In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle the Lion sleeps tonight......
Despite most of us wanting a sleep in we had a reasonably early start and were on the road by 8:00am. On the road to....... Zimbabwe. We were ready with ample cash; the ATM’s there have no money and although things are often priced in Zimbabwean Dollars there is no local currency available so we needed Botswana Pula or USD to be able to buy anything. More on the currency below.
We had been warned that things are pretty dire in Zimbabwe with a massive unemployment rate and great poverty so we were prepared for basic.
A short drive from Thebe River Resort in Kasane, Botswana was the Zimbabwe border. We sailed through Botswana and into Zimbabwe with no issues.
Suddenly the topography changed. There was green grass and hills, pleasant on the eye after the dryness and dead flat land we had gone through. We arrived in the township of Victoria Falls too early to check into the hotel so drove straight through the gorgeous township to the falls where we met our guide, the brother of our driver and a neat guy.
We had heard conflicting stories about the water level of the falls and on arriving found, as I expected, nothing as spectacular as Iguacu but still quite dramatic. The water falls into a deep ravine so the viewing is not as good and because of the closeness of the ravine walls causes huge amounts of spray. The spray was very welcome as we were all complaining of the heat.
Although there were heaps of tourists the viewing trail was relatively uncrowded so we had good views and could easily talk over the sound of the water. The falls have, in some places, the highest drop after Angel Falls in Venezuela but are way behind Niagra in volume and Iguacu in width but still great to see. Because of the ravine you dont get the wide vista that Iguacu gives but we were told that during the rainy months the entire cliff face is covered with water creating so much mist it shrouds the view, so maybe we caught it at the best time.
Checked into our hotel and sated after lunch we had some free time. Bliss after such a busy itinerary. My intention was to spend time in the pool and on my selected deck chair but I actually had a nap and generally mucked around which was great.
Dinner tonight had been pre-organised and we were told it would be amazing. A buffet of all different local foods (I hate buffets) and a ‘show’ of African dancing. (I hate tourist ‘shows’). It was free and we were a group so I went along any way.
At the door was a guy who dressed us in a sarong tied over one shoulder. Oh yay! Fancy dress huh and one more layer of clothing to make us overheat. I was even more skeptical.
Music greeted us as we entered and one of our group felt it appropriate to stand in front of the musicians and shake her booty NOT in time with the music. We cringed and tried to make out she was not part of our team.
Further on someone painted little designs on our cheek. Oh boy!
And then.... we entered this beautifully decorated, massive space half filled with tables/chairs and the rest filled with buffet stations. Oh. My. God. I could not contain myself. We were seated and the waiter came and explained what the procedure was.
Firstly a salad bar with about 10 bowls of freshly made and divine looking salads with fresh breadrolls. When the salad was done you could grab a bowl of soup which came in its own crock pot.
Then you could go to the ‘grill’ for a selection of meats (sirloin, pork fillet, boerworst, chicken plus another couple of options). To go with your selected meat (which they flame grilled to you liking in front of you) there was boiled spuds with butter and parsley, kudu stew, braised guinea fowl, peanut butter rice, peanut butter veges, whitebait (no not the NZ sort but salted and dried tiny fish asian style) plus baked fish.
Next station was charcoal grilled lamb, with mint sauce and roast beef. A selection of veg was available as well.
And if you aren’t dead by then there was a massive dessert spread. Still hungry? The final course was a ‘Mopani Worm’. Your reward if you ate one was a certificate to prove the event.
As he told us all this we nibbled at the starters; dried kudu, crocodile carpaccio (out of this world), tree nuts, shrimp balls and steamed fish. I was full by the time the starter plates were empty.
. 
Time to eat. Forget salads and soup, I went straight for the grill; sirloin that melted in my mouth, pork fillet that had been marinated in something that was beyond tasty and was equally as soft, kudu stew (tasted sort of like beef but a bit dry and tough), Guinea Fowl stew which was sort of chickeny and yum, the whitebait (heavenly) and a boiled spud. OMG was it all so good. Everything was delicious and I was so happy I had worn a dress so as not to have my consumption restricted by a waistband.
Charcoal grill next for a chunk of lamb, a piece of roast beef and glazed butternut. The lamb and butternet were so good that I went back for seconds and this time chose lamb ribs which I smothered with mint sauce. Even better than the first plateful and literally had me licking my fingers.
Of course I had to have desert and selected a small piece of chocolate cake and a fried donut type thing which came with a honey syrup (if you bug deep enough into the bowl which I did). You would think that having already eaten copious amounts of food there would not be room for any more but the desert was so good I had another plate, and then another.
By now I was in food heaven so what choice did I have but to eat a Mopani bug. The sauce was delicious, tomatoey, spicy and yum so camouflaged any flavour the bug maybhave had. But the bug was so chewy it took a while to get through it. I clutched my certificate tightly so I could show it off. (Sorry it wont rotate)
And then the performance started. The best MC I have ever heard had everyone rocking in their seats as we all watched the local dancers.
Soon after we are all given bongo drums so we could play to the music. Some took it more seriously than others but sadly I can’t include the video clip to show you.
Our awesome tour guide.
We played for a while and then abandoned our drums to go dance, wildly. So wildly in fact that our group member that was dancing earlier in the night thought she was the star of the evening and had us all trying to emulate her insane antics. If only I could include video clips you would have seen me practically rolling in the floor laughing and the rest of the group almost collapsed with me (with the exception of the ‘dancer’ who was oblivious to our state). Insanity in its finest form
As if the night could not get any better a group of Acapella singers lined up behind us and sang what we had been playing earlier in the day...... “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight”. Absolute magic.
We left on a food and laughter high, danced our way into our hotel and sadly bade goodbye to our tour leader and driver who were on their way home. They had both been great and it was sad to say goodbye.
A nightcap was in order and my Chivas relaxed me enough to enable me to get a good sleep. It has been an amazing day.
Comments
Post a Comment