Hello my adorable Thinkers!
A couple weeks ago I promised that I would write an entire post about my trip to Victoria Falls in 2020. This post is going to be formatted very differently from my emails. I am going to tell the whole story including one of the most terrifying moments of my life to date.
This story starts December 18, 2020. We had planned to go to Victoria Falls when my family was with us in Zimbabwe, but we decided that even though they could not come we would still go. I am very glad that we did since it gave me a better perspective about Zimbabwe beyond just the capital city.
We took a bus from Harare to Victoria Falls which was supposed to take about 12 hours each way. It was exhausting but very interesting to see the country as we passed by. The highways through Zimbabwe are mostly paved but the pavement has many, many potholes so the bus was not supposed to go over 40 mph. The driver on the way there did go faster than that, but only a little faster. I was able to sleep in increments and would wake up every 30 min to an hour and have to regain my bearings. They played movies that are set in Zimbabwe on the bus but I had downloaded Lego Batman onto my phone so we used my headphones and watched that instead. Ishmael had never seen Lego Batman and loved it. As a family, we quote that movie a lot so I am sure it explained many of the random comments he had heard Emily and I say.
The whole trip there was pretty uneventful until we got to the stop before Victoria Falls. They made everyone get off the bus and we got confused about where we were. There was apparently something wrong with the bus that made it not go more than 15 mph the rest of the journey. At this point the sun was up and we were able to see the countryside. We saw a mine of some kind with mine workers walking around. We also saw some family farms where people were working.
When we got to Victoria Falls there was a personal taxi driver waiting for us from our Airbnb. He took us to the grocery store so that we could get the food we ate that weekend, and then to the cottage we were renting. After we got off the bus, my hip and knees hurt so bad I had trouble walking around. I was getting worried that I would have to limp around the falls as well, until I sat down on my bed and popped my back. It felt like whole spine re-aligned its self but my hip and knees immediately were better.
The plan was for Emily and I to rest and recuperate that Shabbat and then go to the falls the next day. But Ishmael would go both on Shabbat and with us the next day because it was 1/5th the cost for Zimbabwe citizens to get into the falls as compared to US citizens. They would determine who had to pay what by your passport. That Shabbat I was able to get a lot done on sewing Emily’s wedding dress and was a lot more refreshed by the next day.
The next day we packed our stuff, and headed off for the falls. On the way over to the falls Emily mentioned that she kept seeing monkeys. I hadn’t seen any so I asked her where they were. Once she pointed one of them out, all of a sudden I saw them everywhere! There were small ones like the size of squirrels and there were big ones that were the size of toddler. It was fascinating and a bit strange to see these creatures in the wild when I had only ever seen them before in zoos.
As we were walking in I had no idea what to expect. I had seen waterfalls before and I had seen pictures of this waterfall but nothing compares to seeing it for yourself. The waterfall is so long that you cannot see it all from any one point. There is a path that follows the edge opposite the falling water along the Zimbabwe side. It comes closer and further away from the edge in different places. After the end of the path the only other way to see the rest of the falls is to cross into Zambia. We did not do this since most of the falls are visible from the Zimbabwe side.
Along the edge of the cliff there is a fence in some areas. In other places the ground just drops or there are boulders along the edge. When looking across the chasm that the water falls into, it looks like you are seeing the edge of the world. The Zambesi River flows directly towards you then just flows off the edge out of sight.
I know for those of you who have seen waterfalls, this might just seem like I am describing any waterfall. But it is truly awe inspiring and my mind could not fully comprehend it all. Looking down where the water is falling, you realize how carefully God has designed each part of this world to have such beauty, power, and deadliness. The sound of the falls can be heard from miles away like the sound of rushing wind.
After we had walked the length of the Zimbabwe trails we headed back to our room. There we made our dinner for the bus ride and packed the last of our stuff. Then we were off to the bus station again.
The ride back was a very different experience from the ride up. When we got on the bus Ishmael tried to arrange it so that he could sit next to Emily and I would sit next to a woman across the isle from them, like on the way up. But no women wanted to sit where we were. So when the bus started to leave Ishmael told me not to let any man sit next to me. I agreed and filled the seat by the window with our luggage and sat in the isle seat.
As the night wore on I had trouble falling asleep. I would be on my phone or computer trying to get the pictures off my camera onto my phone. Around 1:30 am I had apparently dozed off. All of a sudden I get a poke on my shoulder. When I look up there is a bus boy who normally sits in the cab. He says, “Move over so I can sit.” I say no. He tries to argue with me in broken English that I should let him sit between me and the isle. Since I could not understand why I needed to move I woke up Ishmael from across the isle. All of a sudden the bus boy’s tune changed. He told Ishmael in Shona that he and Emily needed to move further back in the bus but I needed to stay where I was. I could tell what was happening from his gestures (and from Ishmael translating later). Not realizing the part about me staying, Ishmael leads us both further back in the bus. There are no other seats that are available together so Ishmael came back to the bus boy who was then saying no, no just you two, she (meaning me) can stay here. I was shaking at this point because I had no idea what was going to happen and it was very obvious that he was targeting me for some reason.
Ishmael realizes what is actually going on at this point (to be fair I did wake him from a dead sleep so anyone takes a minute to figure out what reality is again) He tells me to sit with Emily and he would deal with the bus boy. We go and sit down and the bus boy is now sulking against the window in the row I had been sitting in. Ishmael goes to sit in the isle seat and says, “My brother! how are you?” Very loudly in Shona. The bus boy gives a mumbled fine and faces the window. At the next stop the bus boy moved out of the seat and didn’t sit there anymore. Ishmael stayed there until the sun came up and it was no longer dark in the bus.
I do not know that the bus boy had any nefarious intentions but the whole situation was terrifying. Things definitely did not line up or make sense the way they were portrayed. I am so grateful that I was able to get Ishmael’s help.
On the way back to Harare we were able to see the road that leads to Ishmael’s farm. He has moved there since we left and is now working on raising animals and growing crops. He is also fixing up the house and preparing it for when he and Emily get married and she moves onto the farm.
That is the story of Victoria Falls! I know this was not described hardly at all in the emails I sent from Zimbabwe so hopefully this satisfies any curiosity that y’all might have.
Until next time my adorable Thinkers! ~The Pondering Panda
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