So many of our trips have us rushing to the airport after work, which can be stressful and occasional collapses, so we decided to make things easier and take the departure day off completely. That meant a morning sleep-in, which feels better knowing that it is the last time to sleep horizontally for 36 hours. It also makes things easier to organize and clean up the house and get it ready for a week without us around to cool it.
We took the train (and our suitcase) to Sannomiya and craving yakiniku we went to a place that Kuniko found online, called “Yazawa”. It turned out to be a little bit upscale, primarily catering to overseas Chinese visitors who feel like they need to eat authentic Kobe beef. We avoided the tourist-focused items and prices and chose a good meal – beef roast, rib fingers, skirt steak, liver and kimchi, along with a cold noodle soup that was not quite authentic but still not bad. It was a pricey restaurant but the quality was excellent.
We caught our usual airport bus to Kansai International, and despite traffic we arrived with plenty of time to check in. After dropping our bag we had trouble getting our frequent flyer numbers into the code share system, so we had to wait at a special desk for them to input it for us.
Once we got through security we were walking to the convenience store and we suddenly realized that we had forgotten to pack the travel outlet adapter – I peeked in my bag and it wasn’t there. While I waited in the huge line Kuniko went and found one in the convenience store – it was like 5000 yen! But just on the off chance that we were making a mistake I dug more deeply into my backpack, and just in time found our adapter. It was a silly mistake but not as silly as we would be finding it after we bought a replacement. We laughed about that while sipping convenience store drinks and eating Jagarico.
Our flight to Singapore left on time. It was about 6 hours, and Kuniko was in the middle seat next to an old lady at the window who didn’t really move and didn’t need the toilet. The food on this leg was surprisingly good – I had chili crab that had an actual crab claw on top of it – impressive!
In Singapore we took the inter-terminal tram to the right terminal, but had a little time. We enjoyed some bubbles at a bar while the Singaporean staff giggled and offered refills. The local time was around midnight, and since I didn’t sleep on the previous flight I was a little bleary-eyed. We hydrated with some water and a coconut shake that I found in a convenience store – Kuniko wasn’t a big fan of it so it was all mine!
We went through the security at the gate and our flight ended up being delayed by 20 minutes, but since we had lots of time on the other end it didn’t affect us much. The flight was pretty full – mostly Asian and white people – not what I expected for a flight to Africa. We both slept well on the flight, getting around 6 hours of sleep out of the 10 hours in the air. I slept through dinner service, but Kuniko had pepper chicken with red wine – not bad!
There was quite a bit of turbulence during the second meal service, and one of the flight attendants was having a pretty bad day because of it. The chaotic scene played out while we sat around observing – nothing else to do for us but watch. Kuniko sat next to another quiet older woman, whose only interaction with us was to ask me to open her water bottle.
Our plane landed on time in Johannesburg, and the arrivals area of the airport was pretty cool. The architecture was different from what we are used to, with colorful tiles and African-themed artwork prominently displayed. While we waited for our suitcase we were surrounded by a big group of Japanese people on a tour chatting, and it felt briefly like we had never left Japan. That group were heading to Mauritius – not a typical travel destination for Japanese people.
Since we arrived early in the morning local time the immigration and customs were super easy, and we had quite a bit of time to kill. We did some shopping and eating – the staff here were so outgoing and friendly it was immediately apparent that the social culture is very different from what we were used to. For example: I handed over my passport at immigration and the officer asked how I was doing today – a rare friendly government official – and I internally scolded myself that I should have been the first to greet rather than him.
We luckily could check in for our next flight to Zimbabwe Victoria Falls. Unfortunately we were seated separately but since it was a short flight we didn’t mind too much. The check in clerk tried to make a phone call to a superior to get us together but it didn’t work out.
Waiting for our flight we decided to get some breakfast at a coffee shop restaurant called Mugg & Bean. The menu was western style – we had a ranchero omelette – and two cappuccinos (you could order them short, easy, or serious). We heard that you should tip in South Africa, but the system was different – you told them how much the total price is before they run your card – I was scribbling away doing math while the staff waited for me to get it done. Our waiter was a really nice guy even before the tip – another example of great hospitality on this trip.
The way to the check-in counter was gated off, and you had to prove to a security staff that you belonged in the line. We had checked in somewhere else, so unlike everyone else we had boarding passes, so that got us through the security check. However, we didn’t know where to go until we realized that after checking in people walked behind the counter to security. That was completely new to us. It also involved a weird luggage handling system that lifted the checked luggage somewhere overhead so that it could be sent out to the planes.
We were totally clueless so we walked to the check-in counter that was the same number as our flight gate, but then we were walking down a long hallway that everyone else was using. We were slightly confounded by this airport system.
Past security and immigration there were lots of interesting shops to look through. Of course they had a few duty-free places that are the same as every other airport, but they also had local shops with art, and some shops selling “biltong” which is a kind of jerky made from various animals. I enjoyed seeing the colorful patterns and textiles, there were painted ostrich eggs, dried worms, amarula chocolate, and tribal statues.
We had time to kill so we walked among these shops, back and forth to the gate (down a long, long escalator that was only one-way). We found more Japanese on our plane joining a group tour, so we were still hearing lots of Japanese language. Finally we could ride a bus to our plane, and a nice lady switched seats with me so that we could sit together on the two hour flight to Victoria Falls airport.
Once the plane took off we could see how quickly the city of Johannesburg thinned out to the north. There were shining reflections on metal structures gathered around a large dirty lake, which I took to be shanties or homemade housing. But soon everything disappeared and we were flying over the open African savannah. Despite the short flight they gave us lunch and we could try a few South African wines, both were not bad.
We circled over the tiny town of Victoria Falls and landed at their airport. The immigration processing was really disorganized. At first everyone lined up while some poor staff tried to answer each and every question that came his way. Later after thinking about it I believe his job was to sort of triage the incoming passengers but it ended up just clogging the passageway. Once past there another guy looked at our prepaid QR code and sent us to one more line, and then we could be admitted into the country. I was surprised to hear other people asking what they need to get a visa and it seemed like the absolute worst time to be wondering about this.
We picked up our suitcase almost immediately and then went out to meet our hotel driver, who introduced himself as “Bambino”. As we left the airport a group of native locals started singing and dancing together and it felt a little touristy to me at this point. Luckily things improved.
Bambino was a smooth talker and hoping for future work so he gave us a presentation of his services as well as local points of interest while we rode the short way to our hotel. Once we paid him at the hotel ($30 USD + $5 tip) he insisted on me taking his number to call him for rides later. We didn’t like his vibe so we didn’t call him back.
We were staying at the Shongwe Oasis, one of three resort-style hotels in the same area. It was quite nice, mainly under a huge tent that provided shade in the afternoon and kept the birds out. There were lots of tropical trees and a small swimming pool and jacuzzi surrounding a big bar and restaurant. We checked in, the staff being extremely friendly – one guy named “Brad” asked us how long Victoria Falls had been on our bucket list – but we got our key and checked out our room. It was nice – even an outdoor shower if we were brave – but the big comfortable bed and clean bathroom were what we were really after.
Right after dropping our suitcase off we went right back out and requested a taxi ride to the Victoria Falls National Park. The taxi took us there in less than 5 minutes, agreeing to meet us again in two hours. On the drive to the falls we could see that the town was interesting – sort of developing based on tourism, and some big baboons causing trouble in some areas. Most of the buildings felt modern with some strange names, but it was definitely not a primitive village in the jungle.
At the park we paid the (steep) admission fee and then made a short walk to the western part of the park to start at the viewpoints. We skipped the first few to try to get to the best of the viewpoints first, but in the end they were all excellent in their own way. The falls were roaring and misting and they were spectacular. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as Niagara Falls was, with just a handful of people at each viewpoint. Our favorite area of the falls was just after the powerful main falls where we could see a thousand smaller waterfalls splitting and cascading down. The mist made rainbows pretty much inevitable everywhere, and we couldn’t stop taking pictures.
Along the way we saw lots of different types of people. Some were clearly locals enjoying a day trip to cool off, others were tourists like us. I was snapping a photo of a fallen tree that was leaning across the pathway – just as I snapped it a girl had jumped on part of the tree, and the girl’s mom apologized for interfering with my photo – I was just afraid she thought I was taking photos of her daughter.
We spent about an hour and a half enjoying the falls, with plenty of time to go back and see what had initially skipped over. The viewpoint called “38 steps” near the beginning of the falls had exceptional views down the gorge and the Zambezi river – we both liked the spot.
We did some shopping for a Christmas ornament/keychain and then sat out front to wait for our taxi. As we sat we were surrounded by wild monkeys that played and chirped at each other but (luckily) didn’t approach us. There was also a big group of school kids on a school trip that showed up (late in the day on a Saturday). Once the taxi came back we took some time to unpack in our room.
Before dinner we hit the bar area to have some drinks and snacks – Kuniko had a mango daiquiri (a little too sweet) and I had some local beers. The snack plate was pretty big – beef biltong, spiced peanuts, and cheese flavored crisps.
Dinner at the resort was pretty good. The menu was international – it was hard to find local dishes here and I guess I understand why. Our first night Kuniko had a vegetarian lasagna that was filling but a little bland, and I had a spicy prawn curry that was slightly sour (in a good way) that really was excellent. We ordered red wine and they poured extremely heavy – so by the time we went back to our room to sleep we were ready to crash. Hard to believe that we accomplished so much in one big travel day.
