Day 97: Farewell to Lobsy — Arrive in Zambia — Tour Victoria Falls

Packing up and leaving our lodge at Somalisa was sad. It was drizzling still, and we’d grown so attached to our family there — guide David and co-guide Dophus, plus our host Ronald, waiter Isaiah and everyone else.

We had a long drive back to the Hwange National Airport, so we left around 9 and set out over sandy and dirt roads for more than two hours. The upside: We saw three spotted hyenas! Which Willa found!

Our plane was a twelve-seater. We were a little delayed but eventually got going. Another episode of Queer Eye to get me through it.

When we landed in Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe, Lobsy was immediately whisked away to catch her flight to Joburg (where she got a connection back to Washington via Accra).

All told, door to door, Lobsy’s journey home was almost 30 hours long…

Willa sobbed when she left, and James was holding back tears himself. Back to our four-person crew.

We were picked up by a guide who drove us across the border into Zambia, and straight to Victoria Falls for a walking tour.

I’d been to Victoria Falls before with my family back in 2003 when the river was drier. This visit was different because it rained so much yesterday that the falls were enormous and deafening.

Our guide didn’t bring enough ponchos but recommended we rent rubber shoes for the walk — it was good advice because the “mist” is more like a torrential downpour in the sunlight.

We managed to still get pretty soaked, but it was fun.

The falls are about a mile across, making it the widest waterfall of its size in the world. Amazingly only one person — a guide, sadly — has fallen to his death there in recent history. But there were stories of herds of elephants getting caught in the current and going over, etc.

Vic Falls was I think the only other reaaaaally touristy place we’ve been this year besides Machu Picchu. So many backpackers and trinket shacks and hustlers and icky/questionable tour operators advertising sad-looking “safari” excursions where you like cuddle with cheetah cubs and stuff.

The falls themselves were stunning but I was ready to get away from that scene. Assuming we’ll have a few more of those, including Great Wall of course.

We had a 1.5-hour ride to our hotel, which was on a deeply rural upriver stretch of the Zambezi: Royal Chundu. This place was a real treat and embarrassingly luxury. We were not complaining.

Cold towels, welcome drink and even — a first for us — a welcome massage.

At that point it was time for sunset, so we joined the only other family staying here — a South African couple named Des and Anthony and their two kids (10 and 7, I think?) — on the hotel’s pontoon boat for a sundowner and bird watching.

The opposite bank of the river is a Zimbabwean game reserve, so we could see and hear a bunch of animals. Captain Moses pointed out birds and a few hippos.

I remember these Zambezi sunset cruises from our 2003 trip, and this one absolutely lived up to my memory — stunning colors, perfect temperature, very few sounds.

The kids swapped safari stories (this family actually does self-driving safaris and camping on game reserves!!) while the grownups chatted.

We ate dinner as a family and turned in around 9:30 pm, sleeping under mosquito nets.