Africa....

London may be a great town, but the airports certainly are hell. Luton is a single airstrip, good only for small planes. But Heathrow is far too big and so little to do outside security. I had 7 hours to wait until my check-in counter opened, so I explored some of the small shops and cafes. Once I was on the plane, the flight went fine. We stopped in Rome for more passengers and for refueling before zooming down to Addis Ababa. We arrived soon after daybreak, so I could see the hazy mountains in the distance as I rushed to get on my next flight. It also had a quick stop, this time in Lilongwe, before arriving in Lusaka (Zambia). Richard, the father of my family friend Fiona, met me at the airport and took me back the house. After tea and freshening up, we went on a driving tour of the downtown as we searched for working ATMs. There really isn't much to see outside the government area, just a few tall buildings and small businesses and various neighborhoods. The friends' house was like a little piece of tropical Scotland, with a good baked dinner and pudding. In the morning, I hopped on another flight, this time down to Livingstone, only an hour away. I was the only passenger, so we left early and took a short detour past Victoria Falls for a good photo opportunity. Its really beautiful, and seems to stretch forever. A representative from the hostel met me at the airport, and drove me to Fawlty Towers. I quickly settled in and booked some touristy activities for my quick visit before going to explore the town. Just to get oriented, I went to the David Livingstone museum downtown for history and local information. Afterwards, I met up with a guide and he showed me some of the out of the way places, like the oldest hotel in town and a local market area. I had a river cruise around dinner time, so I could nibble and drink in peace as we floated above the falls. There was plenty of bird life, and tons of hippos. We stayed away from them. Just as we pulled back up to the docks, it started to pour rain. Given the bad weather, I stuck around the hostel for the evening, getting to know some of the other guests. There were some Canadians, a South African, and a Brit. An international melting pot, as usual. I went to bed fairly early, as I knew that I had an early morning the next day.