Victoria Falls by Helicopter

Before leaving Victoria Falls to return to Johannesburg, I had time for one more activity.

We had a booking for the first helicopter flight of the day over the falls. We left the hotel at 7.30 am and by 8.30 am we were weighed and checked in for our ride.

Our pilot was a spunky Zimbabwean woman who normally (because she was a woman) would have been at the bottom of the social pecking order. Today she was in charge and doing a great job. Good luck to her for her success!

The flight lasted about 15 minutes. We did  a couple of loops over the falls so that people on both sides could get a good view and then flew along the Zambezi River for a short way before retuning to the helipad. Some of this flight took us over a small section of the national park, so there was a member of the national parks staff at the helipad to collect US$13 from each of us for the privilege. I can say that today, we all made a contribution to President Mugabe’s slush fund.

We were back at the hotel by 9.00 am so that we could pack and go to the airport for our 1 1/2 hour flight to Johannesburg.