Victoria Falls Trip-December 17th-20th 2012

Botswana-Zimbabwe trip to Victoria Falls

December 2012 was an amazing, busy, and exciting month.  First off, the kids and I were sat down in the beginning of the month of December to be introduced to something that was unexpected to us.  We were excited to open up something that was not even close to Christmas yet, so we opened the envelopes and read the top part of the letter.  Then we got close to the bottom of the paper and it was a vacation, a car trip, and a long trip that would be worth every minute.  We are going to see Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe with the Crawford family and the Raley family.  We were to leave December 18^th and come back December 20^th, plans changed and we leave a day earlier.  Now this happened two days before leaving and I was thrilled.

  We were to drive through Botswana and then in Zimbabwe.  Botswana was so amazingly beautiful, just seeing everything that God has created was very eye opening for me.  We got to the South African border and it was so long! So we finally got through the line after an hour and half standing there and we got through the South African border.   Now it was time to get through Botswana border.  Now that was long and boring, but it was worth it after 2 hours of waiting in this line that was not even long.  We got through it and then we were on our way.  We got on the Botswana road and the first 50 kilometers were pot holes galore.  We were dodging them left and right.  Now since I got my new camera for my birthday and Christmas early for this trip (thanks to my mother that I love so much) I got to take amazing pictures of Botswana.

 Driving through this country was beautiful and just thrilling to see.  We were heading to Woodlands Stopover Inn, it was a great drive all the way through.  We got there and it was a beautiful camp ground that had little cottage looking houses.  We had a security guard that carried a spur to protect us, now that was interesting.  The kids got to swim in the pool and us adults were talking around the picnic table.  Debbie and I went for a walk to look around and found the pond and sat there and just talked and caught up.  The Raleys and I stayed in one of these cottages and it was packed, but we made it work for the most part. 

We woke up early and got on the road at 7 am, heading to the Botswana border.   We were off and saw a big animal along the way, an elephant and then another hour up the road a group of giraffes crossing the road.  Now that was a sight to see, it was so thrilling to see that.  Now the road that we were on was an airplane landing strip which is called an air strip landing, now that was really great and interesting to see and be on.  When finally got the Botswana border and it was not even long at all.  But the line to Zambia was a trail of trucks waiting for their turn to get on the ferry to get across.  Thank goodness that we did not have to get on that.  As we went to go do the processing of our passports we got through it quick.  We drove through to the next border which is the Zimbabwe border!!!  It was weird to see American money there but it was great to actually get through there and just be in Zimbabwe.  Getting through the border was great and just a relief and knowing we are just an hour away now from the Kingdom Hotel was just thrilling.  

Botswana Border to Zimbabwe

Now we are on the road in Zimbabwe and just seeing their rainforest was exciting. I took a lot of pictures on this trip and what we were doing so you will get to see more.    As we got closer my heart was excited and just amazed of how far we drove to get to this gorgeous place in Zimbabwe.  Since we got there the day of but way earlier it was great to go swimming and just looking around the hotel.  The hotel was big and just gorgeous surroundings that were around it.  I got to my own hotel room which was a blessing and got to relaxing and just enjoy what God has provided for me. They had very friendly and helpful employees that worked there. 

having a quick lunch before we get to the hotel

Mr. and Mrs. Raley

The Raley Kids and the adopted offspring :)

pool area

view from my room

a waterfall in the front of the hotel

pool area from the top floor

the dining area

 Now the next day we got to go on a train tour and this was the start of our day.  Breakfast at the buffet and then off to the train where the Victoria Falls Hotel was.  Wow, that hotel has been around for such a long time that it looked amazing.  The view from the lawn looks over a ridge and in the distance you can see the Victoria Falls Bridge.  It was a great eye opener to all of us of how our God is so great.   We got to walk the red carpet and got to think we were at the grammy’s or something to get on the train.  The ride was great to see beautiful Zimbabwe and go pass the Zambia border.  [Which by the way never take pictures at the borders they will yell at you.]  Ha. But other than that I got to see another country and the beauty of it. 

  This is where you can do so many things, like the swing (which you sit in the harness and you just swing from the bridge to see the beauty of everything), you can zip line from one country to another (I believe it is Zimbabwe to Zambia, yeah I was in two countries at once J) , you can do a bridge walk where you got to see how the bridge was construct and see the view from under it, and finally you can bungee jump off the bridge (which I did ).

 I have the video and pictures to show that I did all three!! Yes I did all three back to back to back.  The Raley family did the zip line as a family and they had a blast, I believe it was the first time for all of them, and they took it all in while they went across the gorge, to see the beauty of God’s creation.   I want to give a big thanks to my father for even letting me go on this trip with the Raley family, I am blessed to be with them and the Crawford’s while I was there.  We finally did all our activities and headed back to the hotel where we changed into our swim wear and walked to the Victoria Falls view sites. 

Now this is when I got excited and just see how beautiful and tremendous God constructed this world just amazes me.  The Victoria Falls is about 2 miles long where it runs through Zimbabwe and somewhat in Zambia.  We got to see it from the Zimbabwe side and wow that is all I have to say about that.  The water fall was great site to see and just to take it all in at some spots you just needed to take a visual picture.  Due to the heavy mist that the falls created, it was shocking that is was not rain, but it was the water hitting from below that shoots up and sprays everything.  I have great photos of this tremendous water falls from different viewpoints when I had the chance to take my camera out and snap shot it.  Our God is so amazing, powerful, and He was a complete genius of how He created this world.  This was proof of how incredible our Lord is.  Go to Genesis and read the first chapter it explains how He created us, and how He created this world we live in now.  This is something that we sometimes miss in our daily lives in the book of Genesis.  When sometime we ‘already know’ what it says and what it was meaning about, but to actually see what He has done is just a blessing. 

Continuing with our day, yes it was not over yet.   As we finished our walk of the Victoria Falls view, we walked back the hotel and rested and decided to have dinner at the buffet, and there is where we got to know a brother in Christ Jesus named Charles.  He is the one who took very good care of us and go to know him so well and he told us pretty much his testimony.  This man showed us the love of God by what he was doing and he did that by talking to us and taking care of our group.   At dinner I go the opportunity to dance with one of the dancers named Lucky ( he was one of the friends I made while I was there) and we danced to a lion king song.  Yes it was great and it was actually fun to do.  That was our last night there and we were having a blast and enjoying it as a family and to realize how blessed we all are to be given this opportunity to do this.

The next day came, and we had time to swim a bit and relax at the pool while the Crawford’s go enjoy the Victoria Falls Views.  I was sitting there and I started to realize that I am glad I got to do this and see other parts of the different countries.  It was something that I would never forget ever.  As we were heading back to the Backwoods Stopover we had to stop so many times to make sure we were safe. Other than that we made it safe to the Stopover and stayed there for a night and headed home afterwards.  The trip itself was just great and exciting to do with the Raley family.  I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could go again.  This is something that everyone should look into and just realize how amazing and great our God is.