Category Archives: Africa

In the middle of Africa

A few years back, we took a trip that essentially cut off the bottom of Africa, we traveled from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Indian Ocean, stopping in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique. The stop in ZimZam (as it’s known) was really just a single night stop at Victoria Falls and the Victoria Falls Hotel. I’ve talked about this in the past on prior blogs, and it isone of the most picturesque colonial hotels in Africa. We really just that one night at the hotel and this is a stopover on our way to Mozambique. How are the hotel was built over 100 years ago and has some really lovely features that capture the memory of the era in which it was built. This block was at the base of the flag that sat at the end of the hotel steps overlooking Victoria Falls itself, and as you can see, the block indicates the distance between Cape Town, where you are now in Victoria Falls, and all the way up to Cairo which is route the original train went. It really does have me dreaming of going from the south end of Africa all the way up to the north end covering that nearly 7000 miles from tip to tip. Maybe one day I’ll build make make a trip.

Sony A7R II | FE 70-200mm F4 G | 144mm | f/4.0 | 1/640th | ISO200

Victoria Falls Hotel

Ok, now I don’t normally go for the poshest hotel in the area. But there are those times that you want to splurge a little bit. You want to be a part of history.  The Victoria Falls Hotel was built in 1904. It was intended for railway workers in the early 20th century.  I imagine it wasn’t actually built for the *workers*. It was more for the ‘tea and crumpets’ set. This group likely either took the railway or managed the construction crews.  But imagine being in southern Africa in colonial times. This was over a hundred years ago at a hotel as prestigious as this.

The hotel is quaint and a bit dated. You can feel the sense of occasion that the hotel once represented, especially back in the early 1900’s.  We had only two nights there. We had a lunch. We took a walk over the bridge to Zambia. We also walked through Victoria Falls Park. This provided just enough for a taste.

Sony A7R II |Sony FE 16-35 f/4.0 | 35mm | f/22 | 1/60th | ISO500