Christensen Family: Africa Day 19 & 20

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Africa Day 19 & 20

This morning we flew to Zambia. The Johannesburg airport is very nice and modern, but it guess it is not big enough for all the planes that fly into and out of it, so we had to take a bus out to the plane and walk up the stairs to board. We were picked up at the airport by the hotel owner and went to our hotel, Gloria’s Bed and Breakfast. We did some catch up things, then walked to the grocery store and bought groceries. We cooked our first meal in 2 weeks (I don’t miss cooking, but I am sick of eating out. They are so slow here at restaurants and eating is usually an hour and a half at the fastest.) We met up again with Kirt’s parents. They are staying at the same hotel with us here in Zambia. They came a day earlier than us.

We went to see Victoria Falls today. As many of you know, waterfalls are one of my favorite things. They were breathtaking. We walked across the bridge that divides Zambia and Zimbabwe (just to the middle because we didn’t want to pay to go into Zimbabwe today). There is a good view of the falls from the bridge. We also watched several people bungee jump and do a rope swing off the bridge. We choose not to do this. If you happen to follow the news, a girl went bungee jumping off this very bridge a few weeks ago and her rope broke and she fell in the Zambezi River. She lived thankfully, but we didn’t want to take the chance of it happening again. Then we went and walked closer to the falls. We rented ponchos because when you are so close to the falls, the spray from the falls is like being in the worst rainstorm you can imagine. It was a little disappointing because there is so much water all around you that you couldn’t really see the falls that well. It was cool to be that close to them because you can see the huge amount of water that is coming over the falls and see how powerful the waterfall is.

After seeing the falls, we went to a crocodile farm. We met up with Kirt’s parents and the Kofods at the croc farm. There were 72 crocodiles there. One of them was 80 years old and he was huge. Our guide kept walking out in the enclosures and touching their noses with a stick. The crocodiles would open their mouths and turn their heads and make a loud noise. One time he got a stick and touched a crocs nose over the railing. We weren’t expecting it and we all screamed and jumped back. Another guide went out in the enclosure and sat on a crocs back. They are crazy. There were tons of crocs that had lost part of their noses or legs because another croc had bit them off. Then we got to see the crocs be fed. I can see why they have all lost body parts. They are vicious when they are being fed plus they can’t see very well, so they bite down on whatever is near the food whether it is the food or another croc. We also got to touch a baby croc (no one was brave enough to hold it) and see all kinds of snakes that are found in Africa. I am so glad that it is winter and the snakes are hibernating. There are way too many poisonous snakes in Africa. They guide kept saying, this snake is so poisonous that you will die if you don’t get the anti venom in 30 minutes. Not what I wanted to hear.