Victoria Falls!

We had a great time at Victoria Falls - one of the seven natural wonders of the world! It was good for Abby and I to get away and travel for a few days, and Victoria Falls are as spectacular as advertised!
We left on Monday morning (4:55am) to Choma in a pickup truck (I got to ride in the covered bed for 2 hours on a very bumpy dirt road!). We arrived around 7ish in choma, and got together with another group of missionaries who were traveling to Zimbabwe for a retreat. Since their route went right through Livingstone, we got to tag along for a free ride with fun people! We arrived in Livingstone at 10am, and were dropped off at our little backpackers lodge, called Jolly Boy's. We spent Monday recovering, walking around town, taking care of errands (a trip to any town is an occasion!), and eating yummy food!

On Tuesday, we spent most of the day at the falls. It was an incredible sight! There are 3 paths you can take, one takes you directly to the bridge that runs right in front of the falls, another takes you around a ridge that overlooks the gorge and the falls from a distance, and a third that runs between these and takes you into the gorge itself to the "boiling pot" a little ways from the base of the falls. We started with the boiling pot. It was quite a hike! Rather steep and very rocky at times. We loved it, but it was at some points difficult, especially going back up! We were glad we did not try to end the day on that path! It takes you through a rain forest, which is only there because of the incredible plum of mist from the falls, to a rocky spot next to the river below the falls.

Next we walked along the ridge path, which was also beautiful, and ran across a troup of female baboons and their babies. They were very tamed, and would walk right by you close enough to touch. Very cool! The views from the ridge were, of course, amazing!

Lastly, we walked to the bridge that ran directly in front of the falls. Its hard to really describe how incredibly wet you become as you walk across! On the other side is a small island along which a trail runs the length of the Zambian side of the falls... it was like walking under water falls at times and at other times just a gentle mist. It felt very nice after the first hike! The power of the falls was incredible and it was aweinspiring to look down the falls and not see the bottom. David Livingstone, the missionary explorer, saw these falls (long after local Africans had described them as "the smoke that thunders") and was struck by God's handiwork.

We finished our day by walking above the falls and found ourselves on a small rock just 15 feet from where the water rushes over the top of the falls into its great depth below. It was scarier to see the pictures afterwards and realize how close we were to that power!

We enjoyed some lovely restaurants - lots of seafood, a sunset on the Zambezi river, and even some icecream (Abby's special treat!). We were quite impressed with our cheap youth hostel lodging that was clean, safe, nice, and relaxing. Finally, the journey back demands some mention - we were told that a bus would leave for Choma at 10:00am, we decided to check at 9:00am to see when the next bus was leaving. At 9:15 we were snagged by a guy who wanted us to ride his bus. "What time does it leave?" "At 9 hours" "But it's already past 9 hours..." blank look. "Get on! Get on!" We paid our fee and got on a mostly empty bus... and waited... and waited... the bus can't leave until it's full. So we waited. We finally pulled out at 10:45 with a bus that was a little TOO full. We glanced at the time and were a little nervous. There is ONE bus from Choma to Macha that leaves at "14" (i.e. 2:00pm) - and that bus leaves on time!! But, after several police stops delaying us further, we made it in time to get a seat on the bus to Macha, albeit beneath sacks and jugs of something. Thank you Lord!

Now Abby works the next ten days straight including, of course, several calls. Pray for her as she works and learns! Josh is busy arranging for life Post-Africa and we are anticipating a BUSY time in May and June before we settle in Massachusetts!