After arriving at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, we went on a quick tour of the town followed by dinner at the home of a local woman, Flatter Ncube. Time and connectivity have both aligned tonight to allow me to write this blog – I’m so happy about that!

One highlight was the local wildlife, including baboons and a group of five warthogs, all found on the grounds of the posh, colonial-era Victoria Falls Hotel.

Another highlight was the view of Victoria Falls in the distance, also from the Victoria Falls Hotel. The low cloud in the pictures is actually the spray from the falls.

After the Hotel, we stopped at a local produce market where our G Adventures guide, Thembi, told us about and showed us some of the local produce.

At Flatter’s house, we saw her garden which included mangoes, avocados, bananas, kale, and much more. Then she showed us how they grind maize, a staple in the local diet. Finally, she set out a wonderful meal which included traditional local cuisine with side dishes including pumpkin leaves with peanut butter, tomato onion relish, fried caterpillars (no, I didn’t eat them), tiny fried sardines, kale, polenta, etc. Chicken stew, beef stew, rice, and salad were also available.

It was a wonderful evening. My only wish was that we could have met her big, beautiful German Shepherd. He bounded over to meet us when we arrived at the gate but was quickly subdued and taken to a distant corner and made to ‘sit’ and ‘stay’. I believe his primary role is to scare off baboons and elephants from the garden. But he clearly wanted to greet the guests.