Spoilt By Nature

Any one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World should invoke awe and amazement when looking at them. I'm sure if I went to the Great Barrier Reef next year, or saw the Aurora Borealis the year after, I would be completely awestruck. But I went to see the Victoria Falls after spending the last three weeks travelling through some of the most astounding natural environment I have ever seen. So this goliath of thundering torrents did not seem that special. But I know that really, it was.

The locals call it Mosi-oa-Tunya, which means 'The Smoke That Thunders', which is far more exciting than naming it after our longest reigning monarch. Although if I was Queen Victoria I would be pretty pleased having such a mega water feature named after me - the most I can ever aspire to would be a mill pond off the Blackwater-Chelmer Navigational Canal taking my name. So the Vic Falls aren't a bad thing to sure ones namesake. 

Anyway they are pretty cool. We worked out that 5,000,000 litres of water are discharged by the falls every second, which I think is probably wrong, because that is a fair amount of eau. But given that the group I was with consisted of two cambridge graduates, two neuroscientists and a doctor of Chemistry, I imagine that is probably right. And when you reach 'danger point', the area closests to the main falls, you begin to understand how much water is being dumped into the gorge below. It is like being in a rainstorm there, and suddenly it feels like tabbing up a hill in North Wales again.

Except TIA, and this is Zimbabwe. I managed to get a 2lbs steak for $4, and then even more impressively actually ate it all. It seems cooking something yourself is the only way to get decent food here - although having an ostrich stew was definitely a welcome treat. 

Africa is much more expensive than I could have ever imagined. Tescos is cheaper than the supermarkets out here - the only things that are cheaper are accomodation and travel, and occasionally alcohol. Budgeting is a serious concern, especially as I hit Zambia tomorrow, which is supposedly ultra expensive (although they value the sterling ridiculously highly). But onwards and upwards, still travelling north from Cape Town, still meeting awesome people, and still learning that Africa has more surprises to throw at you than anywhere else I have ever been.