Flew out of Kasane airport, goodbye sweet Botswana, hello Zambia. We had to pay for gas at Kasane with cash, since the credit card machine has been broken for 3 months. This has almost completely blown our USD cash reserves, and I’m feeling a bit pressed since we have some expensive visa fees to pay for Zambia and Zimbabwe yet to come.
Overflew Livingstone Airport and then took a couple of orbits around Victoria Falls. I cannot put words to it, it’s amazing. Niagara Falls are big and broad, this is pretty narrow and steep, going into gorges and cataracts. It’s stunningly beautiful.
We’re staying at the Royal Livingstone hotel, a new 5 star resort by the people who do Sun City. It’s a trip back to British colonialism and it seems to be filled with people who think that white tablecloths and lots of butlers and other servants in the middle of Africa is the only civilized way to live. Half the people here seem to be Brits wishing for former colonial times, and the other half seem to be Russian Mafia. Everything here is expensive — as bad as back in the SF Bay area, if not worse. The primary industry is tourism and it’s completely out of whack with everything else in the area.
Went into town, had a great dinner with Brian and Charlotte, two of our traveling companions, at a little local place called “The Rite Pub & Grill”. Was kind of funny when we walked in, just like an old west movie, all the conversation stopped. It’s a local joint, there appears to be a fairly healthy upwardly mobile middle class of people who are profiting from tourism. Meat on a stick (it’s a Brazilian Churascaria like Espetus in SF). Some good beer, fun conversations, good Elvis impersonations, really really bad, simply awful, Beatles covers by the band.
So far, I dislike this place, even though everyone is nice and helpful, I feel like I’m a whale surrounded by sharks. I think it’s because we’re staying at a tourist trap which has a wrap on the local market.
Such a complete and utter change from Botswana where I felt connected to the locals and they treated us like friends and equals instead of marks or masters. Again, everyone here is nice, but they feel like entrepreneurs clearly going for the tourist dollar, and we’re dollar poor at the moment so I don’t feel like playing along.
