Victoria Falls 6-16-86 Victoria Falls Thunders

By Bob Van Leer
(VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, June 16, 1986) - This was a day of sightseeing beginning with a visit to a reproduction of native structures of a number of tribes, set up for tourist viewing. After that we went on a walking tour of the focus of the trip here, the Victoria Falls.

It was impressive yesterday by air: if anything, the falls are more impressive viewed from ground level. Because of the geography of the falls, viewpoints are at the same level as the top of the falls rather than the bottom. The roar and thunder of the water pouring over the lip of the falls and dropping into the gorge below pales in the description, but it is truly awesome.
  From the hotel in the morning we noticed that the plume from the falls is at it highest then, before the sun hits. We're talking about a plume 1200 feet high. On the trail along the ledge opposite the falls, laid out for viewing, the falls creates, on part of the trail, a permanent rain. It is necessary to wear raincoats and there is a tropical rain forest caused by the falls in an area that has relatively sparse rainfall. One part of the area has a permanent drenching rain.
  In the afternoon we took a short trip to a crocodile ranch. Crocodiles are cousins to alligators and both do little ordinarily but lay on the ground looking dead. In the evening we took a sundown cruise on the Zambezi River above the falls on a boat that will carry about a hundred. The Zambezi is a big river, an estimate would be that it is about the size of the Columbia. We were treated to an extraordinary spectacle: a herd of elephants came down to the river to bathe and play. We had never seen these big animals before in a big place on big water.
  They had a ball, obviously enjoying themselves like kids in a swimming pool. These enormous beasts would dive completely under the water and disappear. Sometimes you would see the tip of a trunk come up like a snorkel. After quite a bit of playing in the water they came out and some used dust and sand like bath powder, dusting all over. There were a couple of dozen in the herd, from calves to old bulls. The cows and calves drifted away as our boat came closer and finally an old bull trumpeted and the lot of them disappeared in the forest. Watching the elephants play in the Zambezi River at sunset in central Africa is an experience that we feel privileged to have been able to see.
  Tomorrow we plan a quick expedition to Zambia, just across the river, before starting the long voyage home at noon. From there it will be one continuous trip from Zambia back to Zimbabwe, back to South Africa. Then we continue retracing our steps with the long, long flight to Kennedy Airport in New York and then to San Francisco, Medford and home, all in one trip. Here in Victoria Falls we have no television or radio in our rooms and no way of knowing what happened in South Africa today. Whatever happened did not have much affect here. Tomorrow we will know more.