Part 2 Victoria Falls and Cocky's BBQ

The animal capture part of the trip was about to begin. Plan A was to swing by Victoria Falls before driving/flying by helicopter to Hwange to capture 500 impala. Get in! The impala were part of a wildlife order for the ex President of the Congo (Kabila) to stock his personal Game Reserve in the Congo. Clearly his presidency had been very profitable!

We flew on a commercial flight Harare to Vic Falls to save on truck diesel……… perversely aviation fuel was freely available. Cold beers were had in the International Lounge to celebrate getting on our way.

Nick and Josh met us at the airport and drove us to Victoria Falls Rest Camp……….a little basic but Ok. It transpired that a “Chopper flying” friend of Nick’s called Cocky had invited us all to a BBQ meatfest! Cocky lived at the camp for 6 months of the year where he entertains friends, waifs and strays, just like The Adventurers. The Quartermaster was pleased we did not have to shell out for food however we finished the Glenmorangie supplies when she wasn’t looking. Oops!

The next morning we walked to the Vic Falls…..shivers of excitement were going down my spine. We knew the Falls would be spectacular but had no idea just how close we could get to them. Because of the topography it is possible to stand only 200m away from the immense plumes of mist and water, as the humungous torrent cascades into a

cavernous cataract far below. The cataract then diverts the boiling mass at right angles before disappearing into the distance to become a shallow wide river once more.

We learn’t that the water levels at the Falls were 4 meters lower than ever before due to the extreme drought conditions the country has experienced. So goodness knows what they look like in full flood.

Next we drove to Hwange for the impala capture. However it soon became clear that capturing the 500 impala for Kabila was not going to happen. The National Park seemed to have mislaid them and didn’t know where they had gone! We needed a Plan B!

While the AWMC team hatched Plan B, Fixer Innes arranged for us to have a sumptuous dinner at the 5 star Hwange Safari Park. This was

preceded by cold beers around a camp fire while watching two herds of elephants frolicking and chatting to each other as dusk fell. Wonderful! Later, normal non-luxurious service was when we shared G&T’s in cups made from plastic water bottles.