From Zambia to Zimbabwe and back to South Africa, all in a matter of under a day - which is what we accomplished yesterday and today. Yesterday morning started off with us just lazing around the hostel pool and in the sun, taking it easy with not much planned for the morning. After lunch, once Giulz and Julie were back from the airport having tried unsuccessfully to change their flights, we hopped in a taxi and made our way over to the entrance Falls and to the Victoria Falls bridge, which connects Zambia and Zimbabwe together. On walking up to the border control, we were suddenly approached by a number of baboons who were sitting around waiting for food, and guaranteed to spot the apples which we were carrying. They left us alone once we threw the apples in their general direction, but rather frightening having these not-so-friendly looking animals coming directly at you. After that little scare, we passed through the Zambia border control and headed for the bridge, maybe a 10 minute walk along the road.

The view from the bridge was amazing - with the Falls and both the spray and mist on the one side, and the view down the Gorge on the other side. Along the bridge, we met up with some Polish guy who had signed up for a Bungee Jump, so decided to hang around and watch that. The main thing I learnt from his jump is that the bungee experience just isn't for me. As much as I hate not being able to do things, this is one of those that I don't feel I've missed out on. Not quite my idea of fun. Anyway, after his jump, we took a walk along the bridge towards the Zimbabwean side. At the half way point, roughly where the bungee platform is, there's a line drawn splitting the bridge in half, at which the imaginary border is between the two countries. Physically the border is the Zambezi river below, but the markings on the bridge also allows for the two informative signs shown below. We didn't venture too far into Zimbabwe, had no real reason to or plans to see much, so after a bit of walking down a long road to nowhere, we turned around and headed back over the bridge, towards the Zambian side.

Just at the end of the bridge, we stopped off at the Bungee Cafe which overlooks the bridge with the Falls in the background. We spent sometime there, grabbed a drink and our last few photos of the Falls before making our way back through the border post into Zambia. There we hopping into a taxi and made our way back into town, stopping by the shops and market to grab some food for last night. For dinner we had decided to have a braai - the weather seemed good and we thought it the best way to end the holiday as well. Shopping was a slightly different experience to usual, being the only non locals in the shop, and then again down at the market while shopping for coal later on. But everyone there were all incredibly friendly and helpful, even the guys during the day selling fake Zimbabwean notes and the guy after dinner trying to get me to buy blood diamonds. The braai took some effort to get going, the lack of firelighters was probably the reason, but once we'd sorted that out, the braai went down like a treat, together with a few sundowners.

This morning after packing up, we got a taxi to the airport, with a roundabout detour back to the hostel after Julie realised she had forgotten her rafting DVD, but still managed to get to Livingstone Airport in plenty of time. Especially after the flight was delayed by 30 minutes at first, then another 30, which soon turned into almost an hour and a half after the initial scheduled departure time. But once home, after a Steers burger, a catch up with the folks and a quick unpacking of my bag, we cracked open the beers, lit up the fire and made the most of yet another evening in Africa :)