Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls was an amazing experience. In order to get there I had through border crossing in order to pass from Botswana through to Zimbabwe.
The border crossing was nerve wracking because of all of the trucks lined up along the street, people in uniforms, and long lines by myself.
After finally crossing the border, Zimbabwe had such a different feel compared to Botswana. The people of Zimbabwe we just as kind, but whenever you were walking along by the stores there were many men and women bombarding you to try to sell you things. Most of the encounters were with men trying to sell me knickknacks and little trinkets. Even after you would say no they would continue to push and walk beside you until you purchased or bargained with them. The best way that I found to avoid them was by moving from store to store since they were not able to sell within the shops. One of the encounters I recall was when one of the men tried to sell me Zimbabwe dollars. They tried to persuade me that the currency was worth more than what it was. Thankfully I was aware that Zimbabwe had done away with their currency due to hyperinflation.  They had troubles maintaining their currency at a level that was still reasonable to have exchange rates. Some of the influences that lead to this hyperinflation in 2008 were due to the excessive levels of money printing with Mugabe's government in order to pay the Second Congo's debt, institutional corruption because of the lack of confidence, poor economic policies, and many more issues that pushed the currency to dissipate. While in Zimbabwe I knew that I had to visit one of the largest tourist attractions the country had to offer.

 

  I explored Victoria Falls or to some of the native people they refer to the falls as the "smoke that thunders". Victoria Falls had a lot to offer to all of the tourist with special night tours to explore the 'moonbows' because of the full moon. During the day there are so many ways to experience the falls. Victoria Falls is one of the best tourist locations and there is far less unemployment within the city than the rest of the country. Also with the increase in tourism it helps to keep the crime rates lower because if it were higher less people would want to visit. Many of the restaurants there also were rather Americanized in ways to make it feel more like at home to travelers. The couple restaurants I went to stood out in terms that their service replicated that of American restaurants instead of maintaining their culture. The use of the English language to serve and communicate along with tipping was similar to the United States.