I’m officially declaring Thursday: Travel Thursday for my blog. I will post all travel related posts on Thursdays and we can reminisce together on this wonderful thing called travelling. OK, so another African travel post for this is Travel Thursday #TBT – again, if you’re new here, this is a post I wrote 3 years ago for my previous blog, hence the #TBT. In 2012 I visited Livingstone in Zambia to celebrate my sister’s birthday. We stayed there for 4 nights, we had such a wonderful time – I think I left a piece of my heart at the Vic Falls. I cannot wait to go back!

My sister recently celebrated her birthday and we spent 4 days in Livingstone, Zambia to commemorate this day. It was my second time in Zambia, I went to Lusaka in September 2009, but it was my first time in Livingstone. A funny thing happened before we left, the night before while we were packing, my sister came across her yellow fever certificate and she was saying how she doesn’t want to carry it because she doesn’t need it for Zambia, and I told her to just leave it in her travel wallet just for safe keeping. When we were going through the final boarding procedures at OR Tambo, the lady at the counter asked us for our yellow fever certificates. Seemingly, one does need one for Livingstone but not for Lusaka, and had my sister not had hers, she would’ve not been allowed to fly that day. I told her that I would’ve gladly left her behind and enjoyed Zambia by myself.

After all that drama and a smooth flight with British Airways we touched down, went through customs and took a cab to the lodge. We were staying in a more business person kind of lodge in that it was more for people who come to Livingstone on business rather than on holiday. That first afternoon we had some pool action and just chilled for the rest of the evening.

The next day, my sister’s birthday, we went out to explore the town and what it has to offer. Livingstone as a town is very small but surprisingly cosmopolitan, I think this has to do with the fact that it’s very tourist driven therefore they need to cater for us foreigners. We planned our activities with a tour company called Rainbow Safaris, and they really treated us well and catered to our every need, I would definitely recommend them for anyone who goes to Livingstone.

Victoria Falls

Our first outing was to the gorgeous Mosi-oa-Tunya, the Victoria Falls, I was in complete awe of this wonder of nature, I was expecting it to be beautiful because I had seen some pictures, but when seeing it live, it totally blew my mind. We visited at the right time when the water flowing down the gorge was close to maximum, so it was spectacular. We walked around the falls to get different views from all sides, this included crossing what they call the ‘Knife Edge Bridge‘ from this bridge you can see the falls right in front of you, but you have to wear a raincoat because the water is torrential, it feels like you are walking through a Highveld storm.

^ On the banks of the mighty Zambezi

^Before we went on the walk and got drenched
^Trying to take a picture and not drenched at the same time

Sunset Cruise on the Lady Livingstone

Later on in the afternoon, we were booked to go on a sunset cruise on the mighty Zambezi River (like you can’t just call it the Zambezi, it has to be the mighty Zambezi 🙂 ). When we left the lodge, I was a bit hesitant about going because it was just cloudy and the sun was being all coy behind the clouds. Alas, we went, and I promise that as soon as we stepped on to the boat, the sun just came out in full force. The cruise was magical, exactly what luxury living is about, we snacked on some finger foods, drank at the open bar and took pictures like we were models! And when the sun set, the boat stopped and we all got to view it. wow wow wow! I have never seen anything so beautiful and that imagine shall forever remain in my mind – it was spectacular.

^Lady Livingstone
^I mean! What a spectacular view

We rounded off the nights with cocktails at the deck of the David Livingstone Lodge and Spa, and then went back to our lodge. I am sure that my sister had an awesome time on the day, I was just glad to be there to help her celebrate and create memories that we can still look back on in 50 years from now when we are both old and grey 🙂