Zambia and Victoria Falls

Plus a local village

From the Okavango, we took a light plane to the Botswana – Zambia border and then drove across to the town of Livingstone. October is the end of the dry season and it isn’t the best time to see Victoria Falls, especially on the Zambia side because they draw down the Zambezi River for hydroelectric power. But the political situation in Zambia is more stable than in Zimbabwe, so Zambia is where we went.

You’ve undoubtedly seen photos of Victoria Falls in full throttle, so these will seem very tame.

In rainy season, the falls would run from the far rainbow all the way past the tree on the right and another five times beyond. And that’s just the Zambia side. Zimbabwe is beyond the rainbow.

We would have needed raincoats, too, the mist rises that high. It was one of those things we had to do since we were so close.

We also visited a local village less than 10 miles outside Livingstone. Mukuni is the home of the Lion Chief who presides over 120 other villages in the area, and as such, is quite powerful and respected.

He sits on the Lion Throne (cat included)

The villagers live a bare existence. No electricity or running water – a well within the village means no one needs to walk the 5km to the river. Families surround their huts with a fence of branches for privacy. Parents sleep in one hut, boys in one and girls in another.

An open-air kitchen – vegetables and fruits, breads based on corn form the main part of their diets. Meat is too expensive, though some families might own a few goats for milk.

All land is owned by the chief. He serves for his lifetime, and may not resign his post. If he does not wish to be chief any more or is found to be unfit to serve, then he must be killed.

The children go to school either in the morning or afternoon. We found that to be the case throughout Africa and it is because the schools don’t have the capacity to handle all the school-age children for a full day.

All in all, it’s a bleak existence from our perspective. Unemployment is over 50%, which is consistent with all the countries we visited. Subsistence farming, some construction trades, tourism-related jobs (which may be seasonal), and government jobs seem to be the bulk of job options.

Our guide was very gracious and charming – she decided right away that Howard would make a good husband for her and we spent the tour bantering about his “next wife”.

We enjoyed her humor – but at the end of the tour, she was still single.

After Victoria Falls, on to Nairobi and the Kenya portion of the safari.

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