Mini Vacations are the way of things for Ben and I right now. It basically has to be done that way for two reasons: 1-Ben only has two weeks of vacation, so we have to spread it out and use it wisely! 2-We are in Africa! We want to see as much as possible!
That said, we took one of these mini vacations to Victoria Falls (Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana) this past weekend. It was an experience, to say the least. As is the case with most of our outings, we woke up early Thursday morning to make our way to the airport. We gave ourselves nearly three hours to get to the airport...however, traffic was absolutely horrible. The first route we attempted was stand still traffic for over 20 minutes...so we took our first right and headed on a different trek. More traffic. But what could we do? It was after 9am, which is rush hour for Johannesburg because everyone leaves late for work and blames it on traffic. Might I add, they also leave work between 3-4pm and say it's because of traffic. Such dedicated workers....
Anyway, we finally made it to the airport, parked the car, grabbed our luggage and ran around the airport looking for our airline. Who knew we would work up a sweat before we even made it on our vacation? HA! Fortunately there was no line and we quickly slung our bags onto the belt, showed our passports and held our breath. We were right up against the one hour cut-off. The guy muttered under his breath, "the flight is closed," but continued to type into the computer. God was watching out for us....we were admitted. And we ran the rest of the way through customs and then to the boarding area. Whew. Guess I got in my daily run after all!
The flight wasn't too bad. The sandwich they provided was not very tasty, but hey, at least it was a sandwich. I really enjoyed the water bottles they handed out....and I made a stock pile! That's how I roll, free hand-outs, I gobble them up. Especially when I know what we have paid for the service!
Before we knew it, our plane was landing in Zambia. Time to check off another country in my passport! We were greeted by our Lodge's manager (Richard), who gave us a ride to our accommodations. And I thought the roads in South Africa were bad! For the most part, the roads in Zambia aren't even paved. And they are littered with ginormous pot holes! No worries, Richard maneuvered his vehicle like a pro and we weren't jostled too severely. After our short ride, we were there. Wow. Gotta say....I don't think I have stayed anywhere quite comparable to this Lodge. I have included pictures of our bed and the bathroom for your perusal. Not the most updated, I must say. Blessedly, the Manager and Staff made up for most of the negatives...which I will go on to explain in more detail.
It wasn't until late that evening I discovered our hot water wasn't working. Ben didn't want to push the issue, plus we had a destination to reach early the next morning, so we didn't speak with Richard about it. However, after a LOOOOONG HOT SWEATY day in the sun, Ben did speak with the staff....and an electrician stopped by to fix the issue. By the time the hot water was working; however, we had already used our friend's shower instead. Day three rolled around and again, I wad ready for a hot shower at the close of a long day. Sadly, our shower didn't work. So I had to bend over to use the short spout (the type of spout you hook a hose up to). I am sure you can guess the first thing I did when we returned to our home in South Africa! Haha!
The toilet paper should also be mentioned. They alot 1 roll per room per day. However, the single roll is a light pink tissue, hardly the equivalent to 1/3 a roll of the cheapo brand in America. And this girl can pee! (TMI?? haha!) Hey, we had to keep hydrated! It's kind of embarassing to ask for more TP every day, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!
It's important for me to close with the positives. After all, while the shower and TP were a nuisance and the bugs in the bed not the most inviting....it was a nice little place to stay. We felt safe and well cared for. The staff were attentive and kind. Richard often drove us to our destination and always had an answer to our questions. I also really enjoyed the lobby/restaurant area. Nice and relaxing...dated, but comfortable!
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