Day 3 29/9/07 - Africa

Johannesburg -> Victoria Falls

Highlight

• Checked out without a problem, the airport ride was smooth.
• The VAT was such a joke. They only half looked at your goods, I actually managed to get the VAT back for all the food I'd already eaten, but then the guy refused to refund it on my credit card, and made me cash a cheque at the bureau de change next door, which I had to pay R20 fee, on top of the R11.22R processing fees. So I ended up getting R60.40 back from my R807 worth of spending. I reckon they must have some arrangement going on. if I didn't have so much time I wouldn't have bothered. What a riot!
• I looked through the whole of Jburg airport. At least there weren't much people so I didn't have to wait.
• Read about my horrible BA experience here
• The flight itself was quick. Victoria Falls airport had no air-conditioning, and we had to wait in the heat for the very long visa process, but the non-visa line was even worst.
• Then had to wait in the heat for the airport transfer. Pickup was no problem this time.
• Met a NZ girl, Fiona, who was a travel agent, lived in London for 2 years, and on another Kumuka tour, so we hung out for the day.
• We booked a "cruise" on the Zambesi river, but because we had to be back by 6pm for the pre departure meeting, we missed out on the booze cruise.
• I had a dip in the pool, which was kinda cold and had lots of bugs, and read a bit.
• We had a driver and a "guide", who of course, turned out to be the salesperson of course. She was ok though. The whole thing was very basic, but at least it was only the 2 of us on the boat, and beer and "snacks" were included. 55 USD is not too bad for Vic Falls.
• We sailed along, looking for animals, and saw some hippos and baboons. We also got out the fishing rods and did some pretend fishing.
• Managed to see some monkeys and warthogs on the road back.
• Met my group, which turned out to be mostly Aussies. They had all been on previous trips before, so I befriended an English lady, Lynne, from Manchester.
• Since it was so late and dangerous to go out, ate an expensive dinner at the hotel, where there was a choice of curry, steak or fish only. They had also run out of soft drinks AND beers by the end of the night.
• Some a Capella group came to perform for us, and instead of tipping, I bought their CD. I didn't really want it, but I didn't really have the change for tipping.
• I didn't like having to tip for everything.
• Already spent most of my cash today, at least I don't need to carry it around.

Food

• banana
• coffee
• apple juice
• sparkling grape juice
• chicken sandwich
• breath mint
• mixed plate: beef, sausage/wrust, meatball, cheese pastry, samosa, spring roll
• Pilsner from Harare x2
• bream with chips and vegetables (USD 20)