A Christmas to Remember: December 25

After another wonderful breakfast at the backpackers, we found ourselves once again at the Jo-burg airport. Killing time before our flight, we decided to check out the gift shops in search of information on Victoria Falls, as we really had no idea where we were going or what to expect. We discovered that we would be traveling to the Zambia side of the falls and that they were much further north than we had originally thought. Woo hoo! We were in for an adventure all right.
A quick flight in which we were able to get a glimpse of the falls landed us at the small Livingstone airport where we were able to catch a ride to the Jollyboys Backpackers.
Complete with friendly laid-back staff, endless mango trees, pool and hot tub, numerous open areas filled with cushions and plenty of hammocks to go around, the backpackers truly lived up to its curious name. After picking out our bunks (we were staying in the co-ed dorm in another attempt to save money) we decided to plan our stay. Leafing through the countless brochures, we decided on a Christmas sunset cruise, a full day whitewater rafting trip and a tour of the falls on our last morning.

In true African fashion, not only was our shuttle to the sunset cruise late, but also ridiculously inadequate. A bombastic young man informed us that all seven of us would have to fit into his car and that we needed to hurry if we were going to make the cruise. In college fashion, we stacked our bodies into the car and were on our way. Detangling ourselves from the spontaneous twister game that was our ride, we quickly paid and boarded the pontoon boat, or as Joe described it: layers of scrap metal topped with a thatched roof duct taped to two inflatable hot dogs.
The cruise turned out to be perfect. Open bar, on deck BBQ, and a relaxing cruise on the tame, upriver Zambezi where we spotted groups of hippos and elusive crocodiles. As the sun sank below the flat-topped trees, we also caught glimpse of Cape buffalo, impala, monkeys and numerous birds in the surrounding wildlife preserves. As the cruise ended, the on-beach party began, complete with music, drums and lots of dancing. We chatted with some locals and learned that this was one of the only places open to local black people, as the others were reserved for whites and tourists. Prejudice knows no bounds.

The day concluded with a few friendly games of checkers back at the backpackers and preparations for tomorrow’s big rafting trip. All in all it was a highly unusual but nonetheless very memorable Christmas.

pictures: Jollyboys; hippos!; one of the 'nice' boats