Dispatch 37 - Livingstone's Victoris Falls

TUESDAY - After Botswana's beautiful Chobe National Park our long line of Landrovers cross the border back into Zimbabwe at Kazungula - Zim National Parks, TFCA officials and the mayor of Victoria Falls meet us on the banks of the Zambezi. Matabele dancers do a foot stomping dance, their old Sindabele warrior songs hark back to Mzilikazi's time and make us homesick for Zululand, to our own cultural home in the shadow of Kwabuluwayo in the Nkwaleni Valley from where the Matabele came. A banner welcomes the Boundless Expedition back into Zimbabwe, elephants drink, African skimmers swoop over the water, the sun sets over our favourite river, we camp under a giant lead wood tree, there's the grunting of hippo, and in the distance a lion roars, Matetsi Water Lodge put on a bush dinner. Here there are no fences to prevent animals from moving throughout this vast area, and into Chobe National Park in northern Botswana. Although estimates vary, it is thought that between 30 and 50 thousand elephants live in this region - the greatest remaining concentration of the great pachyderms on Earth. A group of volunteers from Nando's and the & Beyond Foundation have joined the expedition for a few days to assist in the objective of linking nature culture and community. With them is the Bafana Bafana champion Mark Fish. The talking stick gets passed around the fire - stories of Livingstone and his Makololo porters who paddled down this river in 1855 to discover Mosi-oa-Tunya, the Smoke That Thunders, which he named after Queen Victoria, the legend of Nyaminyami, the Zambezi River God. It's great fun, but we are all here to give this wonderful country of Zimbabwe an injection of hope. On a journey like ours, you can't look in the rear view mirror all the time, you need to concentrate on the road ahead. Zimbabwe, too, needs to forget the past and concentrate on getting its recovering economy back into shape. Help is urgently needed. I urge you to fire up your 4 x 4, load some kit, and keep alive the tradition of South Africans including Zimbabwe in your adventure itinerary. People and tourism need your support.

WEDNESDAY - Mashozi does eye tests at the Matetsi Clinic. It's part of the Expedition Right to Sight Campaign in which we distribute spectacles to poor sighted people, then it's on to the hospital for the distribution of mosquito nets to pregnant mums and children under the age of five, a One Net One Life event that is also supported by Grindrod Limited, Canvas and Tent, BAT and other caring South African sponsors. Today's activity also includes the distribution of life straws, used as filters for purifying drinking water and combating cholera. These life saving devices have been made available by the Captain Morgan brand office, who for years have assisted us in using adventure to save and improve lives. Whilst this is all happening, a hundred and eighty six people, mostly elderly, line up outside the eye clinic to receive Right to Sight spectacles. Then it's down to the field to judge the children's Art Competition followed by the Boundless Soccer Challenge! What a buzz! Thousands of spectators have turned up. Mark Fish holds a soccer clinic for the kids, there's a Man of the Match award and a Boundless Floating Trophy. The success of this rural World Cup for Conservation has been tremendous, with community games having been fought hard throughout the journey. Today's game is seen by so many as a beacon of hope to Victoria Falls. There are cultural dances, drums, xylophones and even drum majorettes. Vuvuzelas blast and the music pumps. Mark Fish signs autographs, and gives a talk about the importance of the 2010 Fifa World Cup not just being for South Africa, but for the entire continent. Mark is a South African fully committed to taking the game of soccer into rural communities.

THURSDAY AND FRIDAY - Parks and Wild Life officials escort us into Hwange Game Reserve via Kazuma Pans Game Reserve, and the Pandamatenga Border Post. It's a long trek that takes in historic Robin's Camp, Sinamatela, where with the Parks and Wild Life team we track black rhino, and later at Main Camp meet the Hwange Lion Man Brent Stapelkamp, whose research indicates that lion numbers have now risen to 400.

At the Painted Dog Conservation Project we meet a group of little Matabele kids who have been brought in to learn more about conservation and the need not to kill the wild dogs. There is also a craft project in which old snare wire is used to make wire sculptures especially of wild dogs, so turning bad into good. The country has been hammered economically, but the tide is turning and the beauty about visiting these places now is that you have them almost entirely to yourself. Back on the Zambezi, Parks and Wild Life give us special permission to camp on the very edge of the Batoka Gorge below Victoria Falls where we are privileged guests of the adventure specialists, Wild Horizons.

SATURDAY - Next morning the day starts with an elephant back safari, with even a few calves traipsing along. Craig and his team from Wild Horizons treat the animals with great respect and the experience leaves us with an even greater love for these noble giants of Africa. Then it's straight into the adventure sports. Adrenalin pumping high wire activities over the gorge, the gorge swing, the zip line, the bungee swing and jump over the historic falls, it all happens at Victoria Falls, white water rafting, kayaking, parachute jumps, microlite rides, and if you want something more tranquil, don a poncho and stand in the mists of the rain forest at the edge of the Smoke That Thunders, of which Livingstone wrote 'Angels must have paused in their flight to gaze at such splendour'. Relax on a sunset cruise on the river or try the splendid tea and scones on the verandah of the elegant Victoria Falls Hotel.

Left right left right! Park rangers do a march of honour in front of the Landies. , the Matabele dancers wave their shields and sticks. The Director of Zimbabwe Parks and Wild Life is a big man with a wide smile. In his farewell to the expedition speech, he says 'Please invite your fellow South Africans to come back and visit Zimbabwe The parks are operating, rangers are being paid, you can use rands, fuel is available, and the supermarket shelves are well stocked.

Our Boundless Southern Africa Expedition thoughts are, that having experienced this beautiful country, we need to encourage travelers to return. This country's finest asset is its people. Zimbabwe is on the cusp and by visiting we can help keep the valuable tourist infrastructure alive, and allow people to remain employed and feed their families.