May parents met and married when they were working in Zambia in 1949-1950 and my brother was born there. (I was conceived there but born in England). His bucket list trip is to go back and see where he came from. His wife has no interest in going so in a moment of madness I said I’d go with him. It was a spur of the moment suggestion but he liked the idea of us going together and It is actually happening - in July!.
I’ll fly to England to his place then we will fly to Lusaka for a few days then to Victoria Falls (where our parents honeymooned). In Lusaka we will visit the church where out parents married and where my brother was baptized and try an visit some places associated with our parents. We are thinking of more of an organized tour in Victoria Falls (I think the Zimbabwe side) including a 1 day Safari.
Anyone been to Zambia and or Victoria Falls and have any tips of what we should see and do, shouldn’t see and do? I know we should get Malaria pills and the visa that covers both countries. It’s a lot to organize especially when I live here and he lives in England.
You will have a fabulous time–what an opportunity! D2 studied abroad at University of Cape Town and, when I visited her, we went to Vic Falls and stayed on both the Zambia side and the Zimbabwe side. I specifically remember walking over the bridge that connects the two rolling our suitcases! I will ask my D to see if she remembers the names of the places we stayed. The trip was magical and I’m happy for you that you are able to go, especially with the added connection to your parents.
You will have a fabulous time–what an opportunity! D2 studied abroad at University of Cape Town and, when I visited her, we went to Vic Falls and stayed on both the Zambia side and the Zimbabwe side. I specifically remember walking over the bridge that connects the two rolling our suitcases! I will ask my D to see if she remembers the names of the places we stayed. The trip was magical and I’m happy for you that you are able to go, especially with the added connection to your parents.
Just came back from Zimbabwe/Victoria Falls. We stayed at the Victoria Falls Hotel, which was a charming Coloniak hotel with beautiful grounds and walking distance to both the bridge linking Zimbabwe with Zambia and the Falls. There is an easy path to walk around the Falls area at Victoria Falls Park. You don’t need a Guide. Bring your camera, but also a plastic bag to keep it in when not shooting, and a poncho. You will get soaked by the spray! We also splurged for a helicopter ride over the Falls…fabulous to see It from the air. The hotel arranged the helicopter ride for us. Enjoy!
Thank you. I am so excited. Wish my husband could come - he would so love to but we just don’t see how he could make the long flights or get around once we get there. But it will be rather special my brother and I doing this together (hopefully we are still speaking at the end of it!).
I would love to hear any details about where you stayed and what you did. I looked at the tour because I really wanted to do at least a little safari - it includes several activities and I am not sure we won’t be paying a little over the top for having it all arranged for us. We definitely want to see the falls from both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides so will be making that same hike across the bridge.
We did do a safari on our trip, but it was at Kruger National Park in South Africa. I highly recommend a couple of days doing game drives. I don’t know which Game Lodges would be good where you will be staying, but you might want to look on Trip Advisor. Where we stayed in South Africa Everything was included including 2 game drives a day with a guide and tracker in an open safari vehicle. I think there is a wide range on accommodations from rustic to luxury, with prices to match.
I would love to do more than the one day Safari. I managed to convince my brother to do that but not sure he’d be on board with it. He is mostly about seeing where Mum and Dad met and where he was born but I told him as we were going that far we should at least do one day. My Mum worked at a game reserve in the Lusaka area so he would like to try and see that - we’re not exactly sure of it’s name though. Sure wish Mum was here to ask!
My D and I were able to remember a few details that might be helpful. We stayed at this hotel on the Zambia side: https://www.minorhotels.com/en/avani/victoria-falls. It was reasonably priced, in my opinion and, crazy as this sounds, zebras roamed the property. You weren’t to touch them but, lying by the pool, they’d be just a few feet away. It was crazy! We went for a walk and came across some giraffes. We just marveled, honestly. I would recommend the hotel highly.
We had lunch at the Victoria Falls Hotel. The grounds were beautiful but my daughter reminded me that lunch was pricey and we didn’t particularly like it. However, we were there May 2014 and it was very hot and they were one of the few places with AC. We were very, very happy to be there.
On the Zimbabwe side we stayed at Ursula’s Homestead and had another incredible experience. They have kind of mini-safaris from the hotel where you go out for a couple of hours. We did the sunset ride and saw rhinos and a variety of other wildlife. The setting is pretty miraculous as we would see elephants while dining. My daughter reminded me that the room was fine–not great–but we agreed that the setting, the hosts and the opportunity for the mini-safari made the not perfect room unimportant.
Thus, it’s possible to get in a little more safari right from your hotel in just a few hours. Maybe that’s a good compromise with your brother, whether he joins you or you go on your own.
We were there when the water level was lower so there wasn’t much spray from the places we were able to go although there was some on the bridge. We also splurged on the helicopter ride and, I agree that it’s worth it if you can swing it.
Thank you so much. I will definitely have a look at those hotels. They sound amazing. We do plan to do the helicopter ride (not the bunjee jump though!).
I was there about 8 or 9 years ago. The Victoria Falls Hotel is not to be missed. It is lovely and very much a throwback to the colonial period (well, maybe not so much a throwback as a time capsule). They serve tea in the afternoons, and we enjoyed that more than the meals. We tried to walk across the bridge into Zambia, but the beggars and people trying to sell us stuff on the walk over the bridge drove me batty. They will NOT leave you alone. If I were to do it again, I would take a taxi across. We took a taxi back, and it was much more pleasant.
The little town of Victoria Falls is interesting, but the “tourist police” will wrangle you if you try to stray too far from the hotels. I think they were there to protect tourists from the locals, but I was never entirely sure. They did try to make sure we only went to the tourist-friendly restaurants.
The falls themselves are amazing. You can (or at least could) rent ponchos for about a dollar; you don’t want to walk around without a poncho. The tourist police were also stationed on the path from the hotel to the falls, I presume to keep us from being mugged.
I would check with the hotel on one-day excursions. There are some tour services in Victoria Falls, but we were only there for two nights, so we didn’t use any of them.
Our room in the VFH had two twin beds. They appeared to be the original furnishings. Don’t leave your window open–critters come in and will snatch any food you’ve left lying around.
One of our funniest memories of the trip was my nail clippers being confiscated by security in the airport as we were leaving Zimbabwe. The guy telling me “these are a dangerous weapon,” when I know a thing or two about Zimbabwe’s recent history, was sort of jaw-dropping.
Thanks! The high tea sounds like something I’d like to do for sure. Interesting about the tourist police in Victoria Falls.
I am beginning to wonder if the tour is not really necessary. Sounds like a lot of excursions can be booked from the hotels. The real reason I looked at the tour was because of the safari I want to do. The tour includes 3 nights in a hotel in Victoria Falls, a boat ride, tour of the falls, Bomi dinner, One day Safari into Botswana, the helicopter ride over the falls. It’s $1060 each. I guess I need to try and figure out how much those things would cost individually. I’d probably prefer my time not to be too structured - but I really want to make sure I can do all the activities I want to (the structure of the tour would probably preclude the afternoon tea for instance).
Good to know about the bridge. I do hate to be pestered!
I managed to find prices for all the separate components of the tour we have been looking at (it also includes a canoeing trip) and it actually looks like the separate components including a hotel in Vic Falls would come up to close to the price of the tour and the tour includes them picking us up at the airport. So for convenience sake I may just go with the tour and maybe add a day for us to do our own thing. I would sure like to fit that afternoon tea in somehow! I’m thinking along the lines of doing the tour (which my brother has agreed to) which sounds like a busy time then maybe spending a relaxing day and the night at the hotel with the zebras that @collage1 recommended. It sounds like it would be a nice end to the trip (hopefully my brother will agree).
we are planning on at least a one day one from Vic Falls (part of the tour I have been looking at). My brother is trying to see if there is something near Lusaka as well - preferable related to where Mum worked but we’re not exactly sure where that was! I’d love to do more but the trip has already grown some from our initial plans both in time and $$$s. I will be happy if I can do at least the one day. I’m spending a couple of days before and after the trip with my brother and his wife in London so between all the flights, London, Lusaka and Vic falls I will already be mossing 3 weeks of work.
I confess I am not looking forward to the long flights, but they haven’t invented the beam me up scotty thing yet.
Agree with the others. Do. Not. Miss. A. Safari. I’ve been on four and am going for a fifth in 11 weeks (not that I’m counting the days or anything).
It’s probably a good idea to take pills but you’re going during their winter so you shouldn’t have to worry about malaria.
ADVICE: Take some warm clothes!! The safaris are in open vehicles and it can be really chilly. Gloves, hats, and warm jackets can be so nice! Also take your own pair of binoculars.
Remember that you’re not in the US. Service can be slow and you will probably get frustrated more than once! But it’s all worth the effort. I cannot wait to go back.
Yes to binoculars and to a good camera, preferably with a decent zoom. Some folks on our tour were using their iPhones for their photos and were disappointed with them. We had to share all of our photos with them when we got home.
Just posting here to say I might be a wee bit jealous.
And to mark the thread making it easier for me to find as I’m contemplating where our next Bucket List trip will be now that we’ve finished Petra/Jordan. The cons listed so far don’t bug us in the least. The pros seem awesome. I had been thinking Iguazu (for us), but now I will have to compare and contemplate.
I think I get even more excited to go to Africa now than when I first went in 2008. I’m a little nervous about visiting Cape Town, though, with its extreme water shortage. I know we’ll be fine as tourists, but I will feel guilty every time I use any water at all!
FYI - 2 international airports at Victoria Falls. One on Zambian side ( Livingstone Airport) and one on Zimbabwean side ( new Victoria Falls Airport). At the airports you can get a Zim/Zam visa to cover both countries. I prefer the Zimbabwean side to see the falls, there are a decent amount of people trying to sell you things, most of the people earn their living this way. As someone mentioned above - June/ July and early August is very cold in the morning no matter if you are on safari or not. Bring warm clothes, including winter hat.
I Second The Victoria Falls Hotel! This is on Zimbabwe side.
Not too far from Victoria Falls on Zimbabwe side ( I love Zimbabwe) is the north end of Hwange National Park. Excellent game viewing and more elephants than I have ever seen - and that is saying something! There are some high end and very reasonable camps where you can spend the night and go on game drives or walking safari.The camps will pick you up at the airport for a slight fee.
Point of reference - I have travelled to these countries on more than one occasion. 2 of my favorites in Southern Africa!
You will have a wonderful time! What a wonderful stories you will have! It’s been just over a decade, but that part of the world is on my Favorites List! Vic Falls Hotel and a safari are NOT to be missed! Lovely hotel grounds. You can hear the Falls from the hotel’s veranda…Makes for a very enjoyable tea time!! If you have luggage space, take a few shirts and/or shoes to give the ‘vendors’ along the route to the Falls. They will be very grateful. Somebody made a similar suggestion to us and we were so glad to have extra clothing items to give away. You will need a rain jacket to protect you from the spray, if the water is high! Also did a safari in Hwange–great game viewing.
