I just updated Picasa with some pictures.

After the elephant ride we came back to the hotel and walked down to the Falls. Where we were what some might view as being accosted, as we walked down to the Falls, by men who were selling their carvings and sculptures. For about 1/4 mile they tried hard to sell us what they had, but we said we would come back through and they could try at that time. I think we knew what we were getting into, but either way, they were there on the way back, waiting for us. I was absolutely blown away by the beauty, the power, the sheer magnitude of the Falls. First what I noticed was, we were definitely not in the states! No real barrier, just some sticks in the ground to show you, really suggest to you, where you should not go past. A couple of the spots you could walk right up to the edge and look straight down, only about 95m (311 ft.)! The mist was like rain. Just around the Falls it is like a tropical jungle, but about 100 yards away you are back to savanna. We walked the length of the Zimbabwean side of the Falls down to the bridge that separates Zambia and Zimbabwe. I remember watching the old Tarzan movies, the black and white ones, where Tarzan was yelling out his call, and I saw where he stood to do that on the other side of the Falls, that was pretty cool. We watched two women jump off the bridge with bungee cords, wow did they scream and that cord really makes you bounce! During the self-paced tour we saw a bush buck, we saw 2 wart hogs near the edge of the falls, and a little snake. I was just so impressed with those Falls. Of course I have done Niagara Falls and Victoria Falls, I suppose I have to at least think about doing the trifecta and visiting the Iguassu Falls between Argentina and Brazil.

As we exited the Falls park, the men were waiting for us across the road. One man was selling two African statues, beautiful statues. On the way down, he started at $65.00 US, "it is good deal" he said. On the way back up, he started with $50.00 US, "better deal". I said, among the 5 or 6 guys selling other carvings, one had two wart hogs, beautifully carved, one had a carving of 3 giraffes, one had a couple of stone hippos. But the man with the two statues was determined to make the sale. $50.00 US turned into "what is your best offer", my response was $10.00, that is all I had. For 1/4 mile he asked for $20.00 and for a 1/4 mile I replied with all I have is $10.00, among the other men trying to get the same $10.00. The man with the statues asked for my shoes and $10.00, he asked for my shirt and $10.00, he asked for the $10.00 and one statue, finally as we were getting closer to the hotel he said, both for $10.00. Funny thing was, although I like the statues, I would not have bought them if I just saw them on a shelf in a store. But the bargaining made it feel like I had to make the purchase, so in that respect he did do his job. As we were walking up to the hotel you had to go through the veranda to get the rooms. Some of the other guests, as I feared, started talking to us about the purchases. When I told them $10.00 for the two, they seemed to think it was a good deal. But we were hungry and we had one more visit to make to the open market and only a little bit more than an hour before we had to leave for our boat ride up the Zambezi river. You are not going to believe what happened when Shelly and I went back this time, I will just say as a teaser that they called me the professional and Shelly used chocolate for money, I will tell the whole story in the next post.