Southern Africa Adventure; Three Z's - Zambezi River, Livingstone Island, Zambia & Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe & finally elephants!- November 2025

Looking at Zambia from Victoria Falls National Park, Zimbabwe.

We were driven to Botswana’s Kasane International Airport. Our Africa Adventure Company driver drove us to Livingstone Island, the dinner train ride, Victoria Falls Hotel, Victoria Falls Nat'l Park & the Victoria Falls International Airport.

While we waited for him at the airport we devised alternative disabled person transportation to get from the parking lot into the terminal.

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We drove from Botswana to the Quadrapoint in the Zambezi River & over the Kazungula Bridge. “As it connects one country to the other, it makes a gentle but curious curve. There is no structural reason for it, only a geopolitical one: this is to avoid touching two other countries located on either side of the bridge.”

That little line of Namibia between Botswana & Zambia is “…the Caprivi Strip, named after the German chancellor who obtained it in 1890. He wanted the then-German colony of South-West-Africa to have access to the Zambezi in the hope that it would be navigable all the way down to the Indian Ocean…

…It isn’t: 40 miles (70 km) east of Kazungula, the majestic Victoria Falls block off that option.” Whoops.

Our route , in purple , to Victoria Falls.

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The ca. 2021 Kazungula Bridge with two motor vehicle traffic lanes, a railroad line & pedestrian lanes. “Before the bridge existed, traffic flowed slowly across the river on unreliable ferries. Trucks waited as long as 12 days to get on a pontoon, and the journey itself took 30 minutes. Now, up to 250 trucks pass through Kazungula town every day…”

But I digressed into the geopolitical arena. Let’s return to the Three Z’s.

Now on Zambia’s M10 to Livingstone, Zambia.

The use of donkeys in Zambia's agriculture is only a recent innovation from the 1990's.

“…With a declining number of oxen due to drought and disease, the use of donkeys for tillage and transport is expected to increase."

To the right is wood for sale.

No musician in sight.

At a fancy hotel on the Zambezi River leading into Victoria Falls, Zambia. I was minding my own business waiting to be driven to the Victoria Falls Royal Steam Train dinner tour when…

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Victoria Falls Royal Steam Train dinner tour.

Kwacha! In Bantu is “Dawn” or used as “Cheers!”

Kwacha the currency of Zambia & also, I was told, means rain.

The Victoria Falls Royal Steam Train proceeded backwards from the 1902 Mphamvu Livingstone Depot to the Victoria Falls Bridge. The view from the rear platform was perfect.

This is the railroad line that Cecil Rhodes hoped would go to Cairo.

Victoria Falls Royal Steam Train dinner tour.

I had discovered this tour on line & had African Adventure Tours add it to our itinerary. I’ve always been a sucker for a vintage train ride.

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I spy…

…an elephant!

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The railroad crossing arm seems like an afterthought.

The 1905 Victoria Falls Bridge . A truck crossing from Zambia into Zimbabwe.

Zambia straight ahead & to the right Zimbabwe lower left.

The purple arrow points to a path we followed with our guide Precious two days later.

Zambezi River with Zambia on the left & Zimbabwe on the right.

I didn’t drink any more from this glass.

"Boiling Pot" & "Palm Grove" leading into Victoria Falls.

“Rhodes was insistent that the bridge should be built in a place that the spray from the falls would fall on the passing trains…” Hence this location close to the “Boiling Pot.”

A few feet of "No Man's Land" between Zambia & Zimbabwe.

The lovingly restored Victoria Falls Royal Steam Train. Circa the 1920’s.

The Russian tourists on our train delayed everyone & we almost didn’t make across the border from Zambia into Zimbabwe before it closed.

So, late arrival at the ca. 1904 Victoria Falls Hotel.

On the Zambezi River en route to Livinsgstone Island. On line I had read about the island lunch & swim in the Devil’s Pool. We added this to our itinerary.

Mist from the falls seen on the Zambezi River as we approached Livingstone Island.

At Niagara Falls, NY, that mist was referred to as fumaroles.

Note the people on top of the falls, in the upper right of the photo. They are at the Devil’s Pool. We decided not to go there as my leg & balance would have made it too dangerous.

We loved the absence of barriers.

Photo from Zambia by Nomi of the Zambezi River flowing into the falls. Zimbabwe on the other side of the river. The Devil’s Pool is to the left; note the towels folks left behind.

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Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

Mist (fumaroles) as seen from the Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe was once Rhodesia & the people lived under the same harsh apartheid as in South Africa. Only whites would have been welcomed here as guests back then. Not so any more.

Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

“Central Zimbabwe contains the ‘Great Dyke’—a source of serpentine rocks of many types including a hard variety locally called springstone.”

Following Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 & the lifting of sanctions against the former apartheid Rhodesia, Shona sculpture became known worldwide.

Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

Seen as we returned to our room at the Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

Thundering noise from the Victoria Falls.

Seen from Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

We had never before seen an ebony tree.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

A carefully placed natural barrier of thorn bushes.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

David Livingstone’s statue in Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

“David Livingstone visited the falls in 1855 when he documented his first impression on the beauty of the waterfalls during his first encounter when he named the falls after Queen Victoria.”

Blood lily.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

View from the Zimbabwe side path the next day. At the height of the winter rainy season we’d be looking at a wall of water & mist.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

You can see folks walking to & then further to the left, in the Devil’s Pool.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

Truck crossing the Victoria Falls Bridge into Zambia.

The bridge was made & assembled in sections in England & shipped via ship & rail to the gorge. Assembly was completed on April 1, 1905.

For the bridge geeks, this is most interesting: https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/victoria-falls-bridge-construction.html

Seen from Victoria Falls Nat'l Park a Unesco World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

A baboon proof trash bin. The top spins so they can’t reach down or get in. The park grounds were free of trash.

Victoria Falls Nat'l Park RAINFOREST a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls Bridge seen from the Victoria Falls Hotel.

The Victoria Falls Hotel, “built by the British in 1904, was originally conceived as accommodation for workers on the Cape-to-Cairo railway.”

Ru-ikane Sunset Cruise on the Zambezi River.

“Our mono-hull boats, the ‘Ra-ikanes’ are styled after David Livingstone’s exploration boat used in the 1850s. The name ‘Ra-ikane’ is derived from Livingstone’s trusted aid Lazarus Ra-ikane who guided Livingstone to the Falls in 1855.” This is a sister ship of the one we were on. Our captain was very proud of his vessel.

Ru-ikane Sunset Cruise on the Zambezi River.

Savoring a G & T on our Ru-ikane Sunset Cruise on the Zambezi River.

Well hello there.

Ru-ikane Sunset Cruise on the Zambezi River.

Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

In a corridor, a wall was filled with these vintage British cartoons. Some were quite amusing.

Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

This poster was on the wall facing us as we opened our room door.

Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

We passed these sentry boxes several times & I didn’t realize they were built like the Khani stone buildings of the 1400’s Zimbabwe.

Victoria Falls Hotel, Zimbabwe.

I had read about the Nxumalo character in Michener’s The Covenant” pg. 54, visiting Zimbabwe (in 1454) & seeing these buildings. I wish I had known before. There were some walls around the hotel built in this stone style as well.

fastjet’s asambé in flight magazine.

On Zimbabwe A3 to the Victoria Falls International Airport. These trucks were waiting to cross into Zambia. They could be waiting for days.

On Zimbabwe A3 to the Victoria Falls International Airport. On the right the soon to be site of the Cup Zimbabwe Cricket Oval “the Mosi-oa-Tunya International Cricket Stadium, the 10,000-seater ground will host global events in 2026 and 2027. Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) will co-host the Under-19 World Cup in 2026 with Namibia, while South Africa will join the two countries to stage the prestigious 2027 World Cup.”

On Zimbabwe A3 to the Victoria Falls International Airport.

“Originally established in 1966, Victoria Falls Airport underwent a monumental transformation with the completion of a major upgrade and expansion in November 2016. This ambitious project, funded by a $150 million loan from the Exim Bank of China.”

Victoria Falls International Airport.

fastjet lounge, Victoria Falls International Airport.

Next up, two flights to Kruger Mpumalanga Internat'l & Skukuza Airports & on to Notten’s Bush Camp in the Sabi Sand Reserve, South Africa. And, animals galore; even monkeys trying to grab food from our table.