Easter Trip to one of the Seven Wonders of the World

Awareness that our time in Malawi is drawing to a close motivated us to take a little journey. Peace Corps limits vacation during your last three months of service and Noel and I have taken very little of our 24 days/year that is given. So for Easter, we embarked on a trip to Zambia to experience Victoria Falls. This was our first trip outside of Malawi. We boarded the first of several buses to make this trip of approximately 1000 kilometers to Livingstone, Zambia.

Day one; a trip to Lilongwe and all the final security check-offs with the Peace Corps staff before heading on the journey. The second day began with a 6 AM bus from Lilongwe to Lusaka, Zambia, reported to be a 10-hour journey. When we first entered the bus Noel noted that there were six, 2 liter bottles of SOBO (a Malawian soft drink) stashed under all of the bus seats. Two hours into the trip we arrived at the Malawi-Zambia border. All was going smoothly until we sat at the border for over three hours. The delay was related to two women who were taking, one would estimate, over 100 two-liter bottles of SOBO into Zambia. It appeared that the bus operators were in on this caper as they never seemed to be angry with the women and they persisted in encouraging the border police to let the SOBO go on. Many things that one may want to take into to another country enter your mind (even the local Carlsberg beer) that seem more exotic and exciting but obviously there was a BIG PLAN. Finally the bus started again with no explanation to any of us as the reason for the delay. We finally arrived in Lusaka at 7:30 PM. Tired and hungry, we stayed at the Lusaka backpackers lodge and prepared for the third day of our trip.

Day three we were on a 6 AM bus to Livingstone. Seven hours later we arrived and settled into Jolly Boys Backpackers Camp. We had a comfortable, thatched roof, two-bed cabin and relaxed in preparation for the FALLS.

So, early on day 4 we entered the Victoria Falls national Park. The falls are 1.2 kilometers in length and the water flow was at its peak since it is the end of the rainy season. We were warned that the spray might be significant; they were renting crocks and rain ponchos as we neared the bridge to view the falls. Words do not adequately capture the amount of water we had pouring over our bodies as we tried to witness the falls. People were dripping wet, laughing, sliding, and trying to get a glimpse of the falls whenever the spray would reduce briefly. What was visible was truly inspiring but one left with a feeling of, “did I see the falls?” A variety of options exist to temp you to spend a little money in Livingstone, so that evening we rode the Lady Livingstone sunset cruise on the mighty Zambezi river above the falls. It was absolutely beautiful and we met a lovely couple from Washington, DC who shared the 2 ½ hour cruise with us.

Driven to say that we actually Saw the falls, we signed up the next day for a Microlight flight over the falls. White-knuckled and very happy, we were flown over the falls and the surrounding game reserve. It was definitely a wonderful experience and a way to absolutely grasp the vastness of this area.

That night we decided to take an overnight bus back to Lusaka to save the cost of another night’s lodging. So at 8:30 PM we boarded bus one, 4:30 AM bus number 2 to Chipata, and then the two taxi rides to get over the border back into Malawi, another bus to Lilongwe, followed by the last bus to Blantyre. Our butts were tired, our bodies aching, and yet overall it was a wonderful trip with memories we will carry with us long after we leave Malawi.