Botswana, or Zimbabwe must drive through my town. All of the other WorldTeach volunteers are in the Central-North of Namibia, so since a few wanted to see Victoria Falls, it worked out great that their bus had to stop in my town along the way. Although, I am in a prime location for traveling as I am in the vicinity of so many different countries, the problem lies in actually getting to places. There are no taxis, trains, or daily buses in the area, so the only way to get from place to place is hitchhiking. The other volunteers were taking a big bus, the Intercape, that begins in South Africa and travels to Victoria Falls two times a week, so this was a great opportunity for me to get out.
At 6 am I joined the other volunteers on the bus and journeyed for 8 hours till we got to Livingstone, Zambia. Because of school on Monday, we had 24 hours to explore, enjoy, and complete everything we wanted to do. Once we arrived, we immediately got into a cab and went to the Falls. With my heart pounding, legs jittering, and eyes fixated out of the window, we could already see the mist from the falls over a kilometer away. After paying the entrance fee, we ran as fast as we could, then abruptly stopped as we all witnessed one of the seven wonders of the world. There are no words to describe how unbelievable, cool, fantastic, mind-boggling, incredible, and astonishing they are. We ran to each viewing station as the sun set all around us. By 6:00 pm we hopped into a cab, adrenaline still gushing from what we just saw, and quickly went back to the Hostel to get ready for dinner.
At the hostel, I bumped into an American and we had the usual conversation, “where are you from”, “what are you doing here”. Of course, I was thousands of miles from home, in the middle of southern Zambia and…she is a BU grad student with over 15 other students and professors from BU. Of course! I gave her my email, and some of the students might come towards Namibia later in the year and stop by my house. BU geography. I am surprised she wasn’t jewish and I didn’t go to camp or birthright with her.
Once changed, the four of us, took a taxi to the Royal Livingstone Hotel. A 5 star hotel set just a kilometer from the falls. I hadn’t eaten a ‘good’ meal in 2 months, so we all thought we’d splurge, and splurge we did. The place was one the nicest hotels. With gazpacho for an appetizer, Impala and porridge for an entrée, sorbet to clear the pallet, a chocolate dish for dessert, and 2 bottles a wine to accompany the dinner, I was definitely in a good state. During dinner, a Canadian man came up to us asking if we wanted to see a traditional Zambian cultural group perform. He started a non-profit that sponsors one, so it worked out great that he was able to drive us. Although we were enjoying the performance, all of us were ready to hit up the town of Livingstone. We asked the taxi to take us to the best club in town. At the bar, I instantly headed over to the whiskey. Four hours later, we were still enjoying the dancing, the music, and of course the drinks. 4 am came, and I was reliving my BU moments at Ts Pub and Jtree, but we ultimately decided to head home.
With only 2 hours of sleep, we awoke, and moved to our next stop, a helicopter tour. We boarded the helicopter nearby and none of us talked, we just had our eyes fixated out the window. I didn’t think it was possible to top the day before, but this took the prize. From above we could see everything, including elephants grazing right above the falls. Even though it was a short 15 minute ride, the image was captured in my head (and the 100 pictures I took). Afterwards, 2 of the girls did a zipline/bungy near the falls, but I decided to save my mom and dad the heart attack, and enjoy lunch and watch.
At 11 am, we hopped on the Intercape and by 7 pm I was back in the village, preparing for my lessons the next day. That was all done in 24 hours! It was an amazing trip, and luckily I will be back in 3 weeks to enjoy it with the parents.
Keep a look out for another blog post this week. Hope everyone is enjoying the heat in NYC!
Miss you all.
Peace,
Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment