As usual all good things must come to an end and so too was our pleasant stay at Green Tree Lodge. Yesterday evening Hector had brought a neighbor’s kid to the lodge, a little girl Amanda, about the same age as Adrian. The pair had played well together and this morning when the time came to say goodbye there were tears in Amanda’s eyes. We persuaded Adrian to leave something for Amanda to remember him by and he agreed to give her one of his cars.

I had enjoyed our stay at the Green Tree lodge for its privacy, peace and quiet, the good food, good internet connection and most of all Hectors give and take attitude to the business. Alison had to correct him for undercharging us for the dinner last night, even though it was a small amount, it was still an income!

Our first stop was The Falls looking for small denominations of USD. We did get some from Barclays Bank but then spent some time shopping for souvenirs realizing that we are going to leave Africa in a few weeks. When it came to the flag sticker for the car no one had it and we had to go back to town and still came up with nothing. Alison eventually bought “I love Zambia” sticker and suggested that we cut the flag off it. We took the opportunity to buy an extra loaf of bread while back in town, just in case!!

By the time we got to the immigration it was already 1200hrs and within 15 minutes we were clear of the Zambian formalities. Likewise the Zimbabwe side the formalities didn’t take too long either, a matter of 30 minutes, while Alison argued her way out of paying for some uncalled for taxes. We eventually had to pay carbon and road taxes, at USD15 and 10 respectively, but no visa required which was a relief.

The Victoria Falls park entrance was just beyond the Immigration point and we nearly missed it as the car park sign was placed beyond the car park itself. The policeman who stopped us was a bit dumb and told us to go into a road leading to nowhere! We turned back then and found Victoria Falls Park opposite the car park set in from the main road.

We were all excited with our own ponchos ready (we didn’t have o hire one), paid our fees to go in and had the most amazing experience listening to the thunderous roar of the falls. We walked to have a side view of the falls first and came across the statue of Livingstone marking the centenary spot when the falls was discovered by him on 16^th November 1855. We contemplated on going down to the bottom of the falls but considering that it may be slippery and the 73 steps we gave it a miss. Then on we went to view the main falls and it was such a magnificent and amazing sight which I found it difficult to take my eyes off. But time did not permit us to stay on.

About 500 meters down the road from the car park, where I bought a walking stick ( I am still wondering why I bought it), the Town of Victoria Falls was a surprise to us after hearing all the bad things about Zimbabwe. It was full of new buildings with a large number of guest houses and a few good looking hotels. There was even a Wimpy outlet waiting for its opening. But the touts as usual spoilt everything and the kids begging would have to stop too.

By 1430hrs we were on our way to Bulawayo. I have to admit that the roads were good (probably because of lack of traffic) and we made progress rapidly. Funnily enough there must be laws in place preventing people from selling on the side of the road as the curios being offered were set in from the road and so too were vegetables for sale. Unfortunately, no one had thought to put a sign before the stalls to indicate its existence and we passed them without realizing it.

It was 1930hrs before we reached the outskirts of Bulawayo which was in total darkness. There were a few street lights but not quite bright enough to help us find our way. We had to go slow and following the guidelines from the Lonely Planet, finally found the Backpackers Paradise and at USD 10 per person was the most expensive we have paid for quite some time. But as they say beggars can’t be choosers. Alison had to rustle up something quick for Adrian as it was late and she managed to fry up the steaks for us which tasted rather good and the campsite dog can vouch for it too!