Day 73 May 19 – Chobe, Botswana & Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

Day 73 Tuesday May 19th (47 days to go) — We finished up our visit this morning at the Chobe Game Lodge with a morning river cruise and then took a jeep to the Botswana/Zimbabwe border. The drive was exciting as we rode in the jeep like on an interstate to the border. We had to get out of the Jeep and handle our passports and obtain a Visa. After this was completed, we laughed as we walked across the border carrying our luggage. It felt like a prisoner exchange. On the Zimbabwe side of the border we then got into a small van for the continue transfer to Victoria Falls and the Victoria Falls Hotel. We checked into this grand old hotel and had a couple of hours to eat lunch and relax before heading out for another scenic river cruise. We ate lunch at the hotel, then they fed us what amounted to six platters of snacks (for four passengers) on the river cruise and we returned to the hotel for a formal dinner. By the time we got to bed we were well stuffed and tired. The next morning was another early wake up call for our visit to Victoria Falls.

The Currents below is for the Vista. Unfortunately, due to bad weather the ship had to skip this port and passengers had a day at sea proceeding to Cape Town, South Africa.

The river cruise was uneventful, again remember the water levels are high in the jungle and not much need for animals to visit the river. The six couples would have preferred another game drive. After the two-hour river cruise we returned to the lodge for breakfast and gather our luggage for the transfer to Victoria Falls.

Below is the sun rising on our last morning

At breakfast we were treated to a show by locals

Getting ready to walk across borders

The Victoria Falls Hotel is a historic luxury hotel at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, dramatically situated with a view of the Second Gorge and the Victoria Falls Bridge from its terrace.

The Victoria Falls Hotel

The hotel was opened in 1904 to accommodate passengers on the newly built railway of Rhodesia Railways Ltd, part of the planned Cape to Cairo Railway. Later it was a staging post for the BOAC flying boat service between Southampton and South Africa. In September 1904, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and her daughter, Princess Helena Victoria became the first royal guests of the newly opened hotel. The hotel has accommodated royal visitors on several occasions, including King George VI and his family in April 1947.

The hotel has been the site of a number of important political meetings. In 1949 Roy Welensky organised a conference there to discuss the creation of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and in 1963, the Victoria Falls Conference at the hotel led to the breakup of the federation.

It hosted the 1975 Victoria Falls Conference to try to sort out Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence that followed the break-up of the Federation.

In 2022, the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa presented an award to the hotel for its stewardship of its in-house chapel, where weekly masses are held in addition to special services such as weddings.

He is on the hotel grounds to keep baboons away

Driving through Victoria Falls on the way to the river cruise

As we rode to the river cruise in Victoria Falls we had to stop as elephants were walking on the main highway

River cruise in the afternoon and early evening until sunset.

I have good videos to add to the blog for this day but due to the poor Starlink connection in south and western Africa, I cannot get the videos to upload. When I get home in July I will try to load the videos from home. I am sorry about this.