Vic Falls, a must see or can do without?
 

Planning a fall trip to SA..Cape Town, Winelands, Kruger ending in Mozambique. Have a couple of extra days and thought would go to Livingstone and the Falls but that would mean having to spend a night in each direction at a hotel near the Jo'burg airport. This doesn't thrill me. Will do it if VF is a "not to miss" place...if not where do people suggest I use my two nights and still be able to fly to Mozambique?

Hello there
I would stay up in the Kruger Park Area and treat myself to two days at Cybele Forest Lodge, and do a helicopter trip with picninc lunch on the escarpement it is so awesome and there are lots of waterfalls to see in that area as well.

Especially at that time of year, I would not think you are making a huge mistake if you skip VF. Just my own opinion, based on one trip last October.. I was glad I went, but the combined experience of staying at Siankaba, visiting Livingtone and visiting the Vic Falls Hotel was almost as thrilling for me as the Falls themselves, especially when seen from Zambia side..

Wow, good falls viewing from Zambia in October... wish I had been there to see what you saw. I was there this year at the end of october and saw the falls, well stone in Zambia and water from Zim.

So here is the conflict of opinion, if you are going to extend to see the falls I urge you, strongly, to head up to the Zim side.

Where are you staying in Mozambique? If you aren't spending any time in Maputo, that might well be a great two nights as it is a vibrant ccity that offers some great photo ops, great food and just some really interesting sights.

You could do some extra nights in the Cape and shift the trip up two days, or use a train like rovos, to get between cape and jnb for the kruger access...

Sorry if I was not clear. The OP mentioned doing Livingstone and the Falls. I meant in my post that seeing the Falls from the Zambia side in October was not as interesting to me as the collective other experiences I mentioned. The Falls from Zim side had much more water, obviously.

I think it depends on whether you think you will have the option to visit the Falls in the future. If you think this may be your only chance, I would say go for it. There are lots of great activities to do, and you can visit the Chobe area of Botswana as a day trip (pending time availability). If you think you will have the option of going there in the future, save it for another trip.

Richard

Thanks everyone...I think I'm going to opt out of the falls. The problem is feeling that old "if it's Tuesday it must be Belgium" thing...it was way too rushed. I was going to stay at Islands of Siankaba but only for one night. So I think I'll do 2NTS winelands, 3 NTS Cape Town, 3 NTS Kruger or Sabi and then fly on to Mozambique. It's a honeymoon so we really want some beach time too....any opinions out there?

Going to the falls in the fall! Had to read it twice. Anyway, the VF high water season is around Mar/Apr and low water is around Dec/Jan - it has to do with the rains upstream and when they reach the Falls. The optimum time to see them is during the in-between period when there's enough water but not so much that you're vision-impaired due to the spray.
But Mozambique is a good call for a honeymoon. Recommend Guludo: http://www.ecoafrica.com/african/saf...oBaseCamp.html

Thanks for the info on water in Dec / Jan Tree Hugger (especially as we were thinking the Zambian side rather than Zimbabwe). We too are wondering if it is just "too hard" to fit in VF to our 5 week African trip over next Dec / Jan. It seems to throw everything else out of balance, and also means we have overnights near JHB airport each way. Like pgoody, we are trying to avoid "if it is Wednesday we must be in .... ". I think we are going to end up skipping Vic Falls at that time of the year and perhaps pursue my other dream of visiting Zanzibar as a side trip.

We were in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, this past October. I can honestly say I'm so glad we didn't miss it. We stayed at Ilala Lodge, about a 5-minute walk from the falls. Because of the troubles in Zimbabwe, there weren't very many tourists about, but the people at the Lodge were wonderfully welcoming, with lovely soft smiles and melodic voices. The falls were in good flow, with plenty of water, enough to make a good impression, but not so much that the spray made it impossible to photograph. Here's a link to an image: http://images.fotopic.net/yq02w2.jpg I too urge you to stay on The Zim side, if you go in October. We were there for 3 days-2 nights, which was enough time for dinner at the Victoria Falls Hotel one evening and a sunset cruise on the Zambezi in a small wooden boat with just a few other passengers, with hippos yawning to warn us off. Warthogs and monkeys in the grounds of the Ilala added to the charm.

British Airways flies one round-trip a day from JNB to VF, in and out quickly because there is no refueling available in Zimbabwe. We were able to make the connection to VF after flying from London overnight, so didn't need to spend a night at an airport hotel. Ilala Lodge and VF were the perfect place to recover somewhat from the 9 hours jet-lag from U.S. West Coast, before starting out on our grand Africa adventure.

From Victoria Falls it was an interesting transfer by road through Botswana and by boat on the Chobe River to the Chobe Savanna Lodge in Namibia, where we were surrounded by literally hundreds and hundreds of elephants. Magical and most romantic place! Here's a link to more photos: http://jmstudio.fotopic.net/c1415868.html

We are going to the Falls in early July '08 and heard this was a perfect time to see it. correct?

any recommendations to do at VFalls besides look around?
Tiger fishing in that area?

staying at Zambezi Sun 2 nights. good?

tks
J3

I would definatly do Mozambique beach and the new Indigo bay is awesome awesome I have not seen Marlin as it is not open yet, but you cannot go wrong with Indigo Bay it is lovely!

In response to J3 - July is a perfect time of year to go.

If you are staying on the Zambian side then I urge you to go over to the Zimbabwean side as scenically it is much more impressive from that side - particularly walking through the rain forest which at that time of the year will mean you are not getting much of a free shower! Although plenty of rain end of December - will have to wait and see if it carries on.

No tiger fishing there - but plenty to do - just depends on your levels of adventure seeking - white water rafting (not for the faint hearted!), the river cruise is a must and I think they still do hot air ballooning, microlighting and that sort of thing. Years ago there used to be a flight called "Flight of the Angels" in which you go up in a light aircraft and that gives an excellent aerial perspective of the sheer size of the falls - used to be pretty expensive though.

Sorry J3 in reading yours again - obviously staying on the Zim side - Zambezi Sun Hotel should be fine.

Suggest you look at the shearwateradventures.com website which gives more of the adrenaline type activities available in Vic Falls.

J3
Plenty of Tiger fishing in the area. Fishing will take place a few miles upstream from the falls. YOur hotel/lodge will be able to book for you. I paid 100 usd for a mornings fishing in September. Caught some Tigers and a fellow fisherman also caught Bream
Michael

J3,
I was in Vic Falls this past September and hated the Zambezi Sun - we stayed there for 3 nights. For the price, I think there are much better options on the Zim side of the falls. If you click on my screen name you can find the trip report I did w/details, I think the title is "A First-Timer's Trip to Southern Africa" or something like that.

As for activities, I think the water may be too high in July, but if not don't miss a chance to visit Livingstone Island and swim to the rim of the falls - it was an incredible experience.