Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Livingstone, Zambia - Day One

(Posted by Andy)

Well we have arived in Zambia and are located in a town called Livingston. Going through customs was another adventure...not scary, just time consuming... took about 1 hour to get us through immigration and into this country. We have been told that things move very slow around here and this place is indeed very relaxed.

I think this place was named after that famous British explorer called Mr. Stanley Livingston. Zambia has about 73 different tribes, and Livingston has about 160,000 residents. A very small town, dusty and relatively low income but lots of banks and simple commerce (grocery, money changing, etc) going on... there is little to do outside of the main things that most tourist who come here to do:

1. visit Victoria Falls, which we will do tomorrow and will let you know more.
2. adventure trips like bungee jumping or white water rafting (which we can not do due to high waters - rats!)
3. and safaris which we will do in another country called Botswana which is only an hour away from here

Our accommodations are very rustic and very basic with a chalet (like a one-room cabin) that has netting around the beds to keep out the bugs and a shower that does just what it is supposed to do. Paris and Nicole would not like this, but Andrew and Rhett will do just fine. We are located on the banks of the great Zambezi river which flows into the falls. There is a small restaurant and bar that overlooks the river. Again basic. There is no internet or t.v. there so we went into the city to find a internet cafe where I type to you right now. No wild animals around us besides a crocodile and a rhino which we have not seen yet. Hippos too! Sadly there were three rhinos last year but two were poached in the last year, the other injured and is under heavy government protection.

Strangely we have been trying to get cash from the money machines but they only accept Visa and Plus network - we only have mastercard/cirrus. So we will have to cash our dollars and rands or hook on the streets until we get enough cash... we will be fine but it is a strange problem.

We just wanted to let you all know that we have made is safe and sound and will try to communicate with you soon.