27 August 2025 Goodbye to our tour group

Beautiful restroom at Victoria Falls Hotel. 

Today we had to say goodbye to our tour group. We have really enjoyed the people in our group and do hope to see some of them when they visit New Zealand, or our Italian friends when we hopefully visit Italy once again. And of course our fabulous tour guide Richard.

If you have ever taken a tour you will know that what makes a great tour is not only the sights you see, it is about the people that you are with. And most of all it is about having a great guide. Richard organised us, checked in with us when we inadvertently sat at a table by ourselves rather than with the group. “Was everything okay?” We could hear the concern in his voice, when actually we had wandered in to breakfast and not even seen them! 

 The knowledge that he imparted was always interesting and he has such a wealth of knowledge about animals, history, and geographical information that would surprise and interest us, he knew how to get us through boarder crossings with the least hassle, helped Sandi when she had her nasty border incident and his ability to speak the language as we crossed into different countries made everything appear effortless. I guess this is just part of the job, but he also shared some of his personal life as a Zimbabwean man and was interested in our cultures. 

 The boarder crossing from Botswana back into Zimbabwe was thankfully uneventful. I had felt that I had prepared well with getting our KAZA visas for 30 days multiple entry into Zimbabwe and 1 entry into Zambia. Botswana did not need a visa, and I also got the Namibia visa online. 

Well, I was not the only one fooled by the KAZA multi entry into Zimbabwe. I , and the rest of the group, had accounted for the three times that we would enter Zimbabwe and the KAZA visa would be perfect. But, there was a fly in the ointment! In small print it says and it includes ‘day trips’ into Botswana! And we had been in Botswana for several days. It wasn’t a big problem and Richard said that he had asked the tour company to add this information to the trip notes. He also had the visa forms ready for us to fill out before arriving at the border and told us to have $30 USD ready. We had to have a health check before customs and some of our party who had been to Kenya needed their yellow fever vaccination certificates, and we all had a thermometer gun aimed at our heads to check our temperature. 

Back in Zimbabwe we quickly found ourselves alone in the back of our van, which by the way is named ‘Water Berry’ after anAfrican tree. The others had been dropped at the airport, but we had one night in Victoria Falls before our next chapter which will be Mauritius. 

 It was nice to be back at the Cresta Sprayview Hotel at Victoria Falls. Sandi and I wandered down to the small township for some shopping. The paths, when there are paths are really dusty, in fact everything is dusty! My feet have never been so filthy, and that is after I hop out of the shower, it just seems to permeate your pores! 

 There was a lot of the same sort of tourist stuff in the many small shops, and much as we would love some of the baskets and carved items we have been avoiding them because of problems entering NZ. Some things are cheap and some are expensive. 

 After returning to our hotel, and yet another shower because of the heat and dust the three of us caught a taxi down to the Victoria Falls Hotel for a high tea. The hotel was built in 1904 and overlooked the bridge linking Zimbabwe and Zambia. It has a real feeling of the past and is beautifully designed inside with artefacts and fabulous furnishings. Two huge paintings are in the main lounge and they are of Queen Mary and King George V. 

Whilst it is a beautiful place and the staff are impeccable in their uniforms and hospitality it also still has a colonial feeling that made me a little uncomfortable. Our high tea was great, and we sat overlooking the lawn and bridge. 

We tried our best to eat it all but there were so many sweet things that we just couldn’t do it. Also our main consumer had a tummy ache. 

 Back at our hotel Sandi and I sat overlooking the pool for the evening and had a couple of drinks. Lance was quite unwell and has been popping anti diarrhoea and anti nausea medication like they are M & Ms. Hopefully he will be okay for the flight to Johannesburg tomorrow.