Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

[Francois Visagie]

Hi All,

 

We're finally getting around to all these exciting things that I've been hearing about on the forum for years, and Vic Falls is one of them! I've saved much valuable advice over the years on the ferry, Zam side vs Zim side and so on.

 

However what isn't quite clear to me at this stage is how the options for day trips from Kasane to the Zimbabwe side compare.

 

Of course self-drive is an option, with all the issues of vehicle border taxes, returning to Botswana with red meat and so on weighing against flexibility.

 

How does that compare with the costs and convenience of being driven to the falls by some Kasane lodge?

 

Thanks,

Francois

[Wouter de Vos]

Francois

 

We went through both border posts (Bots and Zim) with relative ease. Yes, it does cost a couple of bucks (carbon tax etc.)

 

You have to weigh up the all costs of self drive against the lodge transport price and make your decision based on that, bearing in mind the convenience that you can do what you want when travelling on your own.

 

Just a word of advice, make very sure your camera is well protected against the “rain cloud” at Vic Falls. My ignorance cost me mine.

 

Wouter

 

---

--
DO YOU WANT TO UNSUBSCRIBE ? Then send a blank email to:
overland-foru...@googlegroups.com
 
4x4's and other stuff for sale:
http://www.overland.co.za/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=2

[Peter Tiedt]

Francois

 

Coming back into Bots with meat WILL be a problem, also curios from Vic Falls market made of animal products WILL be confiscated.  BTDT.

Remember to ask for multiple entry for the vehicle when you first enter Bots.  But you will have to pay the vehicle entry fee again.

 

So, if you self-drive to Vic Falls, leave your fridge behind in Kasane.  Don’t buy any of the miniature drums or skin products.

 

The V Falls curio market is an amazing place.  Take old t-shirts, caps and takkies for barter.  Take lots of US$ bills (ones and fives).  Also ZAR, but not coins (tens and twenties).  BWP is accepted, but not as easily as ZAR or USD.

 

A colonial experience of tea and scones (or Zambezi Lager) on the lawns of the V Falls Hotel is very cool.

 

Do not cross into Zambia for a day trip – the cost is exhorbitant. 

 

Kazangula BC is pretty efficient, runners not needed.  Immigration, customs, 5rd party insurance.

 

Last time (2007), you could not take fuel out of Zim, so make sure your jerrycans are empty, or leave them in Kasane.  BTDT too.

 

The falls are much better from the Zim side, you will need rain gear and protection for your camera.  Take a guide from INSIDE the falls area, not outside.  Guide is worth it.  The steps down to cataract view near the Livingstone statue are worth it, but the climb back up is taxing J.

 

You can do the day trip from Kasane with an operator, but then you are restricted to their schedule.

 

My program for a self-drive will be:

 

Cross Kazungula BC early-ish, an hour to the falls.

Go to the falls, spend 3 – 4 hours there.  Take the walk from the Bridge border post and watch some bungy jumps (or partake).

Lunch as brought along, or the Wimpy, or VF Hotel, or any other place in V Falls town.

Wander around a bit.

Curio market (2 hours)

Drive back

 

Natch there is other stuff – chopper flights, microlights, fixed wings, tethered balloon, white water (knuckle) stuff and so on.  But then you would need to stay over.

 

HTH

 

PT

 

 

 

 

 

From: Francois Visagie [mailto:fvis...@za.spescom.com]
Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 9:20 AM
To: overlan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Overland] Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

 

Hi All,

--

[Francois Visagie]

Thanks for all the advice, Peter. Do you have some kind of idea what Kasane day-trip operators charge?

---

From: Peter Tiedt [mailto:Tie...@cimpor.com]
Sent: 24 November 2009 09:42
To: overlan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Overland] RE: Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

[Vlok, J. (James)]

and remember the white reflective strips on the front. They let you in without them and catch you on the way out.

 

James Vlok
Senior Manager: GL Production & Development 
Tel: +2711 295 7439  Fax: +2711 294 7439   Mobile: +2782 900 3066
jam...@nedbank.co.za

 

 

---

From: Peter Tiedt [mailto:Tie...@cimpor.com]

Sent: 24 November 2009 09:42 AM
To: overlan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Overland] RE: Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

********************
Nedbank Limited Reg No 1951/000009/06. The following link displays the names of the Nedbank Board of Directors and Company Secretary. [ http://www.nedbank.co.za/terms/DirectorsNedbank.htm ]
This email is confidential and is intended for the addressee only. The following link will take you to Nedbank's legal notice. [ http://www.nedbank.co.za/terms/EmailDisclaimer.htm ]
********************

[George Rudman]

I'll try to spend some time in Livingstone as well.  Quite a nice town with very interesting sights.  (if you're the museum type the Livingston museum is a must)

 

[Mike Nieuwoudt]

Francois, depends if you just want to go see the falls only, or if you want to spend some time and do other things around Vic Falls as well.

Just to see the falls, take a bus. The big establishements (Chobe Safari Lodge & Chobe Marina Lodge) will be able to hook you up.

If you want to spend some time (say 2 nights) in VF, go in your own vehicle, then you have time to Bungee, fly, and do the other things at leisure.

Where to stay? No idea, we enjoyed A'Zambezi Lodge, but that was many years ago.

2009/11/24 Francois Visagie <fvis...@za.spescom.com>

--

[Bruce Turner]

Hi All,

 

I would camp at Vic Falls camp site whcih is in the middle of the little town. Clean and safe.

 

There are also (better) campsites further up the river in the NP where you basically camp on the beach of the Zambezi and mostly you will have the place to yourself. 

We looked at staying in Kasane last year December and doing a day trip but with 4 of us (2 adults and 2 children) it worked out cheaper to stay in Vic Falls for 4 nights including a visit to the falls etc.

 

Rgds

Brucet

[Francois Visagie]

Brilliant, thanks for all the advice guys!

---

From: Bruce Turner [mailto:bjtu...@gmail.com]
Sent: 24 November 2009 11:27
To: overlan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Overland] Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

[Brian McMahon]

 

“Just a word of advice, make very sure your camera is well protected against the “rain cloud” at Vic Falls. My ignorance cost me mine. ”

 

Good advice, I took some friends up there in August and warned of this too. They brought these with them :

 

http://optechusa.com/product/detail/?PRODUCT_ID=73&PRODUCT_SUB_ID=&CATEGORY_ID=26

 

Brilliant cheap solution ! Attaches on the front of the lens with a tie cord and covers the entire camera down to your elbow. It does not cover the actual lens front, so has no effect on photos. We did get a lot of looks from other visitors there, most of them were envious heh heh ! J We had a good mixture of DSLRs and all were in perfect working order after !

 

My pics are at :

 

http://www.chat-africa.co.za/upload/Brian/bush2009/vicfalls/index.htm

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Brian McMahon

 

+27 82 652-0101

bri...@mweb.co.za

[John Mill]

Costs in September going from Bots to Zim

Landrover two adults staying over one night

Insurence for the truck - 520 pula
Visa's (2adults) for UK passports 70US$
Border crossing truck (registered in Botswana)  fee 90 pula
Stayed @ the  Kingdom Hotel -150 US$ each for a room each (give the Spar there a miss it's a tad rubbish)
Falls 60US$ for the 2 of us

No worries about water damage to the cameras as Falls were pretty dry

Been to the market before and thought it was pretty good but did not this trip as the hassle of the street sellers was getting to me

They did not check truck for meat on teh crossing back

Easy border crossing both ways

rgrds  John
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

" LandRover owner - the car in front is my crumple zone....."

"While money can't buy happiness, it can buy cars, high-end electronics and the love of a honey-skinned dancer you met in Madrid "

"If you are a victim of crime anywhere in this country, you are in it alone and undefended.
Call for the Police, call for a home delivery pizza - see which arrives first."

"Home is where the oil stain on your dining table is either EP90 or Youngs 303 but most likely both . . ."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Francois Visagie]

This is very helpful, thanks, John.

---

From: John Mill [mailto:john....@gmail.com]
Sent: 24 November 2009 20:00
To: overlan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Overland] Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

--

[Andre Norris - Business Connexion]

James

 

What are the white reflective strips you refer to?

 

Regards

André

[Vlok, J. (James)]

Andre, they are the same as the orange ones required for trailers / caravans, but white. One strip each side on the front - saw them on the bumpers - and about 10cm long.

 

James Vlok
Senior Manager: GL Production & Development 
Tel: +2711 295 7439  Fax: +2711 294 7439   Mobile: +2782 900 3066
jam...@nedbank.co.za

 

---

From: Andre Norris - Business Connexion [mailto:Andre....@bcx.co.za]
Sent: 24 November 2009 10:01 PM

[Hannes Thirion]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 10:00 PM, Andre Norris - Business Connexion <Andre....@bcx.co.za> wrote:

James

 

What are the white reflective strips you refer to?

See http://www.aa.co.za/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=rGEJiVMmYUU%3d&tabid=307

'Reflector Tape (2 small white rectangular size strips on both left and right hand side on front bumper & 2 small red square strips on back bumper) '

Regards,

Hannes Thirion
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hannes_thirion/

[Francois Visagie]

Just to add to that (because this thread started off wrt. Zimbabwe), those are the requirements for Zambia.

 

The requirements for Zimbabwe are

White reflective tape required on front bumper of vehicle

 

Hopefully there's some equivalence between the Zimbabwe & Zambia front bumper requirements! So you don't spend your border crossings ripping off and sticking back all kinds of tape patterns ;-).

---

From: Hannes Thirion [mailto:hannes....@gmail.com]
Sent: 25 November 2009 07:47
To: overlan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Overland] RE: Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

--

[Peter Levey]

In all my trips to Zambia, I have had no problems with just the standard white reflectors on the front bumper & red ones on the rear.  Been through numerous road blocks including the one at the T junction at Kazangula (which was not there last time).


Peter Levey
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leveypa/

[Andre Norris - Business Connexion]

Thanks everyone!

 

From: Peter Levey [mailto:lev...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 9:14 AM
To: overlan...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [Overland] RE: Kasane to Zim Vic Falls day trips: self-drive or lodge?

 

In all my trips to Zambia, I have had no problems with just the standard white reflectors on the front bumper & red ones on the rear.  Been through numerous road blocks including the one at the T junction at Kazangula (which was not there last time).


Peter Levey
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leveypa/

--