October 19, 2014 Sunday. Bright eyed and eager after a most welcome night's sleep in a big soft bed, off the bumpy, noisy train, we met this morning for a two hour hike to see the famous falls. This is the end of dry season, so the falls are about half normal size, still impressive, and still sending out plumes of mist that left us damp and happily a bit cooler than when we were dry. We are told that during wetter seasons we would have needed rain gear because of the heavy mist. John and I had chosen the most benign activity available to us, but there was a big range of things to do including bungee jumping off the bridge, white water rafting, wading across the top of the falls to a rock where you could peer straight down, helicopter rides and even an elephant ride. This would be a beautiful place to spend a week with a young family before moving on to a game reserve for several more days, as we are about to do. This time of year, we saw almost no bugs of any kind, and the reserve we are heading toward is in a malaria free zone, so this has been a wonderfully pleasant trip with none of the concerns raised by the raft of immunizations we were required to have. All the local people we have met have been friendly and welcoming, too. The only minor annoyance is the ubiquitous hoard of people begging you to buy their wares, and who can blame them for that?

Click for larger picture to see adventurors creeping across the top of the falls

Here they are on top of the falls! The last in line is one of the bartenders on the train enjoying a day off.

Local birds enjoy the heights and sights, too.

And so do some local monkeys.

These percussionists made wonderful music during lunch at the hotel.

One of the comfortable lobbies

The Victoria Falls Hotel