Livingstone

For part 2 of our honeymoon, my husband and I traveled to the beautiful country of Zambia. We had to take a little prop plane from Kruger National Park in South Africa to a different, larger airport in South Africa called Nelspruit. It was both of our first time on a prop plane, and it was actually pretty scary because there was really bad fog. Thankfully, the flight was only 20 minutes, but we were actually delayed 4 hours getting into Zambia because of the weather. It was unfortunate because it was cutting our already short trip to Zambia even shorter, but we definitely made the most of our time in the country!

We stayed on the Zambia side of Victoria Falls in a little town called Livingstone. It was amazing to see all of the locals walking everywhere. Apparently, most people walk miles to and from work every day. Not many people have bicycles or cars. We felt extremely blessed by the end of our trip.

Tongabezi

We stayed at the beautiful Tongabezi Lodge located right on the Zambezi river. Prior to arriving, they told us they were going to upgrade us to the Honeymoon House, but when we arrived, they ended up upgrading us again to the Nut House. The house had a beautiful plunge pool that overlooked the Zambezi river, and they had a bubble bath waiting for us when we arrived. The grounds of the hotel were beautiful, with an amazing restaurant and a nice “hang out” area. The food was all included, and it was so delicious. For every meal, they served us three courses. A lot of the time, I told them I only wanted one or two courses, and they really wanted to make sure we got the most for our money and really enjoyed our food.

Sunrise and Sunset Boat Cruise

Mike and I took a sunrise boat cruise and a sunset boat cruise. For both cruises, we saw lots of hippos in the water watching us. At the evening tour, we also saw crocodile, which was pretty crazy to get so close to them! Also in the evening tour, they set up a really cute little bar for us and we had sun downer drinks. It was extremely relaxing and nice.

Tongabezi Trust School: Tujatane

On our final day, we visited the Tongabezi Trust School called Tujatane. I couldn’t think of a better conclusion than our visit to the Tujatane school. About 30 students came during their summer break to put on a beautiful performance for us with many songs and dances as a thank you for donating to the school. During the performance, the students even pulled us up on stage to dance with them.

As part of our wedding gifts, instead of giving a souvenir for all of our guests at the end of the night (we did provide them with cake pops too), we donated 8 dollars to the school on behalf of each of our guests, which can feed a child for a month. Some of our guests also donated to the school, which we were so thankful for.

In Zambia, people have to pay for all levels of education. Most of the students walk to school, some up to 5 miles per day, so we were so surprised to see so many show up during their summer holiday. We received a tour around the school, and we also got to meet many of the current students and some former students that graduated and have gone on to university. One is studying to be an auditor! Mike and I gave the kids all of the sunglasses we brought with us. We wish we could have had more to give to them, but we were very restricted with the weight of our bags for all of our smaller airplanes we were on. We are sponsoring a local preschooler through 9th grade, and we will receive periodic updates. This was definitely an experience I will always cherish and never forget.

Victoria Falls

Walking Tour

We had a day walking tour to the Zambia Side of Victoria Falls and we walked all along the river. Since we visited in December, the water levels were much lower than the rest of the year. It was still a beautiful thing to see, and we were lucky enough to see the falls giving off a rainbow in the mist as well.

Outside of the falls is a little market where you can barter with the local villagers for little souvenirs. They were really pushy and kind of begging us after we had already bought a lot of things. You have to definitely be prepared when you go into there. They would come down in half from their original price. I ended up trading my blue polo socks for a souvenir because the guy said that he loved the color of my socks. It is something I will always remember forever.

Helicopter Tour (Zambia and Zimbabwe) 

We also were lucky enough to do a helicopter tour over Victoria Falls. I sat in the front seat along with the pilot, and Mike sat behind me. The view of the falls from above was absolutely unreal. I thought that I would be really afraid of the helicopter or would feel motion sickness, but I was perfectly fine… and I loved it! We circled around two times on the Zambia side and Zimbabwe side to get the best views. It was an awesome experience.

Livingstone Island and Devils Pool

Since we visited Victoria Falls while the water levels were still low, we were able to do an afternoon trip to Livingstone Island and swim in the Devils Pool. The photos of Devil’s Pool look extremely scary, and it was definitely scary, but it was also so much fun.

Technically, Livingstone Island is on the Zimbabwe side of the falls, but we accessed it from Zambia. We took a little boat from the Royal Livingstone Hotel (which had zebra’s on site) to the Livingstone Island, and then we had to swim in the current over to the Devils Pool.

Devils Pool is relatively safe since it is a natural infinity pool that holds you in, but if you let yourself, you could definitely go over the edge. We followed all of the guides instructions, and I felt safe, but I definitely would not want to stay there for too long.

After we swam in the pool, they gave us towels, and they also gave us a little walking tour and told us about the history of Livingstone. After that, we had lunch on the island with a family from the UK, and then we headed back to the hotel for the conclusion of our tour.