Day 13 - Thursday 25th July

We were due to fly out of Kanana camp today bound for Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. We followed the normal routine of the 6am wake-up call and 6:30am breakfast. Then we packed our bags.

Mark, the manager, had offered to drive us to the air strip for the 8:25am flight and to take us on a short game-viewing drive on the way there. Unfortunately we didn't see many animals.

At the air strip, the first step is always to drive along the runway to check for animals to make sure that it was safe for the plane to land. Our pilot was Michelle who had flown us from Maun to Shinde.

Although we were the only passengers on the plane when we took off, she had to land again at Moremi Game Reserve on the way to pick up two more passengers before taking off again for Kasane airport. The first leg was about 25 minutes and the second was just over an hour.

Kasane was a much better airport than we'd seen recently - the runway was sealed and there was a reasonably sized terminal building for such a rural location. Even the main road leading into the airport was sealed.

We were met by a driver who took us in a van together with two other groups. At the border, she stopped at the Botswana immigration building where we all got out and lined up to show our passports and have them stamped.

The next step was to drive a short distance to the Zimbabwe immigration building where we once again got out and lined up. This time, the queue was much longer and hardly moved.

Once we eventually did get inside, the first officer checked our passports and took our money for the visa fee. For Australians the fee is only $US30 whereas for many other countries it is more.

Apparently, the fee depends on how much Zimbabwe likes your country. For the UK it is $US55 and we heard that for Canada it is $US95. Whatever the fee you need to pay by cash in US currency and they don't give any change.

The whole exercise took about an hour. While we were waiting, we chatted to a family group who were also going to Victoria Falls.

Another rule with entering Zimbabwe is that you can only drive a Zimbabwe registered vehicle on Zimbabwe roads and so our first driver had handed up over to a new driver. We were relieved when we finally got into his vehicle that our bags were there safely.

We were the only passengers in this mini bus that could seat 20 people for the 45 minute drive to Victoria Falls. Along the way, we saw several animals beside the road including elephants.

At the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, we were met by a man in colourful traditional dress.

Our room wasn't ready and so we went to the bar for lunch. The bar has a great view overlooking a waterhole surrounded by wild animals and birds. Our room is close to the bar and has the same fabulous view.

The hotel has WiFi in the rooms and in the common areas. You need to pay $US5 for an access card for each device but it has a data limit of only 100MB at which point, you need to get another card.

We'd booked to go on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. A courtesy bus picked us up at 3:45pm and drove us to the wharf where boarded one of the many vessels moored there. Just after getting on board, we noticed a crocodile in the water only 5m from the boat.

There were more animals sightings including:

• A group of hippos in the water.
• Two crocodiles on the bank of the river.
• Two bull elephants feeding on trees close to the bank. At one stage, they started playing by locking horns and pretending to fight.

In each case, the skipper positioned the boat close to the animals. In fact, we were so close to one of the crocodiles, that we could almost reach out and touch it (but we didn't).

The cruise came  with free drinks and snacks. So we relaxed as we cruised up and down the river and watched the sun set. It was a beautiful scene.

The bus got us back to the hotel at about 6:30pm.

We'd booked for the Boma (place of eating) dinner tonight which is close to the hotel. The shuttle bus picked us up at 7pm - you are not allowed to walk outside the hotel at night.

At the Boma, we were greeted by people in traditional dress who gave us colourful capes to wear for the evening. They then invited us to dance with traditional dancers as they took photos of us. Next they dabbed paint marks on our faces and showed us to our table.

This boma dinner was very different from the ones we had experienced at Toro Yaka in the Balule Game Reserve in South Africa last week. For a start, it was in a building rather than the open air - although the building was made of timber poles and thatched roofing - it even had a floor rather than sand. Secondly, it was much larger - rather than three couples around a log fire, there were more than 100 people here.

There was plenty of choice when it came to food - lamb roasting on an open-fire spit, barbecued meat and game, salads and dessert in elaborated displays.

For entree, I had guinea fowl whereas Suzy had crocodile - I preferred the guinea fowl. For main course, we both had buffalo stew and barbecued warthog. Both were delicious.

The people who danced for us as we arrived also provided entertainment at various stages during the evening. The finale was a group of drummers. Everyone was given their own drum so they could participate. It was a memorable night.

The shuttle bus got us back to the hotel at about 10am. We were ready for a good night's sleep after an eventful day.