We did roll into Jollyboys a bit late on Tuesday night, as the site we had intended to camp had just closed for renovations, so we had to go to our backup site, the full-bore Jollyboys Backpackers hostel. It is a bit more "hip" and social, which is working out just fine. Everyone got camp set up, and we settled down for a good night's sleep after the long bus ride.
Wednesday morning we rousted and headed off for a day at Mosi-oa-Tunya, the original Tonga name for Victoria Falls, meaning "Smoke that Thunders." There was no disappointment - more water in the Zambezi for this time of year than I have ever seen -
The "smoke" was certainly present, and so was the "thunder."
There are several hikes to be done on the top of the falls, as well as down the gorge. Especially up at the top, there are some fairly bold Chacma baboons, like this one that came up the path behind our group for a few steps.
The hike down the gorge takes you to the "boiling pot," where all the water from the falls collects and spins around in the base of the second cataract, before heading downstream. The hike is an amazing ecological transition, leaving the dry mopane forest of the upper regions and dropping into a tropical rainforest below. We sited lots of new species in the trip down, including rock hyrax and trumpeter hornbill. The boiling pot itself is a powerful place.
After hiking around the top of the falls and doing the climb down to and up from the boiling pot, we ventured across the knife cut bridge, which invariably includes some dousing from the spray of the falls. This video shows the amazing walk across the bridge.
After all that, our night was capped with a great dinner of pasta, watermelon and okra - all made by us.
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