Many of our group decided to visit the Marimba market which is a market about 2 km outside of Livingstone where all the locals shop (similar to the Tuesday Market in Mexico). Meat, veggies, fish, herbs, spices and many items I couldn't identify were for sale. We were the only non-Zambian folks there and it was interesting to see where they shopped. There was also clothes, shoes, fabrics, and assorted items for living. The market was filled with flies though so we spent some time there and then took another taxi into town to the crafts market. This market was right in downtown Livingstone.
The people at these stalls work you over very hard pushing you to come talk with them and look at their items. We bought quite a few things here and, after a while, I think I got used to bargaining hard for what we wanted. Kids even had some sodas out of the old glass coke bottles (we had to drink them there and return the bottles). I even managed to trade my plastic water bottle (that we got for free during our safari trip) for some of the crafts.
After this successful market morning, we visited Victoria Falls again and this time took a trail called the Boiling Pot. All the water from the falls empty at this point and the sheer volume of water is astounding. On our way to the trail, we met a family of zebra right on our path. They were obviously accustomed to humans and it was really neat to see these creatures so close.
The Boiling Pot trail goes straight down and then you get into a rainforest-like climate with a beautiful stream and trees overhead. There were so many baboons on the paths. We watched them for a while and finally got up the courage to pass them by since they weren't moving. Again, it was so amazing to see them up close grooming each other, playing with their babies, and eating the fruit and nuts from the trees.
At 3:30 our group met to drive to the African Queen for a sunset cruise down the Zambezi. These boats were quite upscale with beautiful wood fixtures and all the drinks and snacks included. We had a lovely cruise and saw more hippos and crocs and birds. We all decided that this had been such a great trip that we should all travel again together in a few years from now. After a few drinks, we all thought that Thailand and Vietnam should be our next destination!
On the way home, we stopped at a local Indian restaurant and had fabulous food. Great curries served in lovely copper pots with several fires burning on the outside deck to keep us warm. What a different restaurant from the night before!
The temperature here in Zambia is quite warm during the day (around 80) but then falls to the low 50's at night. The kids did swim in the pool a few times although it was quite cold.
No comments:
Post a Comment