Victoria Falls – June 21st – 22nd

Today we started the day by crossing into Zimbabwe.  Zimbabwe was originally called Rhodesia after its founder Cecil Rhodes.  In 1980, Zimbabwe was granted its independence from Britain and Robert Mugabe won the first presidential election on March 4^th of that year.  He has been in power ever since although it’s believed that many of the elections were fraudulent.  From 2007 to 2008 the real rate of inflation was seven sixtillion percent and then the economy finally collapsed.  Today the country used the US dollar as its currency.  Besides the economy, employment is also a major issue for the Mugabe government.  It’s estimated that the unemployment rate is between 80-90%, resulting in many Zimbabweans seeking jobs in neighboring countries.  It’s estimated that 60% of the population has people sending them money working a job in another country.

Our destination in Zimbabwe and the final destination on our tour was Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls was named after Queen Victoria by the first European explorer who set their sights on them, David Livingston, however up until then, and still today locally, the falls were known to be The Smoke That Thunders, “Mosi-oa-Tunya”.  One million liters of water per second down the 108 m/354 feet drop stretching 1.7 km/1 mile wide strip in the Zambezi Gorge.  It’s listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.