Doug and Paisley in SWAZILAND: Part I | Dillon Family Christmas Vacation

On Saturday, December 18^th, 2010 we drove to Johannesburg to drop off our friends Ann and Andrew and to pick-up my parents. My parents treated Doug and me to a fantastic Christmas Vacation in Zimbabwe and Botswana where we visited Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park, respectively. It was truly a trip to remember! Since only my Mom had previously visited us in Swaziland, the second half of our trip was at home in Swaziland. All told, on my Dad’s first trip the continent we visited 4 countries in a span of 8 days!

Let me start by saying that there was no drama to report. Usually, I reserve all of our trials and tribulations for the blog (because they are usually funny stories); but, miraculously, this trip was blissfully ‘uneventful’ in terms of the drama department (much to my father’s pleasure). And I’ll continue by saying that over 1000 pictures were taken; so, I feel it is most appropriate to layout our itinerary and to tell the rest in pictures.

Friday, December 17 – JoBurg – Mom and Dad arrived and checked-in at the Southern Sun Hotel
Saturday, December 18 – JoBurg – Apartheid Museum and dinner at Thomas Maxwell’s Restaurant
Sunday, December 19 – JoBurg/Victoria Falls – Traveled to Victoria Falls and hung out at Safari Lodge
Monday, December 20 – Victoria Falls – Visited Victoria Falls and ½ day canoe trip on the Zambezi River
Tuesday, December 21 – Victoria Falls – Helicopter Tour, market, gorge zip-line, high tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel, and visited the falls at night to see the ‘lunar rainbow’
Wednesday, December 22 – Victoria Falls/Chobe Desert – Traveled to Chobe and took an afternoon boat safari on the Chobe River
Thursday, December 23 – Chobe Desert – Morning game drive in Chobe National Park, midday boat safari on the Chobe River and another game drive in the evening
Friday, December 24 – Chobe Desert – Morning game drive in Chobe National Park, midday boat safari on the Chobe River and another game drive in the evening
Saturday, December 25 – Chobe Desert/Victoria Falls/JoBurg – Traveled back to Zimbabwe to fly back to Johannesburg and made Christmas dinner at my friend Kadija’s house
Sunday, December 26 – JoBurg/Swaziland – Traveled back to Swaziland and had dinner at Forester’s Arms’ Restaurant
Monday, December 27 – Swaziland – Played 18 holes at the Royal Swazi Golf Course
Tuesday, December 28 – Swaziland – Hiked up Sibebe and had dinner at Mantenga Lodge Restaurant with Keri’s parents
Wednesday, December 29 – Swaziland – Went souvenir shopping at Ngwenya Glass Factory, Swazi Candles and Gone Rural
Thursday, December 30 – Swaziland/USA – Had brunch at Ramblas Restaurant and Mom and Dad returned to the United States

Outside of the Apartheid Museum

On Saturday the 18th we had reservations at this darling Bistro in Johannesburg called, Thomas Maxwell's

This is the the delicious dessert that my Mom ordered and we all ate; peach tarte

On Sunday morning the 19th we flew to Zimbabwe to visit Victoria Falls for 3 nights

We stayed at the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and I would HIGHLY recommend it if you ever find yourself in Zimbabwe

Our rooms had amazing views of the Zambezi National Park and the service was noteworthy (which in these parts, is not very common)

The pool was the perfect place to relax; which is exactly what we did after we arrived...

While Mom and I sat by the pool (reading and crocheting), Dad and Doug checked out the game viewing from the hotel's viewing deck. I got Doug the binoculars for Christmaskuh and he honestly kept them in his hand for the entire vacation.

Our first night at the lodge we had a really great meal on the veranda overlooking the reserve. I had warthog cutlets or 'Pumba.' Gasp. But, so yummy.

Being one of the 7 Wonders of the World, we were really excited to check out Victoria Falls. There are different seasons in which to view the falls due to the rainfall, and we were exactly in between the low season and high season (or at the very beginning of the rainy season). It turned out to be a perfect time to view the falls because they were running, but not so full that the mist blocked any view of the falls. At the peak of the rainy season the mist shoots 1 km up into the air (which is awesome), but can be so thick that you can't see the actual falls.

'Ma and Pa Tourist' in front of the falls. You can see the spray kicking-up on the right. It makes it 'rain' on the pathways through the National Park surrounding the falls; therefore, it has produced a rain forest alongside of the falls.

Group shot

This is the start of the falls and one of the places where the Zambezi river dumps over

Main part of the Victoria Falls

(Faint) double rainbow

From this angle, you can really see the spray in the gorge

After our morning at the falls, we stopped by the largest, southernmost Baobab tree (because Doug is obsessed with them) before returning to our hotel for lunch

On Monday afternoon we went on a 1/2 day canoe trip down the Zambezi River (above the falls). The Zambezi is famous for it's whitewater rafting (below the falls). Many rivers have to wait until the high season to run rafting trips, but the Zambezi can only run trips in the low season. Otherwise, the water is so high that it's too fast and too dangerous to raft. That's pretty nuts.

Here we are, all suited-up and ready to get on the river

Doug and my Mom

Dad and me

While there were 4 small rapids to contend with (small, as in Class II) the biggest obstacle on the river were the hippos! Our guides took these enormous creatures VERY seriously and could honestly spot them from a zillion meters away, even when nobody else could see them. During the safety speech pre-canoe trip we were given points about what to do if a hippo accidentally surfaces under your canoe and tips you over. Step #1 was 'don't panic.' Yeah, right. I'm pretty sure that that is the ONLY thing that would happen if I was tipped out of canoe by a hippo (P.S. the most dangerous animal in Africa. Yes, folks. The hippo.)

Fortunately, we didn't go head-to-head with any hippos. But, here's one pictured off the tip of our canoe. That's about as close as we got (intentionally)

At sunset, as we were driving out of the Zambezi National Park we saw a wild dog in the road. This is probably one of the only creatures left on our list of 'things to see' after a million safaris. It was pretty exciting, even if the picture is blurry.

For my birthday dinner we went to a restaurant called, The Boma, which promoted a 'traditional' Zimbabwean dining experience. As soon as you walk into the restaurant, they dress you in traditional fabric (basically a togo) and paint your face. Even my Dad (yes, George) got into the festive spirit (this definitely falls under the category of things that 'only one of his daughters can peer pressure him to do').

The buffet of food was insane and the meat choices were exotic. There was warthog, kudu, wildebeest, etc. on the menu. This was just an ordinary rack of lamb.

My parents bought me a present for my birthday from a guy carving animals in the restaurant. Meet my birthday hippo!

Doug got a certificate for eating more than one Mopani worm. Gross. Takes us back to the days of, 'http://www.What.Doug.Won't.Eat.com'

After dinner there was drumming and dancing

On Tuesday morning, Doug, my Mom and I went on a helicopter tour to view the falls from above

It was truly amazing to see the falls from an aerial perspective and I took A LOT of pictures. But, I'll just post a few as to not overrun this post with shots of rushing water.

The Zambezi River feeding the falls and an aerial shot of the spray shooting above the falls

Lengthwise view of the falls

The 'old' falls. The current Victoria Falls is actually the 8th set. The river cuts a new set of falls about every 10,000 years. You can see in this picture the zig zag of previous falls.

After the helicopter tour, my Dad and Doug returned to the falls for another visit while my Mom and I went to the market to find a statue for her garden. Recent visitors to Zimbabwe told us that the sellers in the market were just as interested in clothes as they were money; therefore, we brought a lot of donated clothes with us to bargain with. These two men are wearing a golf shirt and Michigan jersey that we gave them in exchange for a soapstone statue (along with some cash). They asked us to take a picture of them in the shirts, they were so excited!

After a quick trip to the market, my Mom and I geared-up for an afternoon adrenalin rush as we had reservations for the zip line over the gorge at 2:00pm

My 60 year old Mom totally wanted to go on the zip line and since Doug isn't that fond of heights, just the two of us went. This is the gorge across which we zipped! You can just barely see the wire cutting through the middle of the picture (vertically)

On the ledge, just before we went. We decided to go tandem just in case anything happened...

And then, we were off

My Mom was definitely NOT scared. She laughed the whole time.

The view from where we were seated in the middle of the gorge, once we stopped zipping

To close out a very eventful afternoon, we went to the Victoria Falls Hotel and had high tea on the terrace. It was really lovely.

Clotted cream is my friend

And to wrap-up a very eventful day in Victoria Falls, we returned to the falls after dark to catch a glimpse of the Lunar Rainbow. It happens once per month during the full moon, and we just happened to be in Victoria Falls during the full moon in December. Because the spray is not too high, the rainbow was intermittent, but we all caught a glimpse and really enjoyed being at the falls under the moon, anyways.

My Mom took this shot of my Dad, Doug and me looking on in the moonlight