I awoke at 7am having slept well in the bed so comfortable and suitably dressed with linen of stratospheric thread count.
Breakfast was served in The Jungle Room, a restaurant overlooking the bridge and one could see the spray rising from Falls.
It was excellent, with a chef to cook to order. The menu had somewhat of an American flavour in that pancakes and French toast were available. There was also a glass of bubbly if one so desired??
After breakfast, we took the path from
the hotel to the Falls. (10 minutes).
The Falls are now within a National Park - entrance fee (€25)
The park was excellently laid out- each of the different viewing points were numbered.
We walked the 1.7 km length of the water fall; from the entrance to the bridge.
A brief respite - the photographer( a Rovis Rail passenger) quipped that it was unfortunate that there was no train to be seen!!
Initially, I wasn't impressed, stop no 3 informed us that it was the Main Fall. However, as we progressed , it became more impressive. Its fall is greater than Iguasu Falls (Argentina/ Brazil) and Niagra Falls but Iguasa is wider.
The spray was enormous and at some points we were soaked as were our cameras! It was a spectacular sight and experiencing a localised rain forest atmosphere was phenomenal.
We then adjourned to the bridge on the Zambesi which separates Zim from Zam.
We had to cross the border at Zim. We passed a monkey having lunch.
We hadn't our passports with but the immigration official gave us a pass to get back, he looked rather intensely at my video camera but said nothing.
A railway line runs on the beige connecting booth countries. The commercial road traffic queues at the border for usually three hours in order to clear customs!
When we got to Zam side, we just walked across the line and had a beer in a nearby cafe overlooking the Zambesi river, watching these crazy kids bungee jumping from the bridge into the Zambesi river below!
We returned to Zim and to the Hotel , where we prepared for the Sunset Cruise at 1600 hrs. The cruise was ok , we saw some elephants, hippopotamuses, monkeys and a variety of beautifully feathered birds. The sunset was spectacular as we sipped our G&Ts - very colonial.
We returned to the hotel and dressed for dinner. We're fine dining tonight at the Livingston dining room in The Falls Hotel. It is reputed to be the best restaurant in Zim and it didn't disappoint! The room was beautifully appointed- old colonial in atmosphere and the silver service was gracious!! We had the 7 course degustation menu which was superb. I didn't photograph the courses as I didn't wish to further torture your taste buds! It was a superb meal. One amazing feature was the palate cleanser - not a sorbet as is usual but a tomatoe and basil soup, which had been clarified. It was colourless and served in a small glass . It had the distinct taste of tomatoe and basil. When I asked how it was done - I'm no gourmet cook - our waiter compared it making white wine from grapes!
As we returned to our room - The hotel gardens looked spectacular as was the bridge resplendent in its changing colour patterns.
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