As with many attractions in Africa, the amount you pay is partly determined by the country you are from. Entry for Americans is $50 per person. We paid our money and rushed to one of the viewing spots to get the "perfect" sunrise picture.
After that we rushed from one viewing spot back to another. Hoping to catch another place to get a perfect picture. By this time the sunrise crowd had spread out. From end to end, the park is about 1 mile, and includes 16 viewing spots. Of course, we stopped at each and took lots of pictures.
Victoria Falls is twice the height of Niagara Falls. This is a dry season so we didn't get the full effect of how powerful it can be. We heard a guide saying that in November, some of the small falls we saw along the way would be totally dried up. One of my absolutely favorite things about Niagara Falls is getting the spray in my face. There were only a few places along the way that we got that spray. I asked one of the guides about it and he said that the greatest spray was April, May, and June.
Once we got to the end, we sauntered back looking more at the rainforest vegetation that is supported by the mist from The Falls. We enjoyed looking at the different birds, seeing a ridge-back antelope, and watching the antics of the baboons.
Once again, we have come to the end of some of our clothes. We had packed for cold weather and hot weather and we had come to the end of our clean hot weather shirts. Our host had told us one of the local hotels takes in laundry from locals and charges $5 per bag. We didn't need everything laundered. We won't be wearing too many long sleeves, wool socks, or jeans in 100+°. We decided that was a good deal so we used the taxi service from the morning to drop off our clothes.
We don't buy many souvenirs when we're traveling. Partly it's because we try to travel with a carry-on and a backpack. That doesn't leave much space for things we buy. Still, I wanted to be able to buy something for our granddaughters. I'd been hoping for matching t-shirts. The taxi driver dropped us off at a local crafts market. I wonder how many of those items are actually handcrafted. No luck in finding a cute t-shirt but I did end up buying Olivia a small handbag. Hopefully, she will make use of it. At least it's colorful.
We had the same taxi driver pick us up and he thanked us for supporting some of the local people. Tourists have the means and are willing to pay for things that inflate prices. It becomes very difficult for local people to afford things. He said that he buys most of his clothes second-hand.
We had walked around the craft market and I had looked at a different little bag. The vendor started out at $20. Through some bargaining, he brought the price down to $13. I walked away saying that I would think about it. We were on our way out and he spotted me and came running after saying that I could have it for $10, then $5. Finally, he said that I could take it for $3, I was the first customer who had stopped at his stall. I felt really bad walking away, just like I feel bad for all the people who approach us with small carved animals as we walked on the streets. On one hand, I want to support them all, but I had learned a lesson many years ago in Mexico. I had bought something small on the street from someone who had approached me. In a minute, I felt swarmed. It was a horribly uncomfortable moment. Now, I say no thank you and keep walking forward.
When many of locals are barely getting by, we feel incredibly fortunate to have our health and the means to travel.
This evening, we did a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. I had resisted a dinner cruise, I couldn't see paying extra money for an OK meal. Our host said that the sunset cruise that didn't include dinner were only allowed to stay on the river for two hours, while the dinner cruises were allowed to stay on the river for three hours. For some reason, I thought we might see animals that lived in and around the river so the opportunity to spend an extra hour enticed me. In the end, we only saw a handful of different birds and one hippo as we were getting off the boat. The food was nicely presented. You could tell they were trying. But in the end, the food was good but not enough to recommend it. Being on the river an hour past sunset, however, was.
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