The Smoke That Thunders – Victoria Falls

I’m crazy about lists and since I’m  passionate about travel, I absolutely adore the Traveler’s Life List in Patricia Shultz’s 1.000 Places To See Before You Die. She had me at the question  posed in her introduction, “ Is it nature or nurture that sends a person out on to the Road – that whispers in one’s ear that it’s time to take off and make for the horizon, just to see what’s out there?”  Love that.

Victoria Falls is in Ms. Shultz’s tome and has been on my personal must-see list for eons, so when recently in South Africa, I planned a 3-day side trip to Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwe!” –  friends yelped. “Don’t go.” Hey, you gotta see what’s out there . Would a crazy-ass dictator have stopped David Livingston? Nah. In truth the  compact little town of Victoria Falls is safe and far from the strife that has had the country in the news ,and Mugabe topping the list of Parade Magazine’s World’s Worst Dictators issue. But the tourists are scarcer than hens’ teeth and  the poverty is tangible. Inflation has resulted in a situation where their currency is not worth the paper it is printed on.  Some travelers won’t visit countries with “issues.” My philosophy is – go. It’s about the people.

And the falls? Magnificent. Deservedly listed as one of the Seven Natural Wonders, it is the largest curtain of falling water in the world. We hiked all  morning around the rain forest that is Victoria Falls National Park to catch every vantage point, the sights – including a rainbow – were breathtaking. And the sounds – amazing.

The Africans called them  Mosi-oa-Tunya  meaning the “smoke that thunders” but when Scottish explorer David Livingston “discovered” them in 1855 he changed the name to Victoria Falls in honor of  Britain's reining monarch. The cheek.

Zimbabwe still has a colonial outpost feel and no where is that more evident than than the grande dame Victoria Falls Hotel. It retains its old British Empire feel with elegant Edwardian furnishings and sepia toned photographs detailing the hotel’s history and all the Royal visits. The old Queen Mum, Lord Mountbatten and that lot – a young Queen Elizabeth mit purse. We dined on their Stanley  Terrace and as the hotel is one of the 1,000 Places…I knocked of two places in as many days.