Zimbabwe

What can I say about this place?!? Zimbabwe is amazing, and definitely an underrated tourist destination. My first reaction when we crossed into Zimbabwe was amazement, but I figured that was just the super touristy Vic Falls. Nope! Haven't ceased to amazing me. The people are extremely nice, people don't try to rip you off, they'll leave you alone if asked (for the most part), we haven't seen too many drunkards, the police are polite, and there are special tourism police around all the attractions, so it is super safe. 

There was also a train, which we took from Vic Falls to Bulawayo. 

Our two big stops here (excluding the falls) are Matopo National Park and The Great Zimbabwe Ruins. 

Matopo National Park was a stop so we could see rhinos (the last one of The Big Five for both Cam and I to see in the wild).  We also got to see ancient cave paintings and watch the sunset from the top of one of the tallest mountains in the park. 

Great Zimbabwe, the namesake of the country and where they found a stone carving of a fish eagle that is now the national seal, is a extremely underrated attraction. How more people don't know about it, I don't understand. It's 14th century stone ruins that are put together with no mortar. The biggest wall is 11m (36ft) high!

Victoria Falls

This is rightfully one of the Natural Seven Wonders of the World. It's not the tallest, widest, or highest volume, but when you factor all three of these things, it's without compare. 

Our chosen activities were a trip to Livingstone Island (we saw the falls for the first time the same route David Livingstone did). Unfortunately, Devil's Pool was closed (unsafe due to high flow), but we did sit on the edge. 

The next day, we went on the lion encounter. I expected this to be a super touristy set of super tame lions, but actually it's lion cubs that are being reintroduced into nature so that their kittens can be raised without human contact and then used to reintroduce lions to other parks in Africa. 

That night, we went in a Sunset Cruise (with dinner and unlimited free drinks).

Sunday, we crossed into Zimbabwe and caught the Lunar Rainbow at the falls that night, under a 'Super Moon.'

Tuesday, we went into the park in the day and finally saw the falls in the traditional way. Wow!

Zambia

I think Cam best described Zambia by saying, "It's Malawi, just a little nicer in every way."

For example, Peace Corps Zambia has transit houses. We got to hang out in one of these transit houses in Chipata. It's a small compound for PCVs that are in town, with wifi and a full kitchen. Chipata itself was like Mzuzu, just a little nicer. There was both a Spar and a Shoprite. 

Lusaka, on the other hand, was its own amazingness.  There was a shopping mall where we had Chinese food in the food court, we saw a 3D movie ("Guardians of the Universe"), and enjoyed abundant, fast WiFi. The bus depot, while still distinctly African-chaotic, wasn't gross.