Day 9 – David Livingstone, I presume?

As today we leave the camp, we can sleep a little longer. But at 6 am I am wide awake due to the rising sun. From my bed I can see the sky beautifully colored red while the sun rises from behind the trees. I'm enjoying the tranquility of the bush from my terrace. After a little wash,  I'm ready for breakfast.  'Eggs benedict” are served, my favorite breakfast. Can this get any better? We drive back to the entrance of  Huange National Park where we say goodbye to our rangers. We say also goodbye to the peace and serenity of the bush. We say also goodbye to some brilliant days. Days we spent among the animals on their premises. They were fantastic hosts. Moments we will never forget.
It is about a two hour drive to Victoria Falls, our next stop. We get there late in the afternoon, again thanks the police roadblocks. Public spending in Zimbabwe consist of 80% of payment of public sector wages. Jobs created by Mugabe. By levying fines, these guys pay for themselves. We see corruption through our own eyes.
We spend the next three nights in Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is of course inseparable from David Livingstone. He was born in Scotland in 1813 and after his medical studies, he was sent by the London Missionary Society to the Cape to win souls. Although he was very concerned about the fate of the Africans, he was not suited for the job as a missionary. Throughout his career he converted exactly one man, and then only temporarily, to Christianity. When his home  was destroyed in 1849 by the Boers, he went to the Kalahari Desert in search of a good place for a mission. That is how  he made his first discovery. He found large pieces of current Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe and mapped out the Zambezi river. He was the first European to see the falls. He later became the first European who crossed Africa. Tomorrow we will see one of his greatest discoveries.