Today was another travel day. We didn’t have to leave until 10am, so we slept a bit later and enjoyed the view of Victoria Falls from the terrace at the hotel.

Then it was onto the bus for the trip to the airport…no, that would have been too easy. It was onto the bus for the trip to the border with Zambia and two more passport stamps; there we got on a different bus for the short drive to the Harry Mwanga Nkumbula International Airport for our flight to Johannesburg.

There wasn’t much scenery on the way, but there were a few surprises on side of the road. We passed a sign for the Railway and Gateway Jewish Museum, which seems like an interesting combination; we also passed Fawlty Towers, which gets surprisingly good reviews on TripAdvisor!

We checked in, dropped our luggage, got through security, went through Passport Control (another stamp!), and into the very small Departures area. I wondered why the boarding pass didn’t have a gate number until I found out that there’s only one gate in the International Terminal! We killed time by looking in the shops and at the posters on the wall. I’m curious about this one – Vietnam doesn’t even have an embassy in Zambia, so I wouldn’t think there’d be enough Vietnamese visitors to warn about illegal wildlife transport.

We reached Johannesburg a little early, collected our luggage and one last passport stamp for the day, and got onto the bus for the Fairlawns Boutique Hotel and Spa. It was originally built as a weekend getaway cottage for the Oppenheimer family (gold and diamond moguls) and was converted into a hotel in 1997. It is, to put it mildly, distinctive.

From what we’ve seen, our room is fairly tame.

The upstairs common area is enormous and comfortable.

Of course, the rooms and the property have all modern conveniences.

The service is amazing, too. We needed to get a couple of drugstore items; they took us there in a private car and waited for us to do the shopping!

It’s a shame we’re only here for two nights.

Our day started with an early breakfast so that we could see Victoria Falls before it got too hot and crowded – breakfast was at the Jungle Junction restaurant, and the view on our walk over was quite pleasant. You can even see the mist from Victoria Falls on the left side of the picture.

After a short bus ride to the Falls car park, we walked the paved trail on the Zimbabwe side of the falls. The views were incredible.

There was a rainbow visible across the canyon – I took many photos and this one seemed the most interesting.

Our fearless leader Dave Natale offered to take our photo – little did I know it’d be a three-person selfie!

We continued down the trail, enjoying the Falls from different vistas.

The Falls presented us with a much more vivid rainbow here.

The trail took us away from the Falls and into the rain forest for a short time.

We logged another new species, the bushbuck.

And then it was back to enjoying the water.

The trail ended at an overlook near the Victoria Falls Bridge; there were pedestrians, cars, a train, and even a few monkeys crossing.

We returned to the hotel to cool off; the hotel had followed up on my problem yesterday and the safe was now securely bolted down. I feel happier, even though I know that a hotel safe, no matter where you are, is mostly there for reassurance.

Once we’d recovered a bit, we took off for Elephant Walk shopping center. Diane saw a small shoulder bag at one store, but wished it had a zipper – ten minutes later, it did, thanks to Joyce, the owner’s mother and an excellent seamstress!

If you’re ever in Victoria Falls, check out the Elephant Walk center and look for this store (it has no sign, but it’s number 25 on the map, Spokang Trading Sewing and Upholstery).

We had High Tea on Stanley’s Terrace at the hotel; this afternoon, the group has a sundowner cruise (drinks and appetizers included), and then tonight, there will be dinner and a show back at the Jungle Junction. Dinner may be unnecessary, and I am expecting my lethargy level to be high, so I’ll post now.