I had secured online visas for Zimbabwe and Zambia before travelling to Botswana with the intention of driving in these countries. Those plans fell flat with all car hire companies in Botswana prohibiting their cars to be taken outside Botswana, except to South Africa. Therefore, I arranged for a day trip to Victoria Falls. The border posts open at 6 am and I was at the Botswana post by 6.15 am. I was alone at the Immigration and completed formalities in 5 minutes.
The transporter from Zimbabwe met me at the Botswana Immigration and took me over to the Zimbabwe side. I was asked to wait a while as their systems were being rebooted. I noticed a circular posted on one of their windows of fees for different purposes. What struck me as odd was the different visa fees for different nationals. It was the highest for Canadian passport holders at $70, then the Chinese at $60 and British at $55. There was no mention of other nationalities.
A few 3-seater steel chairs were placed near the Immigration windows for people to await their turn. One of them was turned upside down and a monkey was keenly inspecting it. While I was videographing the scene, about 15 minutes from the time I reported to the counter, they located my visa online and stamped the passport. They also gave me a fee receipt for $45 for the multiple entry visa I had applied for online. I was permitted entry into my 50th country.
As I was moving from the counter, inspecting the stamp in the passport, I tripped on the steel bench and fell, injuring the right side of my face. One of the cuts bled profusely. The ground I fell to was dirty and dusty. Fortunately, I had Dettol wet wipes that I had kept in my backpack at the last minute in a hunch. I used them to clean the wound and bruises. The bleeding refused to stop and, for a while, I thought that my trip would have to be aborted. I packed the right ear with the wet wipes and kept them for some time. That seemed to reduce the blood flow. I kept applying pressure at the spot and the blood seemed to clot.
The distance to Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwe border is 73 km, which was done in an hour, with due disregard of the 80 kph speed limit. The transporter, Max, knew exactly where the police could be. I doubted if they had many patrols at that time because of wild animals. The road cuts through the Zambezi National Park and I noticed an elephant and a hyena during the drive. There are signages at intermittent locations warning drivers not to stop their vehicles. Max told me of a recent incident where a parked car had been smashed by an elephant.
As we nearest Victoria Falls I requested Max to take me to a pharmacy to buy some dressing. The young girl packed me a bottle of betadine and a bandage, after seeing the cuts, and told me that I should get to a clinic in the neighbourhood. Max took me to the Bridge Health Clinic. A look at the cuts and the nurse on duty told me that I would have to pay $80 to see the doctor and separately for the dressing. Another person, who seems to be head nurse, brought it down to $50 when I told her that I have the bandage and betadine. When I insisted that I would not want to see a doctor and needed only the dressing she brought that down to $20! Linda and Lazy cleaned up the bruises and cuts in the Resuscitation Room and tied the bandage in such a way that it would continue to apply pressure on the wound to stop bleeding. The only problem was that the bandage covered a portion of the right eye too, obstructing vision and sleeping the bifocals We struck up a conversation and Linda told me that she watches a lot of Bollywood films. Her favourite stars are Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor.
Hiring a poncho for $4, USD is legal tender in Zimbabwe, I paid the entrance fee of $30 and stepped into fantasy land. The Victoria Falls, Mosi-oa-Tunya (The Smoke That Thunders) to the locals, was discovered by David Livingstone, a Scottish physician, entrepreneur and explorer. Livingstone, on seeing the massive waterfall named it after the British Monarch at the time, Queen Victoria. Later he recorded in his journal these famous words:
'No one can imagine the beauty of the view from anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by European eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight".
The magnificent curtain of frenzied water, on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, is on the Zambezi River and is more than 1700 metres wide. The towns of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia stand on either side of the mile wide waterfall and the mighty Zambezi River.
The nearly 3 hour round trip walk has 16 identified stations, starting with a life-size statue of the intrepid explorer. Despite the poncho I was fully drenched in less than half hour from the spray and rain. The Falls is impressive and massive, particularly the Horseshoe. On completing the walk I pared into the Rainbow Cafe for a wholesome meal of grilled Zambezi Bream fish with veggies and chips.
One can obtain a Bridge Pass to walk from Zimbabwe to Zambia across the Victoria Falls Bridge. Road, rail and pedestrian traffic between the two countries take place across this bridge built in 1905 at the initiative of Sir Cecil Rhodes. The bridge has three segments, Zimbabwean and Zambian sections and a no-man's land in between. The bridge is also used for bungee jumping and zip lines. I could not do either because of the injury.
At the entrance to the bridge was a 'boneless wonder'. The many contortions he did with his body elicited laughter and awe from those around him. It seemed that the man had neither bone nor muscle. He walked with me for some distance and asked for some money. He looked happy with BWP 20 I gave him. I met Paul around halfway on the bridge. The Zambian explained how at this of the year there is more water on Zimbabwean side of the Falls. He walked me to the Zambian end of the bridge and took me to a couple of lookout points to take a few photos. Once that was done he too asked me for a few Pulas.
One of the things that mesmerised me is the wood work; the carvings are exquisite. Works in jade, lapis lazuli and malachite also stand out. The Falls has very few visitors and vendors bemoaned the bad times they are in. I had a long chat with Arthur, Peter and Paul about their economic conditions. Things didn't look too good. Bargains can be had of the crafts if one chooses carefully. I do not know if I did.
The drive back to the border was uneventful and I took short naps till I got back to the border posts. The passport was stamped by Zimbabwe and Botswana Immigration and I was picked up by a taxi to get back to the hotel. Once I settled in Abin, who had come to Kasane in a business trip, took me to the New Hope Clinic for a tetanus shot and another round of dressing. The doctor explained that the cuts are superficial and would not require any other attention than regular cleaning and dressing. Thank God for that. I did not even ask for painkiller as I did not have any pain at all, which surprised the doctor too. What surprised me was the "I am sorry" I heard from anyone who asked about the accident or saw that I was hurt. Even the nurses kept saying, "I am sorry", while they were cleaning and dressing the cuts. Hearing it being said all the time made me feel sorry for having tripped and fallen.
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