"The traveler is active; he goes strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes sight-seeing."
- Daniel Boorstin (1914-2004)
With the weekends free at the Livingstone project, most of us took advantage of the opportunity to see some sights around town and when the opportunity arose, a number of us headed off to Botswana with Yuyi and Sharon for a camping Safari (I’ll save that excursion for last). Inge and I spent one afternoon visiting the Livingstone Museum (no pictures allowed inside, of course), and on my first Sunday, it was Megan’s birthday and she wanted to go to the Royal Livingstone, for ‘High Tea’.
Those of us that decided to go, dug through our suitcases and put on the fanciest duds we had brought with us (that’s not saying much), then jumped in a couple of taxis (the only way to get around town, and if you get a great driver, keep using him!) and headed off to the famous hotel. Rooms at the Royal Livingstone are on average $800.00 a night, can you believe it?! It’s a very nice place, right on the Zambezi river with views of the falls and zebra, giraffes and monkeys roaming the lawns – but please- $800 a night! I can think of SO much more to do with that money! Luckily the high tea was very reasonable, infact cheaper than here at the world famous Empress Hotel.
We all enjoyed the tea and fancy cakes, then spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering the grounds watching the zebras, trying to find the giraffes and laughing at the monkeys. We followed a trail alongside the river to the Zambezi Sun, another fancy hotel closer to the falls and arrived back at the Hotel just as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful sight!
On the following Saturday, Inge and I decided to book the breakfast tour of Livingstone Island. It was quite amazing and slightly scary to sit in a little speed boat and head right out to the edge of the falls, before turning left at what seemed the last minute and landing the boat on a little beach area surrounded by reeds. The life jackets seemed rather redundant….if you go over the falls, I don’t think the jacket is going to help!
We hopped off the boat and were led along a little dirt trail that travelled for a few 100 feet, then as we turned a a corner, there was this lovely table, set with our breakfast utensils and covered by a billowing tent.
Beside the tent was a small seating area, where we were asked to remove our shoes (go figure) and were then led further along the trail to a viewing area over the falls.
I thought that was spectacular enough, but after a few photo opps. we carried on right to the edge of the falls, where we sat and were mesmerized by the sight and roar of the falls.
Our guide carefully made his way out into the river and took some photo’s down over the falls for us; when he returned Inge asked if she too could go out there, and when she came back, I was not to be out done, so with a racing heart and a very firm grip on our guides arm, I too, made my way to the edge!
Back on (semi) dry land, we headed back to our breakfast, but were first treated to having our feet washed by the guide; decadence!
Breakfast was served to ourselves, along with a couple from England and two girls from back east.
It was the last day of the tours, I later found out, as the river became too high to be safely navigated, so I was thrilled that we hadn’t missed out on this amazing opportunity.
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