The best things in life are free
I didn't get a chance to throw up a proper post about this at the time, and I'd hate for this to get lost in the mists like my stories from Karamoja.
A couple days after I went to Victoria Falls Tommy, Olivia, Izzy and I went beck to the falls for one last look. After trying unsuccessfully to sneak into the national park we decided to just go hang out at the bridge between Zam and Zim (-bia and –babwe, as they’re known). If you ask the border control nicely, they’ll let you out onto the bridge without a passport or even paying a dime. Maybe its not as good, but at least it’s free.
Me being me, I saw a sneaky little path by the bridge and wandered off the road. Bad idea; I forgot I was in an international border crossing. Sneaky little paths on borders are for illegal immigrants. The soldiers were not pleased by my impetuousness. Strike that, I think they were quite pleased to find an opportunity to demand a bribe. “This is very bad, now we must lock you in a cell. Maybe you have just five dollars and we can pretend we didn’t see…” No I will not pay you and no I will not accompany you to the jailhouse. Nice try though.
We spent the afternoon hanging around on the bridge looking for trouble and playing “look I’m standing in two different countries,” waiting for the sunset. For some mysterious reason low evening light + 1000 meter high wall of mist = a full 360 degree rainbow 100 meters in diameter.
I'm no physicist, I know I had no idea it was even possible, but I saw it with my own eyes. I've seen a lot of natural splendour in my life, but this was in a class of its own. I imagine I'll probably go the rest of my life without seeing anything like it again, but it was quite possibly the most amazing sight I have ever laid my eyes on.
A couple days after I went to Victoria Falls Tommy, Olivia, Izzy and I went beck to the falls for one last look. After trying unsuccessfully to sneak into the national park we decided to just go hang out at the bridge between Zam and Zim (-bia and –babwe, as they’re known). If you ask the border control nicely, they’ll let you out onto the bridge without a passport or even paying a dime. Maybe its not as good, but at least it’s free.
Me being me, I saw a sneaky little path by the bridge and wandered off the road. Bad idea; I forgot I was in an international border crossing. Sneaky little paths on borders are for illegal immigrants. The soldiers were not pleased by my impetuousness. Strike that, I think they were quite pleased to find an opportunity to demand a bribe. “This is very bad, now we must lock you in a cell. Maybe you have just five dollars and we can pretend we didn’t see…” No I will not pay you and no I will not accompany you to the jailhouse. Nice try though.
We spent the afternoon hanging around on the bridge looking for trouble and playing “look I’m standing in two different countries,” waiting for the sunset. For some mysterious reason low evening light + 1000 meter high wall of mist = a full 360 degree rainbow 100 meters in diameter.
I'm no physicist, I know I had no idea it was even possible, but I saw it with my own eyes. I've seen a lot of natural splendour in my life, but this was in a class of its own. I imagine I'll probably go the rest of my life without seeing anything like it again, but it was quite possibly the most amazing sight I have ever laid my eyes on.
You didn't have your camera for that once-in-a-lifetime picture of a circular rainbow??
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff, Luke, totally jealous. It seems to me, though I'm no expert, that you seem to be making your way south at a pace that will put you in South Africa by mid June. Now why, I ask, would you possibly want to be in South Africa in June, 2010?
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