 | Victoria Falls Transportation | Tips 1 - 10 of 22 |  |
Popular Transportation | Other Transportation Tips | All Tips (22) SAA BA offer joburg to vic falls daily both ways
the SAA has tow flights everyday the first leaves at early morning bout 9:00 or so the other leaves at 14:00 but BA only serves one flight per day it leaves at 11:00 both of the airways operates this route on boeing 767-200 aircraft
personlly i like SAA better for no reason maybe in my own opinion SAA is the best in Africa
for other travelers you can also go on Air Namibia or Air Zimbabwe the former leaves from Windhoek via Botswana whlie the later leaves Harare ( which is a domestic flight ) Leave a Comment
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Before going off on the safari, we meet Rasta, a playful babay elephant that we can pet and feed. They have 14 in total; most of them are quite young, orpahned elephants. African elephants are regarded as too aggressive to be tames, so the keepers are slightly concerned how the males will behave once they reach sexual maturity.
The maturity of the elephants are named after characters in the soap opera Dalls, and David and I ride Jake and Jock. Two other elephants are taken along for the walk, as well as the one that the ranger rides. One poor animal has an injured pad on his foot from a snare, but is well on the mend now.
The elephants are mighty big, even if they are young, and at first I feel a little wobbly sitting high on the back of such an enormous animal. The saddle is surprisingly comfortable, it is actually better than horse riding. You sit aside the elephant on a padded saddle that raises you from the elephant a further foot or so, with stirrups for your feet.
The whole experience of walking with the elephants is absolutely magical. Richard, my Nduna (elephant handler) is very talkative and knowledgable, especially about birds. He also knows when to keep quiet for us to saviour the feeling of being at one with these magnificent beasts and nature in general.
It is not a true game-spotting safari, but we do see a herd of impala, some monkeys, kudu and wathogs.
The last leg of the walk is wading across a lake, where the rangers take the two cameras to film/photograph us on the elephants. They do surprisingly well, the rsults are worth having.
Back at camp we are given more Zambezi beer and hot snacks, before being allowed to feed the elephants by hand. It is not like we've previously done elsewhere, this time the elephant opens his mouth and you stick your hand almost down his throat with a pellet on it. A great experience.
On the way back to town a couple of jackals cross the lane in the semi-darkness. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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The plane from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg is not full, so we can spread out. Just as we are about to take off, the captain announces that there is a problem with the plane. A seal is broken and it is leaking hydraulic fluid. He is concerned, and after further checks, orders us off the plane while they try and repair it.
More time passes and he decides that the plane cannot be flown in its present state, so he will have to arrange another plane. Unfortunately, the airport closes in half an hour, so we won't be going anywhere until tomorrow.
SAA hastily arranges transport (the only two large buses in Victoria Falls) to take us to the Kingdom Hotel for the night.
The next day, everything goes smoothly, apart from the fact that there is no food on the plane. Instead we are given a voucher to spend at Jo'burg airport, a much better idea in my opinion. Leave a Comment Theme: Airplane
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The open safari trcuk that picks us up at 07:00 has provided blankets against the early morning chill, which is a really nice touch.
On the banks of the river, we are provided with a full fry-up breakfast before we get on board the canoes.
The whole scene is very romantic - the early morning sun twinkling in the river and casting eerie spells of long shadows on the water.
Life jackets are provided, but I squash my glasses as I try to put mine on and decide not to wear one. They won't protect you against hippos or crocdiles anyway!
We glide silently through the still waters, effortlessly moving up river. The atmosphere is lovely, such a realxing experience. We try our hand at paddling, but it isn't required, apart from when we inadvertently get too near a hippo and have to move away rapidly.
Drifting downriver, we see the odd elephant in the distance and hippos wallowing on the river's edge. On one of the islands we are so lucky to see over 20 elephants frolicking in the river, playing, washing and drinking. There are babies too, enjoying an early morning swim. You feel really quite vulnerable being within feet of wild African elephants in a small canoe. They appear to take no notice of us whatsoever though, and we stay watching them for ages. In fact we moor on an island opposite for our picnic lunch. A meal with a view! Everything here is so well organised with beer and soft drinks, rolls, salad, ham, quiche, chutney, fruit and crisps. All the excursions seem to include food and drink. Leave a Comment Theme: Ship/Boat
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Colin and Ellis pick us up at 06:15 for the game walk in Zambezi National Park. The walk starts from Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, a super place out in the bush, with a lovely veranda overlooking a water hole.
Colin is armed with a 375 rifle and Ellis brings up the rear. The walk is more about the interaction betweem animals, plants and humans and the consequences of an imbalance, than it is a game spotting outing.
We are shown how to recognise trackes and droppings of different animals, whether they'd been running or walking, the age of the animal etc. The medicinal uses of various plants are explained to us, and how saving the elephant has caused untold damage to the fragile ecology.
The ranger picks up a wild almond from some elephant dung, cracks it open and we all have a taste!
On the way we see warthog, impala, baboons and crocodiles by the water hole. We also hear the roar of a lion - thought to be about a mile away.
Colin explains that on a walk a few days earlier, a tourist had been attacked by a buffalo when he ventured a little too near it in order to take photographs. He is still seriously ill in hospital. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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For this trip there are only the two of us and Future, the guide. It isn't a jet boat trip like we know it from New Zealand and Fiji, this is more of a wildlife cruise than an adrenalin trip.
With its shallow hull, the jet boat can navigate narrower channels than any other river craft, thus getting closer to wildlife.
The area is full of colourful birds, and we see some monkeys frolicking in the trees. I desperately want to see a crocodile, and right on cue there are three resting on the banks of the river. Hippo can be seen everywhere in the river. It used to be that hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal, but these days that title goes to the mosquito.
On one of the islands there is a herd of five elephants drinking down by the river's edge. Future navigaes the boat right up to the bank to get really close to them - so close that we can almost touch them - but in my eagerness to climb on to the front of the boat to get even closer, I make a noise and scare them away. Fortunately there are a few more around the corner, and they seem totally oblivious to our presence as they are ahving a drink and a sand bath on the banks.
Lunch is provided for us - with Zambezi beer of course - on an island in the middle of the river. Chicken, ham, rolls, salad, potato salad and fresh fruit for dessert. Leave a Comment Theme: Ship/Boat
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To get a good view of the Victoria Falls, the best thing you can do is to make a flight by Cessna or helicopter.
We choose for the helicopter.
It costs 50$ per person. A lot of money, but you get back a real life time experience in return.
You can book the flight in town.
The heli-port is a bit upstream.
We went there in a kind of tuktuk. Leave a Comment Theme: Other
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There are plenty of local buses to many locations in Zimbabwe and Zambia. This buses are a great experience, but U'll need planty of patience. They leave when they are full, don't trust the "official" schedule. And you better arrive on time if you wanna have a seat!!
If you come from South Africa, a popular bus for backpackers is the BAZ BUS, a hop on- hop off bus from Capr Town / Jo'burg. Leave a Comment
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A popular way to get to/from Vic Falls is the night train to Bulawayo. There are sleepers, book always 1st class (similar to european 2nd class), as is not very cheap and is not so crowded.
Book in advance, at least 1 day in advance, as it gets full.
There is a nice medium cheap restaurant on board, although is very very small, so you'll have to stand on line for a while beofre seating. Go to reserve a table as soon as the train starts if you wanna go to bed soon.
If you are in a budget, there are loads of local sellers at the station, you can buy there bread, water, fruit and... boiled eggs! Leave a Comment Theme: Train
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Next time I go to Victoria Falls, it will be on the Blue Train. I just have to save up some (a lot of) money first.
The train on the picture is not it, even though the locomotive IS blue. But we did see it in Victoria Falls and it was the only train we saw in Africa, and thus deserves a place on my pages ;-) Leave a Comment
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- Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
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Stand 278 Cnr Parkway Drive and Courtney Selous Crescent, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe - Mercure Azambezi Vic Falls 3m
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on August 31, 2003
on August 5, 2004
on October 1, 2003
on December 19, 2002
on June 13, 2005
