Off to Victoria Falls and Chobe NP

November 20, 2025

Today was an interesting day for many reasons. I left Cape Town and flew to Victoria Falls arriving shortly after noon. Immigration into Zimbabwe had its challenges. A visa is required to enter Zimbabwe and I tried online as they suggest but to no avail. You can get them at the airport which I did but the agent only sold a one entrance visa for $75US so I will another coming back from Botswana. He should have sold me a multi entrance one but I was in no position to argue. The gate agent also had me jump the queue in front of 2 other Canadians who less than amused. On top of that our passports got mixed up so my shuttle driver had to go and exchange them. Fortunately we were all still in VF. Lesson learned, check that you have the right passport when several are being dealt with at once. After all of this fuss I finally got to see Victoria Falls which are spectacular. There is a 1+km path that takes you to 16 different viewing spots so by the time you see everything it is between 2-3km of walking some of it up and down stairs. Once I finished at the falls it was off to Botswana to the Chobe Safari Lodge. I am here for 2 nights with 2 different safaris tomorrow. Getting into Botswana was also a process. I first had to clear out of Zimbabwe and then clear into Botswana with 3 specific stops. The first to clean your shoes against foot and mouth disease, the second was medical to make sure that I had not been in a yellow fever region and lastly passport control but no visa. Once all that was done it was a short drive to my lodging. Sadly the process will all have to repeated in 2 days to go back to VF.

The weather forecast for the next few days in Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Just to set the mood when you arrive at the VF airport.

David Livingston statue at the falls. A bunch of very cute school kids in their uniforms were having their school photos taken there.

The Big Tree. It is Baobab tree that is about 1200 years old. It is 24m/78’ tall and 22m/73’ wide.This tree can store up to 120,000 litres of water enabling it to survive droughts. The fruit pods it produces are used to make herbal medicines

Some beautiful fabrics in the market outside of the entry to the falls. This is where I bought my new hat.

I bought this hat at the market because you really need one in this sun. It must have been a good omen for the photo below.

We saw these guys on the trip from VF to Botswana.

I walked out to the local village grocery store for water, coke and beer and this guy was just walking through. Nobody was fussed.

Dinner was a lovely steak and chips with a Cav Sav from the Franschhoek valley.

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