Unexpectedly, one of my favorite memories of Victoria Falls is my stop at the Lookout Cafe to see the Botoka Gorge! The Botoka Gorge is a sizeable gorge just beyond Victoria Falls, and it is absolutely stunning! We were so lucky to have stumbled across the Lookout Café!
The Lookout Cafe is a small outpost/bar right of the walking path between the Victoria Falls Hotel and Victoria Falls. This walkway is open to the public and there are signs for the Lookout Cafe halfway down the path. Dan and I decided to stop on a whim, thinking that it would just be a fun place to grab a drink! Wrong! But it was a fun place to grab a drink!
On our final afternoon visiting Victoria Falls, Dan and I decided to go all out and take a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls! As this was right after our Livingstone Island/Angel’s Armchair tour, this day was reallllly crazy!
Helicopter tours are offered from both the Zimbabwe and Zambia sides of the Falls. We signed up at our hotel the morning of the tour. The helicopter tours are quite expensive, running approximately $160 a person for a 12-15 minute ride! While expensive, the views were stunning and we really enjoyed our 15 minutes!
The tour started with a transfer to the take-off site, followed by a short safety lesson. After that, it was off to the chopper (as Dan said!). Here is our trusty ride:
Note – the helicopter seats four guests, one in the front and three in the back. On our trip, it was only Dan and I and one other person, so we all got a window seat! However, if there are four people, someone will have to sit in the middle. Here is Dan in the front and me in the back!
The tour started with a fly over Victoria Falls. The pilot pointed out the relevant sites, such as Livingstone Island, and gave a bit of history. Everyone wore a headset, so questions were welcomed! Again, the views were absolutely stunning!!
One of the most adventurous activities at Victoria Falls is swimming in the Devil’s Pool – a natural infinity pool right on the edge of Victoria Falls! When the water levels are too high, which is pretty often, Devil’s Pool is closed due to safety concerns. But have no fear, Angels’ Armchair is open for business! Angels’ Armchair is a similar pool also right on the edge of the Falls, very close to Livingstone Island. Just a tiny rope separating you from the 354 foot drop off… If you click on the pictures below to enlarge them (pictures taken from the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls), you can see people in Angel’s Armchair on the left side of the screen. We took these pictures the day before we were sitting in Angels’ Armchair. I called them crazy…
Now I don’t really like heights nor am I much of a risk taker (and Dan even less so), so you’re probably wondering how I got myself into this… Well, I really wanted to see Livingstone Island, and the tour to Livingstone Island automatically comes with a visit to either Devil’s Pool or Angels’ Armchair. Livingstone Island is an actual island right on the edge of the Falls. There it is – the island right on the edge! This picture was taken from our helicopter tour!
Dan and I stayed at the historic Victoria Falls Hotel when we visited Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
The Victoria Falls Hotel is an old historic hotel located right in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The Grande Dame of Victoria Falls if you will. The nightly rates at this hotel are more than Dan and I usually spend on hotels, but I just could not come all the way to Victoria Falls and not stay here! So we bit the bullet. I thought it was quite luxurious and a worthy splurge!
The hotel is set in a dramatic location, with views of the spray from the Falls, the Victoria Falls Bridge and the Second Gorge from the main terrace. Truly stunning!!
If you have been reading my posts (and here it is again if you haven’t!), you know that Dan and I took a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River when we visited Victoria Falls. I found this tour to be extremely enjoyable, suitable for all ages and really a “must-do” when visiting Victoria Falls! The above picture was taken from the Sunset Cruise. The cloud/smoke in the background is water coming off the Falls!!
No need to book ahead of time. All accommodations in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, from hostels to the fanciest hotels, offer this tour, and you can generally book it the same day. It costs about $60 US a person. Wild Horizons, who did our transfer from the Livingstone Airport to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, seems to organize the Zambezi Sunset Cruise in Zimbabwe.
We purchased our tickets around noon for the Sunset Cruise later that evening. Around 4:00 p.m. a Wild Horizons tour bus picked us and several other tourists up to head to the “port.” The bus stopped at several other hotels to pick up guests. When we arrived at the “port,” which is not much more than a boat landing, we filed down to the dock and boarded one of several boats waiting in the water. Some boats are nicer than others, and which one you get is really based on luck.
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