On Sunday afternoon before the Opening Ceremony I went to Victoria Falls along with a number of other UNWTO delegates. It is currently winter, which means it is dry season here in Southern Africa. As a result Victoria Falls is quite low. There is still plenty of water flowing over the Falls, but to put in perspective the difference in seasons, during the rainy season about 500 million liters of water fall each minute. In the dry season the water level drops to 10 million liters per minute. As an amateur Vic Falls tourist this means absolutely nothing to me, but since I can do math a 50-fold increase between seasons sounds like a lot. I was very impressed. I even got a little wet from the spray off the Falls. But, I may have to schedule another trip back here in high season to see the difference for myself. Here are a couple of pictures for your viewing enjoyment:
As for the game drive through Zambezi National Park it was great. I finally saw an elephant, lots of them actually, so I now feel like I’m in Africa. There were also plenty of giraffes, warthogs, water buffalo, kudu, hyenas and vultures. The vultures and hyenas were actually feeding on the carcass of a dead buffalo and they made a quick meal of him. According to our guides the buffalo was killed by a lion and the hyenas and vultures were just finishing him off. Sadly though we did not see any lions. Maybe next time.
After the game drive and canoe trip we were departing the park and right as we reached the gate we saw an elephant was blocking the entrance. We sat there waiting for him to move, which he didn’t for nearly 10 minutes. The reason he was so hesitant to surrender his real estate was because the park rangers were watering the lawn directly out front. One of them abandoned the hose and walked away, during which time an elephant wandered up and took advantage of a free drink:
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