Trip of a lifetime: Tue 18 Dec - Thur 20 Dec 2012

After a reasonable sleep we woke early and were rewarded with a beautiful sunrise over the lake. The kapenta boats were just finishing work for the night and they made a lovely backdrop to the inky lake as the sun came up. After breakfast we arrived at Mlibisi and were sad to disembark as we had enjoyed the trip so much. A 3 hour drive took us through little traditional thatched villages, past donkey carts, monkeys, cattle, villagers walking miles to fill huge buckets of water from the rivers and little children waving as we passed.

We arrived at Vic Falls after negotiating yet more police road blocks and another spot fine. For the next 2 nights we stayed at a bed and breakfast which like a lot of places in Zimbabwe, has great potential but is a little tired and outdated, but it was fine as a base.

That evening we booked onto a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi river above the falls. It was a rainy evening but that did nothing to spoil what was a very memorable evening. We had a lovely group of people on the boat, the drinks were free flowing and the meal included freshly caught bream. While cruising on the river we were so lucky to see hippos again - this time a large family and they were very close. Chris was also happy as the captain managed to steer the boat right up to the bank where a large crocodile was hiding among the reeds.

The following day we went to see the spectacular Victoria Falls. The walk through the rainforest was very humid but well worth it to see the view round the corner. We managed, despite the heat, to walk all the way to the end of the footpath from where you get a great view of the bridge which spans the river between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is from this bridge that crazy people bungee jump into the ravine below.

That evening we went to the Victoria Falls hotel for a buffet supper with African dancing and music entertainment. This was the first hotel in Vic Falls and still has a grand colonial feel to it. Wandering through the old corridors and on the huge verandah overlooking the manicured gardens to the falls beyond you can imagine the old steam trains pulling into the station in the 1900's, bringing guests to the hotel and to marvel at one of the seven natural wonders of the world.