Today was the first day in almost three weeks where we haven’t changed accommodation, which was a nice change of pace. Although this was slightly hampered by waking up at 05:20 feeling a bit worse for wear after our beers and late night. We started the day heading to the Devil’s Pool, a pool right at the top of Victoria Falls where you can swim in the Zambezi and look over the edge of the falls, while you are being nibbled at by small fish. It really was quite an experience.
After swimming in Devil’s pool they provided us with a really rather good breakfast, before we headed to the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. Here was really spectacular when we arrived in the sun, as there were beautiful rainbows and it was all pretty quiet – probably because most things you read say no to bother with it, but I am glad Becky was very keen to. After finishing the main circuit on the Zambian side, we walked over the border and over the bridge to the Zimbabwean side of the falls, which are definitely more impressive, with a lot more spray. We spent a while admiring the grandeur of the landscape, with so much water flowing over the falls, before having a late lunch and heading back to our hotel to dry out before dinner.
- Start: Phezulu Guest Lodge
- Destination: Phezulu Guest Lodge
- Distance: 0km
- Planned Duration: n/a
- Actual Duration: n/a
- Animals Seen: Hippo, Baboon
The Devil’s Pool
In a random turn of chance, our taxi driver from the previous day ended up being the driver who picked us up in the morning for the Devil’s Pool. We had to swap vehicles at the Zimbabwean border, but this was all very smooth and we soon arrived at the activity venue. Here we had a briefing and signed a compulsory indemnity waiver, before getting on a speedboat to cross the Zambezi to Livingstone Island. This was a fun ride as they had to weave their way around all of the rock, with a fairly strong current.
After taking our clothes off we headed to the river, and I was fairly surprised at the fact that we had to swim to get to the Devil’s Pool. The water was quite fast flowing and we had to hold onto a rope and go hand over hand to get across, while holding on with our feet floating downstream, better not let go! Soon we were at the pool itself, which really is at the top of the waterfall, there is no photo trickery.
We carefully got into the pool, which actually felt pretty safe as the water in the pool wasn’t flowing very fast as it was a deep pool with a big lip. As soon as you got into the pool the strange sensation started with fish nibbling at your legs, which was much sharper than I was expecting. It didn’t hurt, but was definitely a stronger sensation than I was expected. Initially we just sat on the lip at the edge, which was pretty stable, but the next part of the activity involved lying over the lip while the two guides held your legs.
This was certainly unnerving but felt relatively ok while lying on your front, when they suggested putting your hands out it definitely felt a bit more risqué, and I wasn’t much of a fan of lying on my side at this point.
After this we got out and looked at the phone photos they had taken, after the other group had gone, Becky got back in and I took a few photos of her with my camera, which had successfully made it across in the guide’s dry bag.
After we got back to Livingstone Island, we had a breakfast which was totally unexpected, apparently I didn’t pay enough attention while booking, but was also much better than we thought it would be when they mentioned this earlier. While we were having breakfast, we had a lovely view out to the Zambian side of the falls.
Zambian Side of the Falls
Becky had been very keen to visit both sides of the falls, but most of what I had read online said that it wasn’t worth it compared to the Zimbabwean side, this was also confirmed when we were chatting to a local the night before. I am however very glad that we went, as we arrived to a beautiful view and a high rainbow as we were looking straight down the falls. We didn’t spend too long on the Zambian side, but we walked over the bridge and around the main loop, getting, what we thought was, very wet from the spray and admiring the spectacle.
After we finished on the Zambian side, we walked along the road to cross the border by foot, as it meant that we could walk over the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean Side of the Falls
The Zimbabwean side of the falls were definitely more impressive than the Zambian side of the falls, but I would definitely not suggest missing out the Zambian side because of this. We walked the reverse to the proposal on the noticeboard, as I had read that it was better to be at the eastern end earlier in the day. This worked out very well for us, as we had some lovely sunshine and rainbows, in an area where it was actually possible to take photos and to admire the power of nature. The spray was really strange as when you were right on the edge the spray was going up, and when you stepped a few cm back it was going down, basically you got very wet everywhere.
We spent some time waiting at this end as the sun came and went a few times, and I wanted to make sure I captured a good photo. By the time we moved on we were very wet, my camera’s weather sealing was definitely being thoroughly tested, and everything I had to dry out my lens/filters was totally soaked. Thankfully we had some dry towels from the Devil’s Pool as they supplied us with their own towels. The next section as we walked west was really impressive, but impossible to photograph as there was just so much more spray, I ended up using an umbrella just to keep some of the water off my camera.
The western end was again more dry, and from here you could see the tallest section with the most water flowing down, the noise was really incredible and the experience was just fantastic. I had wanted to stay until later in the afternoon, as apparently this was the best time for rainbows, but my enthusiasm was waining as I was pretty sure I already had some good rainbow photos, we were so wet, and pretty tired having been up since 5:20. We decided to eat some late lunch at the expensive restaurant inside the park (entrance fees just give a single entry), and see how we felt. Our decision was however made for us as a storm arrived, which we didn’t disappoint us.
A quick message to our taxi driver, Denzel, and he arrived quickly to pick us up and take us back to the lodge, where we had to dry out everything, including our passports!
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