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 p.1 #3 · Victoria Falls and other Africa activities advise | |
vbnut wrote:
In late October I'm doing a 1-week photo safari with Pangolin on the Chobe River and in Chobe National Park. About a week later I fly from Cape Town to spend a week in Antarctica. Since I'm coming from the west coast of the United States, I'm considering arriving in Europe or Africa a few days early to give my body some extra time to adjust to the time zone change, in the hope that I'll be at my best for photography when the safari starts.
Since I'm in the neighborhood, I would like to visit Victoria Falls, and I have a few questions about that.
- Are there paths and trails that allow walking on foot to the various views of the falls?
- How much time do I need to reserve for seeing and enjoying the falls?
- I'm trying to decide whether to visit Victoria Falls before the safari or after the safari before I travel to Cape Town. Are there any obvious benefits/advantages to one way or the other?
Also, since I have several days between the safari and my departure to Antarctica from Cape Town, do folks have any advice for other locations/activities I can use to fill that time. Since I expect the safari and Antarctica parts of the trip to involve intense photography, it might be better if the activities during the break are more low-key....Show more →
There are definitely trails that allow you to get near the falls on foot. However, Victoria is a very lengthy series of falls so it may take some walking around. If you can swing the cost a helicopter tour gives you a different perspective.
A few tips from personal (sometimes painful) experience from around 8 years ago
The Victoria Falls hotel is ludicrously overpriced for what it is. The grounds are beautiful but the internal upkeep is (was) minimal. The full text of my review is below, admittedly from 8 years ago - things may have changed since then
This hotel is a horrifically bad value for the money. At nearly $500/night you would expect pretty good service and amenities. At the Vic hotel you get neither. The grounds and the common areas are well maintained, but this is where the good stops and the terrible begins. Our travails started with the pickup at the airport, where the hotel provided driver had decided to leave before we had cleared the painfully slow customs. The rooms themselves were beyond unacceptable. Where shall I begin? Let's start with the peeling paint and grime on the windows (something that a fresh coat of paint would address), continue on to the super cheap looking toilet bowl with rust water stains running down the middle, to the $2 stained Walmart-style shower curtain, to the rusty shower curtain rod, to the rubber mat that belongs in a $30/night Motel 6, to the single electrical outlet in the entire room, the disappointments kept coming from every direction. I have uploaded some pics that document the problems. And let's not forget about the restaurants. If you spend $100 on a dinner for two at the Jungle Restaurant you get Old Country Buffet quality at a decidedly higher price point. I am pretty tolerant of a few misses here and there, but the Vic is such an underwhelming experience that it boggles the mind how they get such good reviews. A hotel does not qualify as 5-star just because it has a pretty view from the lawn. The Vic is, on balance, at most a 3 star hotel worth around $150/night, with $50 of that solely because of the view.
...Show more →
On the upside, you can cross the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe on foot, the famous bridge with the bungee jumping is fun to watch and probably participate if you have a tolerance for heights.
How much time do you need to reserve for seeing and enjoying the falls? Depends on what you are after. If you want maximum photography opportunities at least 3 days, probably more like a week. But if you want to "just see it" then 2 full days (ex travel days) is enough, and let the weather do what the weather will do. The mist on the falls on a bright day can make for harsh contrasts.
Before or after Capetown? This depends entirely on your airline connections. But I can definitely say that you should visit BEFORE Iguazu or you will be disappointed. The scale of Garganta del Diablo is difficult to imagine especially on a wet year. The image of Garganta below is at 14mm, I still could not capture it in a way that does it justice. Ironically, I did not think that any of my images of Victoria were worth posting on my website.
One final bit of wisdom - do NOT NOT NOT sign up for a group tour to the Cape of Good Hope. It is a magical place, especially mid morning when the fogs from the warm Indian and cold Atlantic oceans emerge. We made the mistake of signing up for a group tour which gave us 30-45 minutes at this place. We could have spent at least half a day there. Again, if cost can be borne, go there on a private tour that allows you to stay as much as you please. And the Penguin Beach is completely safe to skip, even if you were not going to Antarctica.
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