Vic Falls is Safe

by R. Hernandez
(Philippines)

Hello Everybody,

I'm from the Philippines and we just came back from vic falls. It is absolutely magnificent! We were drenched but happy, the view is simply stunning. We stayed at the stanley and livingstone hotel, superb service but sadly no brewed coffee just instant plonk from a jar, pretty unforgivable in my book. They have a view of a waterhole from the breakfast terrace, saw some cape buffalo one morning and lots of baboons the next day. But still I'd choose this over the vic falls hotel, the rooms are huge, with a nice living room, sat tv and a great bathroom.

We had pre-booked our dinners at this hotel and it was included in the price we paid, lunch was not. There is no menu so we ordered a BLT sandwich and a roast chicken plate $50 total. At Victoria Falls Hotel we had a minced beef curry and a sauteed crocodile plate also $50! We sat on the terrace and had a great view of the bridge from our table. Have a walk around as they cook your food lush grounds, lots of photo ops.

Bring old sneakers and clothing to barter with at the open air market, we left our bag in the car and walked around to see what we could barter for, what you'll get mostly depends on whether they like what you have! Most of them are polite, pushy but polite. They will try to get you to add cash on top of the barter so its entirely your call, what you feel is appropriate. We got a 3 foot wooden giraffe and a soft stone sculpture for a pair of good condition nike trainers.

The sundowner cruise is a bit slow the only wildlife we saw were submerged hippos and a solitary baby crocodile that swam by our boat. Lots of birds though so don't get your hopes too high.

Please come, they need tourists to spend dollars here, the people are polite well educated.