Every journey has a story. I invite you to be part of mine. Visit Zambia today. There is usually nothing that beats the eager anticipation of visiting a destination for the very first time. However, there are some exceptions to the rule. There are some places that leave an indelible mark in your heart hence this infectious yearning to return. It’s like being reconnected with a long-lost loved one or rekindling an old flame that has become finer with age and familiarity. Like true love that is just waiting around the bend, it never really goes away, but simply stays where it was left no matter how much we have missed them.
My dear friend Cheryl Tiu, who is like a sister to me, and I flew comfortably from Hong Kong to Johannesburg for 12 hours on Cathay Pacific’s luxurious premium economy class with its wider seats and new entertainment system. In Cathay Pacific’s newest Bridge Lounge at the Hong Kong International Airport, we were able to relax and unwind as we savored the delectable cuisine and sipped champagne and orange juice before embarking on our next amazing African adventure. From Joberg, we took a 40-minute plane ride to Livingstone, known as the adventure capital of Zambia.
Landing in Livingstone rehashed unforgettable memories of my past trips there. Having an insatiable passion for incredible waterfalls, my love affair with Livingstone began with my quest to find the most amazing waterfalls half a decade ago. Zambia is home to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, the magnificent and monumental Victoria Falls, which dwarfs Niagara Falls in North America and has a much greater water flow than the Iguazu in South America.
Victoria Falls is after all the largest single curtain of falling water on earth measuring 1,708 meters wide with an average depth of 92 meters. The cascading torrents of immaculate mist or spray plume rise 700 meters up in the air, allowing a million tiny rainbows to radiate and dramatically flow down like unique inverted rain. Known as Mosi-Oa-Tunya or “The Smoke that Thunders,†as you witness the power and enormity of the falls with over 500 million liters of water per minute, you realize that nature is God’s unwritten Bible.
Around the same time last year, Cheryl and I witnessed the thunderous migration of millions of wildebeests in Tanzania, upon the invitation of Asia to Africa Safaris, owned by ex-investment bankers Jose “Lit†Cortes and Victor “Binky†Dizon of Filipino descent, who specialize solely in luxury safaris to remote African wilderness areas. The same group invited us for this recent trip to Zambia.
It is true that there are three ways to view the Vic Falls: by foot, by flight or by bungee jumping for the brave at heart. For an unrivaled view, just above and below the fall, take to the air in a helicopter or light-wing aircraft. Or even more exhilarating, take a micro-light flight where the only thing between you and the falls is a seat! At 111 meters, the bungee jump off Victoria Falls Bridge on the Zambezi River is one of the highest commercial bungee jumps in the world.
No matter how many times you have seen Vic Falls, it will feel like the very first the moment you see it again. I instantly appreciated seeing this spectacular creation of God through Cheryl’s eyes. This is the beauty and gratification of traveling back to a special place with your loved ones. This is the luxury of traveling with Asia to Africa Safaris. It can tailor trips to everyone — from singles to couples, and especially for multi-generational families who travel with their grandparents and even infants. A lot of camps are child-friendly and provide a lot of arrangements for children while adults enjoy the activities created for all of them.
A to A Safaris co-founder Lit Cortes explains, “The safari camps and lodges we use have family rooms — usually larger rooms, or two rooms or luxury tents with an interleading bathroom. There are also several stunningly beautiful safari houses or villas that can be rented by families, or several families traveling together, and these safari houses come with private vehicles and safari guides, chefs and butlers.â€
The African adventure experience becomes even more magical when shared with each member of the family. Embark on game drives, identifying animal tracks, fishing, horse riding and quad-biking with the family. It is worthy to note that for infants up to five years old, they have safari lodges that offer baby-sitting services. Children aged 6 to 12 can enjoy bushwalks and hikes with highly trained junior rangers while generally children aged 13 and above are able to join most adult activities and bush experiences.
Lit is currently based in Africa scouting for new life-changing destinations and experiences for their clients. For this trip in Zambia, they arranged our stays in various lodges through Wilderness Safaris, a company that operates camps and safaris in eight different countries — Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Kenya and Congo. Their goal is to share these wild areas with guests while helping to ensure the protection of Africa’s spectacular wildlife heritage and sharing the benefits with the local communities.
Lit also mentioned that Asia to Africa Safaris has plans to soon offer more affordable trips while maintaining the same levels of wilderness experience, service and guiding. It focuses on younger clients as well as those who want to test the waters first and see if an African safari is something that they will enjoy before booking a bespoke safari with Asia to Africa. They have also just opened an office in New York City to follow their expat clients who have returned home from Asia and to focus on Wall Street where they have a strong presence arranging trips for bankers, hedge fund managers, lawyers and other busy executives. They also provide a one-stop shop service for all aspects of a client’s trip, including extensions to Cape Town, Victoria Falls and the island resorts of the Seychelles, Mauritius and Zanzibar.
Our home away from home in Zambia was the quaint and very luxurious River Club, perched at the very edge of the Zambezi river. Our host, gracious Peter Jones, who is also one of the owners of this remarkable property, impressed us with his knowledge and anecdotes not just about Zambia but the world as well. He personally toured Cheryl and me around his historic property and shared with us how Alfred Hitchcock visited Africa as he planned to shoot a film there but his leading lady Grace Kelly decided to marry Prince Rainier at that time thus the movie did not push through. Other movies shot on location in Zambia include The African Queen, Sherlock Holmes: Incident at Victoria Falls and King Solomon’s Mines.
The River Club is a charming oasis on the Zambezi River situated 18 kilometers upstream from the Vic Falls. Merging luxury with the authentic natural experience, it offers 11 opulent chalets with the most lavish comforts and unrivalled romantic views. Guests are intimately immersed in its croquet lawns and pavilion-like summer-houses.
From the River Club, we took a relaxing cruise down the Zambezi river where we spotted several elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, impalas, buffalos, wildebeests, crocodiles and hippos.
For me, this is truly the quintessence of the “real “Africa as it was hundreds of years ago when the first pioneers ventured into the interior: completely wild, unspoilt and untouched wilderness. Zambia offers some of the wildest and most remote game areas in the continent and it was there where the concept of walking safaris first originated.
Each dusk and dawn, I marveled at the silhouette of birds in flight against the pink and orange skies. I will keep returning to Zambia to reminisce such precious moments. No matter how long it takes or where my destiny leads, the roads will always take me back to this magical place.
As I once said, every journey has its story. I fell in love in Zambia and left my heart there. No wonder I must return.
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Customized itineraries for Asia to Africa Safaris can be arranged by its office in Manila. Call 812-2728 or log on to www.atoasafaris.com or e-mail enquiry@atoasafaris.com. Cathay Pacific flies from Hong Kong to Johannesburg. For more information, call 757-0888.
Email the author at miladay.star@gmail.com.