Visit Victoria Falls Zimbabwe: Peeing Rainbows

March 11
Visit Victoria Falls Zimbabwe.  It is an interesting town for the fact that there are warthogs running through the street like stray dogs.  There are elephants that come to town in the night to eat because the watered grass is better in town.  That is pretty cool…

[su_note note_color=”#b0b1b6″ text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]I went to the Rose of Charity Orphanage today to see if they wanted me to volunteer for a couple of days.  Tomorrow is Saturday and they said they would love my help as they just got a shipment of clothes in and there will be over 100 children at the place tomorrow that they will not turn away.  After dressing the children in the freshly donated clothes, there is a lunch and they will be getting photos taken.  The ladies were glad that I had stopped by.

A manager arrived.  I had a talk with him.  He told me to come tomorrow for sure. I asked the manager about accommodation.  He said that they can accommodate me, but they charge to accommodate people.  I told him, “No.  If I am giving you my time and helping you for an entire day, I am not paying you to stay as well.  That is not how it is going to work.”  He said that maybe there was a place for me to stay, but it was 14 kilometers away. He asked me where I am staying.  I told him at the Shoestring Backpackers Hostel. He asked me why I did not just want to stay there.  I said, “Because I am paying $10 to stay there.  I do not think it is reasonable to work for you all day and volunteer my time and then have to pay to sleep somewhere after.  I help you, you help me.  That is how life works…”  He told me they wanted my help, but did not have a place for me.  I told him it was not going to work then.  I said, “Well, I tried,” and left…

That was a bad business move by that man.  I mean really…  Help someone who is willing to help you.  Give me a mattress in the corner of the living room and feed me lunch and dinner.  That is enough.  That is your only investment to have two days of help for “free”. I see poor and thoughtless business decisions all of the time here.  People are not good at thinking past the moment here and do not see future investment.  Friends and I have talked about it and we think it is because there is no winter here. People do not really have to plan ahead and have something more of a hand to mouth life…[/su_note]

The sun came out so I went to Visit Victoria Falls Zimbabwe.

Fancy hand-railings to enter the Victoria Falls side of Zimbabwe.

It was $30 to get in which is $10 more than the Zambian side and it is decidedly the much more developed side.  That extra $10 seems to have gone a long way…

The falls were relatively clear to see in parts.  It was much better viewing than yesterday in Zambia.  The falls are enchanting, relaxing, and will make you forget about everything you have been thinking about.  They are nearly meditative to look at.  It is a roaring curtain of water….

The Devil’s Cataract.

Here are some bits of information I found Victoria Falls:
                                Height                   Width                                    Average Volume
Niagara Falls     51 m (167’)          1,203 m (3,946’)               2,407 m²/s (85,002 ft²/s)
Iguaçu  Falls       82 m (269’)        2,700 m (8,858’)             1,746 m²/s (61,669 ft²/s)
Victoria Falls      107 m (351’)      1,737 m (5,698’)               1,100 m²/s (38,846 ft²/s)

There are three different ways to measure a waterfall: by height, by width, and by volume.  In terms of height, at 107 m, the Victoria Falls does not feature in the top 800 waterfalls around the world, but it is the 10^th largest by width and 13^th largest by volume.  If you combine these factors there are three large waterfalls in the world, Niagara Falls, Iguaçu Falls, and Victoria Falls. 

Niagara Falls is significantly smaller than the other two and although on paper Iguaçu is larger it is a multi-tiered waterfall that is broken into 270 separate falls.  It us a subjective opinion, but if you are liking for the highest, widest sheer of continually falling water, then the Main Fall of the Victoria Falls is the largest waterfall in the world.

During peak flood (April/May) that annual water consumption of the city of New York goes over Victoria Falls in just 3½ days!

And this guy, just hanging out at the falls.  Those tusks…!

The falls were great and there were warthogs running around which was also super cool.  The power of the water made for amazing and vibrant rainbow prisms.  I came up with an idea…  But, I could not do it alone and no one came around for at least five minutes.  Well, for sure the highlight of the day was finding a couple to assist me.  They were the first people to come walking down the path.

I asked them, “Hey, do you two have a couple of minutes to help me out with something?”  They looked skeptical but they said they would.

I told them, “Well, there is a really crazy rainbow into the falls.  I would like to make it look like I am pissing that rainbow into the falls but I need someone to take the photo.”  Well, a line like that will make you new friends very quickly and they could not wait to help out.

Yea, I pee rainbows into the Victoria Falls.

It was raining hard, and the drops got on my lens, but I feel like it turned out pretty well considering!

So, that was kind of the highlight.  Instead of talking, I will put the photos up to do the work for me.

I left the falls and walked back into town.  The Shoestring Hostel decided to have a crazy party and the DJ played killer rock music all night.  Green Day, Motorhead, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson,  Blink-182.  It was a blast!

I sat at the table to write this article, rocking out the whole time!  When I finished my article, I went to join the rock show at the bar.  The DJ Rodney and I were really musically in tune with each other.  Our rock show moved on the Zeppelin, The Stones, The Beatles and four or five of us danced through the night.  At one point during a flurry of air guitar, Rodney and I were back to back, leaning against each other, playing imaginary guitar riffs along with Jimi Hendrix like we were on stage.  The night was so much fun….

Today was by far a much better waterfall day!  Visit Victoria Falls Zimbabwe!

(For the story on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, click me!)