an_asker

I thought I was!! ;-)

It's a bit upsetting to hear about the fires along N2 near Tsitsikamma. From the description, it appears to be somewhere between Knysna and Port Elizabeth, though I could be wrong. This after the fires that swept through Pilanesberg a few weeks ago!

an_asker

I was going through photos that DS took, and realized that there are quite a few of those that I can share to complete/enhance the description of the PLZ-JNB-BUQ trip :-)


Landside view - airport sign


Our codeshared flight ...




Our plane for PLZ-JNB


Airside sign - PLZ


On board flight menu


I had forgotten to mention that DS had got a seat near the front of the plane; as a result, unlike us backbenchers, he had managed to snag a vegetarian sandwich


City lights (a bit out of focus) as we take off from PLZ


After arrival at JNB


The poor statue of O R Tambo was quite lonely at this time of the night




As we get ready to depart for Bulawayo, an arbitrary photo of a plane


At our departure gate


The extraCity bus stop in Bulawayo


Another view




Loading operations

an_asker

The bus driver drove quite fast but the roads were not too bad. So, we didn't have any issues with the driving. It was hot though, and every so often I would open the window. The result of that was that dust would come inside so I couldn't keep it open all the time. Rest of the family took a nice nap. I munched on the sandwiches and sipped some water. The locals had their own food with them. I was surprised that most of the folks on the bus stayed on for the duration of the trip. I had assumed that at least a few of them would get off the bus along the way, but that number was much smaller than I had imagined. The main stop that I can recall was at the town of Hwange.

After we entered the Hwange National Park area, I was hoping that maybe we would catch sight of some wildlife. No such thing happened. But let me qualify that - DW claimed that she saw an elephant - but by the time she got my attention, the bus was probably a km or two down the road, so fast was it being driven.

Soon, the bus stopped at the Victoria Falls Airport stop (which was not really that close to the airport, i.e., you couldn't have walked to the airport from there with more than a carry on bag), and I realized that our bus trip was almost coming to an end.

I am still yet to come to grips with the orientation of the city of Vic Falls and where the main highway goes through. But all I remember from that time was that though my understanding was that our accommodations were close to the bus stop, a co-passenger said that it would be better for us to take a taxi. As he knew someone who had a taxi, he said he'd call his friend over. In any event, we were at our accommodations within a few minutes and the taxi fare was - I believe - $10 or so.

That evening, we walked over to the local supermarket to purchase some items so we could make ourselves something to eat. Then, after we walked back, DW and DD decided to stay right there, while DS and I went out for a walk. We were informed that after darkness, the possibility existed of wildlife coming to town, specifically baboons and elephants. So, we decided to return as soon as possible after nightfall. We walked past the supermarket into downtown Vic Falls. Our aim was to check out the railway station and to see the train depart for Bulawayo. We learned that the train departed after 7:30 pm (IIRC) and so, we wouldn't be able to see it leave as the sun set at around 6:30 or so. So, we just walked around the station and took some photos there.


Downtown Vic Falls


Some statues

Every so often we were approached by locals seeking to sell their statues and also to exchange their 100,000,000 (add or remove a few zeroes) Zimbabwe dollars only for $5! We managed to avoid getting into those wonderful deals ;-)


All photos in this post are from DS. I don't recall why I didn't have too many photos here, as I am pretty sure I was carrying my camera with me as well












This was the train that was getting ready for the trip to Bulawayo. The gentleman seen walking near the train walked by us and we got into a conversation. An employee of the railways, he was going to be working on the train that night





When we left the station for our short walk back to our accommodation, we saw a few families on the platform waiting for the train to enter the platform so they could board it. But, as I wrote above, that was to happen at least 30-45 later and it was getting dark so we headed back.

For tomorrow, the plan was to spend the entire day at the Victoria Falls National Park.

an_asker

Aaah, Victoria Falls! It was a short walk from where we were staying to get to the Victoria Falls. But we had to negotiate a band of monkeys who had taken over the footpath. I was walking a few steps ahead of the rest of the family, but here I stopped. DW was, like, are you scared of monkeys? I had to sheepishly admit that I was - ever since one had chased me around the roof of our home back in India when I was ten years (or less) old!

Anyway, when we were all four together - and folks behind us and coming from the other direction - I managed to gather up some courage and walk right through those monkeys. And they dispersed a bit as well. Soon, we were purchasing our tickets and entering the park.

As I had read previous trip reports, I knew there were a certain number of numbered view points. We started at #1 - Livingstone's statue - and saw the Falls for the first time at #3 I believe. That's the Devil's Cataract. And immediately, I saw a rainbow. I was very excited and spent 15 minutes or so taking all kinds of photos there. If only I had known (don't know if that was a unique day or not) ... there were hundreds of rainbow photos to be had all along the path to the last numbered view point. In fact, if it were up to me, I would not hesitate to rename the falls Rainbow Falls (notwithstanding the fact that Her Majesty might not be happy with me, or that there is another Rainbow Falls located elsewhere on Earth!).

Without further ado or comments, let me share the photos. They are all self-explanatory (and are worth more than a thousand words apiece!). One thing I've got to say though. I had been a bit apprehensive of there not being enough water at the Falls - peak season is supposedly earlier in the summer (for us!), i.e., April through June. This year apparently there was a lot of water (because of precipitation) upstream and so, the water at the falls was more than enough. In fact, even when we were there, the mist was obscuring the falls half the time (so, the falls probably would've been as good to view for at least the next couple of weeks if not more).

an_asker

Apparently someone had done that ;-)











Do you see the lone dude at the top left of the photo?








Misty ... when it really got misty, the entire opposite side was obscured. This happened quite often once we got to the main falls area all the way to the end. So, we had to stop and wait for the opportune moment when the winds shifted to get a good photo. Of course, on some of those wind shifts, the water would just rain down on us and we got royally drenched. I had smartly worn a polo that was self-wicking. I (intentionally) got drenched and sun-dried thrice during the walk. That was really a fun experience.


These rocks were slippery and warnings were posted, so we stayed relatively far away. There were some who chanced going closer to the edge. Fortunately for us (and for them), none of them went over the edge!!




Another perspective

an_asker

The area had deer ...


... and monkeys

Towards the end of the walking trail is a spot from where you can spot the road and railway line across to Zambia. We waited there for a while, eating our sandwiches for lunch and watching folks bungee jumping off the bridge over the Zambezi. We saw cars, trucks and other vehicles cross the bridge, but didn't spot any trains. We then headed back to spend more time along the falls and get more of those great rainbow photos.

We had scarcely gone five minutes from that spot when we heard the distinct sound of a train whistle. I didn't feel like going back as I thought it would be too late by the time we got back, but DS dashed back to try to spot the train. He returned after a few minutes; apparently it was a freight train, but he had managed to catch sight only of its tail end. The photos that he took were not too clear. Bummer!

After hanging around the area until about five pm, we left the park and decided to walk towards the bridge. Someone had told us that we could get an exit permit to walk across the bridge and then walk right back (even though we didn't possess a multi-entry visa into Zimbabwe). So we decided to enquire at the border for a bridge pass. The border official asked, "How many of you are in your group and what are you planning to do?" When we said that all we were planning to do was to cross the bridge then return, he pointed to the window where the officer would write out a pass for us. The officer wrote out a pass without asking for our passports or any other identification.






By this time, the sun was almost about to set







As we approached the bridge, we saw this steam engine that had hauled the tourist train to just across the bridge from Vic Falls station. This is a daily dinner train - the distance is hardly a couple of km, but the passengers get to leave Zimbabwe and spend time in Zambia right past the bridge. While the coaches are across the bridge, the engine drivers were doing their own thing in the engine. They invited DS to get in the engine; in a couple of minutes, I saw that DW had gotten on as well. Later, DW told me that she thought maybe they were expecting to be tipped; unfortunately, she didn't have loose cash handy and felt a bit embarrassed by it all. Anyway, DS got to spend some time in the engine and was happy! The drivers didn't appear too miffed about it all though, which was good to see.

We then walked across the bridge to the border signboard and just across it for some souvenir photos to proclaim that we set foot in Zambia as well ;-) At this point, we were approached by more folks selling their statues. I felt a little bad here as well, but we didn't have loose cash and I didn't want to get in any kind of trouble if it appeared at the border that we had made a transaction supposedly in Zambian soil or something like that. Right around this time, I also realized that none of us was carrying a passport, and all we had to be "legal" in Zimbabwe was the piece of paper that the border official had given us.

So, it got imperative that we get back into Zimbabwe quickly and become "legal" once more :-) When we were passing through the border this time, the lady asked for our passports, but when we explained that we had just gone for a stroll across the bridge and all we had was the bridge pass, she didn't pursue the matter too much and let us proceed into Zimbabwe.





The following photos are from DS's camera.

offerendum

Great nature experience^

an_asker

And just like that, we were on our final day in Africa. The plan for the morning was for DW and the kids to do a canopy zip lining tour. This kind of thing is just too much for chicken me, so I abstained. I decided to take photos of the scenery and them ziplining. For the afternoon, we had purchased tickets for a Zambezi River cruise. For both of these excursions, we would be picked up right outside our accommodation.

At about 8:30 in the morning, a van came over to pick all of us up from our lodge. We drove for about ten minutes to the Lookout Cafe, which was quite close to the entrance to the Victoria Falls National park.


Lookout Cafe overlooking the Zambezi River Gorge


The layout of the place was quite interesting. We soon had a guide show up who took the rest of the family under his wing and fitted them out with belts and harnesses, as well as helmets. I got to play photographer :-)


Shop with souvenirs and curios


After they were suitably attired, the guides (one more member of the staff showed up) took us on a short walk from where the ziplining would commence. I had already been informed that I could only come up to the first stop, from where all of them would zipline from station to station, nine ziplines in all, then walk back to the first stop. The entire thing, they told us, would probably take around an hour and a half. I was willing to wait - this is a zoomed in photo of the group in front of ours


As I watched my family, I caught sight of this dude also pensively staring into the gorge. Though I had been warned of monkeys, I didn't realize I would be able to see one so close by.


Little did I realize that there was a whole family (or more) of monkeys right by me. They were so quiet that I hadn't even noticed them. It was only after I saw the monkey in the previous photo that I looked around and spotted them!


Once everyone came back from the ziplining (everyone had high praises for the guides who were very friendly and even took photos with DS's camera), we hung around the area watching folks participating in bungee jumping and other activities.


This specific activity - the Flying Fox!


Some local signboards ...




We then had tea at the Lookout Cafe, enjoying the nice weather and taking in the scenery

It was about noon or so when we finally informed the local staff that we were ready for our ride back. We could've walked, I guess, but it was hot and, we thought that others would be riding the minibus with us. In any event, we were the only ones on the bus. I requested the driver to drop me off on the way, as I had seen a post office near the railway station. I figured I would purchase a few local stamps. But when I got to the post office, I was disappointed - it was Saturday and they had closed just about half an hour before I got there. I then trudged back to our lodge all alone. In a couple of hours, we would be back out for our final excursion in Africa on this trip.

an_asker

Right around the quoted time (it was either 3:00 pm or 3:30 pm), a minivan came by to pick us up for the Zambezi River cruise. At this point, we were happy that we had done everything we had planned to do - for the most part - on the African segment of the trip. DW and the kids had really enjoyed the ziplining activity of the morning. So, the Zambezi river cruise was just a bonus, the way we looked at it.

I don't know what made me think that the cruise was going to be happening downstream of Victoria Falls. Probably because I thought it was going to be closer to Lake Kariba which was - per my understanding - a quiet lake? I was disabused of that notion as soon as the ride got underway. Our driver informed us that downstream of the falls are a series of rapids and there is no way you could cruise through that (and I guess Kariba was not really that close anyway). She also told us that at night, there are regular sightings of elephants on the road that we were driving along to get to the cast off point on the river.

It seemed to us that the Africans (Zimbabweans to be precise) were learning from the Disneys of the world. As we got out of the minivan and about to step on the little cruise boat, there was a local dude (un)dressed in tribal garb singing some ditty. Some of the folks on the minivan gave him a tip; others didn't! The captain of the boat launched into his spiel on what there was to see and what the plan was. The boat we were on had a limited dinner (as opposed to the buffet option), but it came with unlimited drinks/beverages. We had read about vegetarians having had issues with dinner cruises, so had tried to get the no food option; however, the sales lady attached to our lodge managed to convince us to go with the food option, lowering the fare a tad bit to keep our business! This is one where I don't have a clue if we got a good deal or not. DW was trying to negotiate with the lady that she had read the fare as being two thirds of what was being quoted. In the end, we got about a 15% reduction - I never bothered to go back and do any post research on it :-)

We had a great cruise - DW was the only one in our group who did justice to the drink option (and even she got just one drink). The three (others) of us got a Fanta apiece. As for the wildlife, we saw a few hippopotamuses (or hippopotami, however you want to dice it), a crocodile, a few ducks, and - just as we were returning - two elephants out for a drink, very close to where we were about to dock. Unfortunately for us, by the time we docked, they had decamped. We did have a really nice sunset. Without further ado, here are the photos:


Getting started on the cruise


Two HippopotAmi!


Trigger happy paparazi


A zoomed in view


Per our unofficial guide aka fellow passenger (a Serbian who has relocated to Zambia), these are hippopotamus tracks


Competitors to our boat came in all shapes, sizes, colours and decors. And yes, some of these had the on-board barbecue, all-you-would-want-to-stuff-yourself buffets etc








He was lying there like a log, but we all knew who he was!!


Thirsty elephants

roadwarrier

Lovely Photos as always. The problem with sunset cruises or even, game drives, is that one day you cannot see enough, and the next day the animals are all shy, and bar a few birds and insects, you get to see nothing.

an_asker

That's absolutely true. It is your luck of the draw. If you're lucky, you see everything within an hour; if not, you can spend a week there and see (relatively) not much :-)

I keep harping back to the trip we took to Switzerland a few years ago. We spent three days in Lauterbrunnen and never caught a decent glimpse of Jungfrau behind the clouds.

an_asker

And just like that, it was time to leave Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and then South Africa in that order. We had an early morning flight from Vic Falls to Jo'burg. This would reach Jo'burg at about 10:30 am, and we would have the whole day to twiddle our thumbs before boarding the Qatar Airways flight out of JNB to Qatar at 7:40 pm.

We had arranged with the taxi driver who'd dropped us off to come pick us up at 6:30 am. And after a couple of whatsapp messages back and forth, he showed up on time. The charge was $30 to the airport which we reached without much ado. And here we had our scare of the day, as the check-in agent was unable to find DS in the reservation chart. What's so weird is that it was one ticket booked for all of us together. I had the printout and we could see everything online at the airline's website; but the agent's window didn't show him in the system. So, she directed us to the airlines booking office located at the other end of the building. After a few tense minutes, the agent there was able to find everything and notate this (by hand) on our ticket printout which we then took back to the check-in area, where we were finally officially checked in.

Once that was behind us, the rest was a mere formality ... oh yes, except for when we waited too long at the souvenir shop. There were other folks from the USA as well, making last minute purchases. We finally settled on what I still think was an expensive $28 T-shirt for DW. Even in Australia (Sydney to be precise), we'd managed to get T-shirts for $14 at the airport as souvenirs. But now, we knew we wouldn't have any better luck in Jo'burg as we had already made the rounds there the night we overnighted at the airport. Nothing decent was to be had for less there either. By the time we ran down the circular ramp to the gate, we were the penultimate family to board. But we made it :-)


Vic Falls airport - landside


Another view


What all can we buy?


Hyperinflation in Zimbabwe


Souvenirs galore


Vic Falls airport - airside


Our fastJet plane - zoomed in view


Long range shot

an_asker

I was hoping to get a glimpse of the falls from the air, as I'd read trip report after trip report of folks getting one. We were not so lucky. There was a lot of haze in the air and soon we could barely see the ground below us properly. Less than two hours later, we were in Jo'burg. We had to go through immigration and customs and - once again - display the birth certificates before we were able to get back to the airport's landside.

I might have mentioned this before, but now I think it was at this time that we found out that the Gautrain and/or other trains (I forget which anyway) were on strike. Anyway, the bottom line is that for all the time we spent at JNB, we were unable to catch a glimpse of either the local trains or of a Gautrain.


This is the area of the JNB airport from where, four days earlier, we had taken the flight to Bulawayo


This curio store had an excellent collection of souvenirs; however, they were pretty expensive. Besides, we didn't have much space in our luggage anyway. So, I contented myself with some photos


I asked the shopkeeper for permission to take the photos; he said it was OK if I took a few :-)

We spent time walking around the airport, getting coffee and snacks, uploading the photos from the SD cards onto DS's laptop and viewing them. I then walked over to the bookstore and thumbed though some South Africa centric books. One that I really liked was 101 Kruger Tales, but I didn't get it as - like I said - we were pretty full with our luggage (plus I hoped that maybe it was available in our library system). [upon returning, I didn't find it, but I did read the Elephant Whisperer whose sequel - written by the author's wife - I had looked through at JNB]

By about 4 pm, finally the check-in counter opened. DS noticed that there was a separate - and shorter - line for folks who'd checked in online. He quickly fired up his laptop, checked us in and voila, we were in the shorter line :-) This time, there were no surprises at check in. An hour later, we passed through immigration and customs - yes, we showed those birth certificates yet again - and were at the gates. Our flight took off on time, and soon, we were out of South Africa!



Sunset from the air

an_asker

After a quick glimpse of the sunrise, we landed in the desert that's Doha! This time there were no miscues in taking the people mover shuttle inside the terminal to get to our gate :-)




I remember reading about this sculpture in the Qatar magazine. Apparently it took quite some effort to get it installed.

A short turnaround later, we were airborne once more now bound for Sofia. Only in the Middle East will you see such opulence manifested in earthscapes that you would rarely sight anywhere else.






Unlike the trip down to Africa, this time our flight took the most direct route (no need to fly over the UAE anyway!) and we flew directly from the Persian Gulf into Iran


It was too bad that we were not that hungry on this Doha-Sofia flight because a) the plane was pretty empty and b) the flight attendants were very friendly and kept pampering us with food and juice. I did help myself to three cups of mango (my favourite) juice, only one of which is pictured here!

The rest of this post will feature various land forms that we passed over enroute to Sofia.







There appeared to be many areas with nice deep canyons but not much greenery around them. Wonder what they look like at the ground level!








A dam ... looks lovely from the air


A view of the downstream canyons - I bet there are white water rafting opportunities to be had down there!


More canyons in the distance ... and an almost dry riverbed


Water!!


We were getting close to the Black Sea now


Some clouds for a change




Black Sea

Interesting incident that happened at our host's a couple of days later. In conversation, he mentioned something about folks going to "our sea" for summer holidays. I wondered aloud "which sea?" to which he replied "Black Sea, of course!" Funnily enough, I have never thought of the Black Sea as a big sea in its own right, probably because I've not seen it at the ground level. But also maybe because it is not broadly connected (if you neglect the small canal that connects it to the Mediterranean) with the rest of the Earth's oceans like all of the other "Sea"s are! Black Sea, to me, is more like a mega huge lake.

an_asker

After a short while, we were in Bulgarian air space.

The countryside looked a lush green with some mountainous areas as well. And soon, we started a smooth approach into Sofia and landed.


Happy Bulgaria!!


It was a clear, beautiful, sunny day!

Out host had informed us that for a small fee, he would be happy to pick us up from the airport to his boutique hotel. Though the proposed fee was slightly more than the available public transportation options, we had opted to go with him especially as that meant that we did not have to go around looking for the place (though we were slated to land right around lunch). It was a very good decision, as he was waiting for us right outside baggage claim and customs.


Our first view of Sofia was quite refreshing indeed. I had wanted to spend a day in Belgrade, but had been overruled. So, I had been a bit miffed about Sofia. But Sofia turned out to be great. In fact, we all wished that we had spent more time there - folks were quite friendly in spite of the obvious language barrier especially for the older folks.

Our host was really great. He had obviously prepared and practiced a nice speech about his country and his city and it was really entertaining to hear and also educational to learn (I had not done any homework on Sofia). I felt bad a couple times when I stopped him to ask questions ... and he had to refresh back to the point where I had interrupted him :-)


Driving through Sofia ... from the airport to the CBD






One thing that is an eyesore in many places in Europe is graffiti. But the side of the host's lodge didn't have any graffiti. I asked if folks didn't put graffiti there - he said that they did, and each time they did, he used to clean it up. Apparently, after that repeated a few times, they gave up!!


Other than the graffiti, Sofia was a really neat and clean place! This square was close to where we were staying and DS and I went towards the local metro train station for a short walk immediately after we freshened up.


An obelisk in the square




I have no clue what the ad is saying. Do you?




On the tram lines :-)


Underground metro station


We stopped by Lidl on the way back


Sample prices - one Euro equals two Bulgarian Lev