Distance: 84.8 km
Ride time: 4:27:33
Average: 19.0 km/h
Max speed: 45.4 km/h
Total: 46617 km
After the short but comfortable stay in Botswana I cycled out of Kasane with renewed energy. I was going to cross into Zimbabwe and cycle to Victoria Falls – sounds pretty exotic, doesn’t it?
The Zimbabwe borders are notorious for being complicated, but I didn’t face any problems with the officers. Sometimes it makes things a lot easier when you are crossing by bicycle and don’t have to take a vehicle across.
At the border I met this fella who was carefully checking out each new visitor to his country. Zimbabwe is country number 42 by bike!
In Botswana I hadn’t been allowed to cycle through the Ngome National Park, but they obviously see things different in Zimbabwe. The park rangers asked if I knew I was riding into a park which I confirmed. They then asked if I had any weapons with me, which I obviously couldn’t confirm. Oh well, they wished me good luck as I continued on…
In the first half hour I was pretty nervous and cycled as fast as I could through the rolling hills of the Zambezi National Park. Then, as nothing seemed to happen I relaxed and put on some good music. I had the whole road to myself as only a very few cars passed.
Signs that there is life in the park 🙂
And then as I was in my own thoughts listening to my music, an elephant crossed the road in front of me! That sure woke me up, and I put away the music for the rest of the day. The elephant was into the bushes as soon as it had appeared, and I was too slow with my camera. Nothing like cycling in Africa!
Soon enough I was out of the park and rolled into the village of Victoria Falls – a charming little place with plenty of tourists, restaurants, supermarkets, and even a railway line.
I checked into the Shoestrings Backpackers which even had a bit of wild life out in front.
At the hostel I met Simon from Germany as well as British and Polish travellers. I like being out there in the villages talking to the locals, but I also enjoy to meet fellow travellers once in a while. The Shoestrings Backpackers came complete with a domestic dog and a local musician. Add to that a few beers and the good company, , and it all resulted in a fine night.
Tomorrow morning I’m planning to join Simon and go explore the Victoria Falls!
Looks like you had a great first day, after crossing the border! A pity you didn’t have any time to take a photo of the elephant, though!
Nice touch with the rail yard! Railways have been a major interest, of mine, for years. When I do start pedalling off into the sunset (or, more likely, sunrise), I plan on doing a fair bit of railway photography along the way!
Yes Stephen… people at the hostel talked about how nice a ride it had been to arrive to Victoria Falls by train. I almost felt like parking the bike for a couple of days and check it out. Plenty of interesting railways to spot round the world!