Our next leg started with a short 50 nm, half an hour flight along the shore of the lake to the Kariba airport, for refueling. This was by far the most efficient airport in Zimbabwe, the fuel pump was working, the credit card machine was working, the controller was very professional. We didn’t have much time to linger around and we continued with the second leg, 250 nm, 2 hours along the Zambezi river to Victoria Falls.
During the flight, I managed to get in formation with Robert di Blasi in a Cherokee and took some nice in flight pictures.
After landing, we drove to the Victoria Falls hotel. This is an epitome of an old colonial hotel, still in great shape, but with average service and average rooms. Most impressive though were the common areas, reminding travelers of old bygone splendid times.
The whole town lives off tourists of course, but they push it too far. A ticket to the falls is $30/person and it is valid only for one entry. Make sure you have a raincoat, you will need it, otherwise you’ll pay $3 to rent one, which leaks like a wool sweater. With a constant rain coming off all the water pushed up from the falls, one thing you’ll get for free is a shower.
The falls are of course impressive, and I know I sound like a spoiled rat saying this, but now that I have seen the three big ones: Niagara, Iguasu and Victoria Falls, I believe that Iguasu Falls at the border between Argentina and Brazil are the most amazing.
In the evening we drove to an African restaurant – great show of drums and I know it is hard to believe, and you probably are lucky you didn’t hear it, but I did play drums. There is a video of that achievement, but I will not post it.