Beverly does Africa

That's it.  Beverly has done Africa. Overnight we departed Victoria Falls to join our connecting flight back to Sydney.  Our return flights went without a hitch and we both slept like babies across the Indian Ocean. Mum is now waiting at Sydney Airport to board her final flight home to Auckland.

We made the most of our final day in Africa with a grand finale helicopter flight over Victoria Falls. Weeks ago we booked the first flight of the day hoping that the weather would play its part. We weren't disappointed. The morning dawned with lightly overcast skies and calm conditions.  It was near-perfect weather for flying.

Our helicopter took off shortly after 9am on a flight route that took around 20 minutes to complete.  The tour company is based at Elephant Hill, about six kilometres north of the falls.  The hill is a low-profile mound rising from ancient floodplains that follow the Zambezi River towards Victoria Falls. Several years ago an impressive five-star resort complex was built on its crest.

As we took off a distant rain shower gave the landscape a wonderfully African flair.  The view was spectacular. We traced the Zambezi River's path towards the falls.  Our route took us over the berths for dozens of boats we'd seen traversing the river two days before and on towards the falls themselves. 

A curtain of white mist hangs perpetually over the falls. For the last two days, we've watched this "cloud" drifting from our hotel dining room. At times the wind had swirled the mist into a jagged mushroom cloud reminiscent of a fading atomic bomb test.  However, from the air, the mist proved insignificant.  It obscured only a small section of the falls giving us an unobstructed view of its majesty and its equally impressive neighbourhood.

Our helicopter pilot flew us in a leisurely circle of eight around the falls, the Zambezi Gorge and the frontier bridge. The falls stretch an incredible 1,708 metres. Only from the air is it possible to conceive of just how far the falls extend.  However, the trailing gorge that's been carved over millennia proved equally spectacular.  A series of jagged Z-shape ravines scar the surrounding plains for more than seven kilometres downstream.

Our flight included ten minutes of safari flying over a nearby national park.  From the air, we spotted several giraffe herds grazing on the treetops, as well as a large herd of elephants rambling through the bush.  It was very cool to see the animals from this perspective after spending so much time viewing at ground level. Mum loved every moment of our flight. She told me it was one of the highlights of her entire Africa adventure.  The perfect way to finish an incredible vacation.

Almost homeward bound

Tonight is our last night in Africa.  Tomorrow afternoon we'll begin retracing our steps back to the Antipodes and real life.  It's been an amazing vacation.  Mum has learned so much about Africa that her head is at risk of exploding.

The images posted here were taken earlier today.  After our morning Elephant safari, we returned to the Falls National Park to complete a walk along the crest of the falls. Our first attempt had been thwarted yesterday by a drenching tropical downpour so we were pleased the weather played its part this afternoon. The falls are truly dazzling in direct sunlight.

As for the ponchos?  They're a must!  As you walk along the rim you encounter a cascade of mist falling from the skies at various points along the way. These falls really are the "smoke that thunders".

Victoria Falls - a photo essay

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of sightseeing.  We've taken two separate walking tours along the crest of the falls, gone bush with African elephants, and traversed girders underneath the local frontier bridge.  I've posted photos of our elephant excursion in a separate post.

Today's excursion to the falls was perfectly timed. We arrived at the national park entrance just as the sun broke through the clouds. As a result, the fall had a delightful sheen and vivid rainbows were visible from several vantage points. We walked as far as the rock platforms overlooking the spectacular "Corner Viewpoint". This is where the Zambezi River turns south and begins weaving its way through a gorge carved over the millennia.

Our bridge walk was a magic experience. Much to our surprise, we were the only people on the tour. As a result, we enjoyed a private guided tour that took us down grated stairs by the bridge's foundations in Zambia, along a northern gangplank underneath its road deck, and then up onto the deck in Zimbabwe. 

The gangplank offered spectacular gorge-framed views of the falls and a fascinating close-up look at its girders and other infrastructure. We then spent time watching fearless tourists bungy jumping off the bridge, while others screamed their way along a Zipline strung over the gorge.

We learned that the bridge was actually prefabricated in England, shipped to Africa via Mozambique, and finally opened after 14 months of construction in 1905. It's 198 metres long, with a main arch spanning 156.50 metres at a height of 128 metres above the lower water mark of the river in the gorge below. Interestingly, it carries a road, railway, and footway making it a vital transport in Southern Africa.

There's honestly nothing I could write that would tell the story better than the images I've posted here.  Therefore, I'll leave you in peace to admire the scenes we've been enjoying.

Finally, here are a couple of images we took on our first afternoon at Victoria Falls. The weather was rather inclement when we arrived in Zimbabwe, so we only ventured out briefly to get our first glimpse of the falls. These two images were taken overlooking the Devil's Cataract along the fall's western boundary.

Elephants at dawn

Today we went exploring with a group of African elephants.  I booked us on a small group tour with Shearwater Adventures. Our day began with an early morning pick-up from our hotel.  We were then driven out to the company's 4,000-hectare private game reserve where five elephants were waiting for our group. 

I was pleased to learn that our tour wasn't exploiting animals born and raised in the wild. The elephants we rode were conditioned to humans from a young age after being rescued by the tour company. Sadly, their mothers were either killed by poachers or culled by rangers (a practice that's since been discontinued). The reserve also runs a Black Rhino Breeding Programme that's working to rebuild and sustain this endangered species. However, we didn't see any Rhinos during our visit.

Climbing aboard these enormous animals was an adventure in itself.  Our "Induna" or driver, got it to crouch down on the ground. We then clambered aboard using a small step ladder. When you first get on you feel a bit unsettled, especially as the elephant stands to its full height. It certainly feels a very long way down. You also sit on a type of canvas saddle with stirrups for resting your feet in.  This rustle saddle made us feel far more connected to the animal than the platform-based rides I've experienced in India.  We rode with two people per elephant plus our driver.

Our 45-minute ride took us on a circuit through the bush down into a shallow river bed which we crossed before circling back and returning to base. We were then given an opportunity to feed the animals and take plenty of one-in-a-lifetime close-up photos with them. It was a genuinely moving experience.

To quote the tour company, "Sitting on a knee of these gigantic animals being able to stare into those big blinking eyes, feel the velvety softness of the ears and the rough hue of their skin, and to have them feed right for your hand with their incredible trunks – is deeply bonding and a visceral feeling for many."  I couldn't have said it better myself!

Perhaps one of the excursion's coolest highlights was something completely unplanned.  As we drove into the reserve we encountered a pack of Painted Dogs chasing a forlong little antelope.  It was fascinating to watch these animals on the hunt. The drama that unfolded couldn't have been scripted better by David Attenborough himself.

Hippos on the Zambesei

Today we've flown to Zimbabwe where we'll experience the magic of Victoria Falls.  After a full day of travel, we finished the day with a boat ride on the Zambezi River. For almost two hours we cruised along the riverbank and past swampy islanding watching the Hippos at play before enjoying a spectacular African sunset.  This is clearly a popular activity. Our boat was joined by a flotilla of others, each packed with tourists like ourselves. 

Pretoria

Today we explored two extremes of human history.  Our day started with a tour of Sterkfontein Caves , 60kms northeast of Johannesburg. The caves are famous for the discovery of early humanoid fossils found inside them. This includes “Mrs Ples”, a fossil skeleton at least 1.5 million years old and “Little Foot”, an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton dating back more than 3-million years.

Mum loved the caves.  They're huge with large spacious caverns.  We even saw an archaeologist examining the rock face and could see an active excavation site carefully mapped out in an orderly grid. A small museum at the entrance houses some excellent exhibits on early humanoids.  Its artifacts include some replica skulls cast from the original fossils found here.

We then made our way to Pretoria.  We spent almost two hours at the monolith Vortrekker Memorial standing on a hill overlooking the city. We also visited Church Square and looked inside the old Parliament Building before making our way up to Union Hill.  This is home to the nation's Administrative branch.  Outside in the gardens can be found a new, giant statue of the late Nelson Mandela.