The Smoke that Thunders

Hey Everyone,

First of all, a little bit of bad news. The place where we are now doesn't have a good enough internet connection to upload photos to the web. Hopefully when we get back to Lusaka tomorrow I can find a place where I can.

Yesterday, all of us went to Victoria Falls and there is nothing I can say that would do it justice. It is known as the "Smoke that Thunders" and stretches for over a mile between the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. We walked across a bridge to a small cliff "island" where we got to get some very good views of the falls, the bridge that goes over the river and gorge, and the bottom of the falls (called the Boiling Pot).

We saw many animals on our trek also including a variety of birds, huge spiders, and monkeys. Actually on our way back up the gorge from the Boiling Pot we were confronted with a large troop of baboons who were blocking out path. Cautiously, we walked around them passing within only about 3 feet from some of them. A couple of other people also saw 4 foot long Monitor Lizards, Skinks (small salamander like amphibians), and Hyrax (small rodents that kind of resemble woodchucks).

We also got our first chance at haggling in the open curio markets. All around the falls are many shops that pressure tourists into paying higher prices if they don't know what they are doing. It can be a little intimidating at first but I think we are all getting the hang of it.

Today, we are planning on going back to the falls and spending the whole day in the gorge looking for exotic species and tomorrow we will be traveling back to Lusaka. After spending the night their, we will be going to our first national park, Kasanka.

Until next time,
Zikomo,

Allan