Zambia!

Our first real stop on our once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa was to see Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the world. I had thought that it was something we sort of HAD to do since it was unlikely that we would ever got to Africa again, and we would be relatively close.

Victoria Falls can be seen from Zambia and Zimbabwe, but with conditions in Zimbabwe being... uneasy right now, we decided to go to Livingstone, Zambia even though the larger part of the falls are in Zimbabwe.

We stayed at at hotel named the Zambezi Sun- Sun is a huge international chain (including the Southern Sun we stayed at in Johannesburg, S.A.) and from the two I have stayed in and third I have seen, they do quite a good job of taking care of guests!

The Zambezi Sun was very nice and had as a bonus the shortest walk to the Falls of any hotel. The sister hotel, Royal Livingstone Sun, is a five minute walk the wrong way but is also very nice. Very different style though- more of a Colonial British hotel imposing itself on the landscape whereas the Zambezi Sun seems to fit in better with the locale. Both are Luxury with a capital "L', of course. (The Livingstone Sun has a view of the Zambezi river from the front lawn to make up for the longer walk.)

The grounds of the hotel are set up to provide a pretty good experience all by itself, even if you never leave (other than the falls!): they have some animals who live right there and are cared for by the staff. Giraffe and Zebra are fed daily and provide a CLOSE-UP experience of some of the wildlife people got to Africa to see.

The grounds also contain a Bird Hide where I expect birds are fed and encouraged to hang around.

Vervet monkeys are also in residence, and one of the .... dangers guests can face. Not so much from attacks, although with wild animals that is ALWAYS a possibility, but from their inquisitive and clever nature!

Lock your rooms door and do NOT leave things laying around- the vervets may decide to take them as souvenirs!

There are more pictures in my photo galleries:

On the way to Zambia-

On the way

This set was taken between the airport and the hotel.

6 images

The Zambezi Sun-

Zambezi Sun

These were all taken on the grounds of the Zambezi Sun, our hotel.

12 images

Victoria Falls-

Victoria Falls

These were all taken on the first afternoon we were at Victoria Falls.

15 images