Victoria Falls is the Niagara Falls of Africa, in more ways than one. Not only are the falls themselves a great site, but it also seems to be a honeymooners paradise.

The biggest surprise was the makeup of passengers on the inbound flight: all 200 or so of us were white. Here I was in Africa and the only dark-skinned people around were two of the flight attendants. It actually made me feel a bit uneasy and conjured up images of the Apartite segregation of years ago.

The airport at Victoria Falls is small, barely able to handle all the passengers carried by our 737. This means longer lines than at most airports. It took over 30 minutes to get everyone through passport control. Headed out was even worse with long lines at both the check-in counter and security.

The condition of the airport was the first sign of the poor economic and political situation in Zimbabwe. We knew of this situation before we even booked our trip and were surprised when our travel agent recommended the Zimbabwe side over the Zambia side of the falls. Many people avoid the Zim side because they don’t wish to support Zimbabwe president/dictator Robert Mugabe. As a result tourism on the Zim side has fallen dramatically, with hotels averaging only 30% of capacity. Our travel agent assured us that the Zim side was safe and just as much fun as the Zambia, plus it is cheaper and offers a better view of the falls. But there were several details she left out.

We were ‘collected’ by the driver from our tour company who loaded us and 5 other couples onto a small bus for the 10-mile ride into town. It was during this ride that our driver explained all the adventures that were available to us during our stay. We could do anything from river cruises and wildlife tours, to helicopter or ultralight flights, to bungee jumping. All of which sounded really good.

Then he gave us the bad news. Due to the poor economic situation, banks have made it very difficult for Zimbabwe businesses to accept credit cards. In fact, only the hotels themselves accepted credit cards. As a result, all these adventures must be paid for in cash. Well, we didn’t bring much cash. We assumed that our credit cards would be good here just like they are in the rest of Africa. No one had warned us otherwise. So here we were, stuck in Zimbabwe with no way to pay for anything outside of the hotel.

The town itself is surprisingly small. There are only 10 hotels and the town exists to support them and their guests. As we drove down the main street we saw a long line of people outside the bank. A cash shortage and hyper-inflation in Zimbabwe is making the lives of the people there miserable.

Our hotel was The Kingdom, which is the newest and largest hotel in Victoria falls and the one closest to the falls themselves. It would have been a nice place to stay but the economic situation meant things didn’t run as they should. (See review of The Kingdom).

After checking in a guide picked us up for a tour of the falls themselves. We needed to wear raincoats because the spray from the falls can soak you. But even without the spray we still needed raincoats because it was raining. A lot. The rain, the spray, the fog, the heat and humidity all made the hike rather uncomfortable. My glasses kept fogging up and even with a RainSleave my digital camera was soaked. The fog and spray also prevented us from seeing much of the falls. There was only one point where we could see all the way to the bottom.

After the mile-long hike we headed back to the hotel. We had been in Zimbabwe for only 4 hours at this point and we realized that we were ready to leave. Instead we were stuck there for two more days with nothing to do. (Now I see why this is a popular place for honeymooners.)

For most of the rest of our stay it rained which meant a lot of the adventures were cancelled even if we did have cash. We spent a lot of time just sitting around our hotel room waiting to leave. And when we finally got to go, we were very happy.

Perhaps the Zambia side of the falls is better, but over there the hotels are farther from the falls, the view isn’t as good, and the weather is still humid and rainy much of the year. I could see a young couple from South Africa looking for a weekend getaway enjoying this place, but for most travelers I can’t recommend Victoria Falls as a destination. It was by far the low point of our tour of Africa.