My time in Zimbabwe was cut seriously short because of a clerical error. When I arrived in Zambia, I told the border guard that I had the Kaza visa for both Zambia and Zimbabwe. She didn’t pay attention and only gave me an entry visa for Zambia — not the shared visa.
Thus, after my taxi dropped me off and I walked over the Victoria Falls Bridge, I couldn’t enter Zimbabwe.
My options were to buy a new visa with cash that I didn’t have or to go back to Zambia to resolve my visa situation. Thus, I walked back, feeling like a complete loser.
Once I got back to the border post in Zambia, it took much longer than it should’ve to look up my visa in the computer and realize I did have the Kaza combined visa. Common sense would mean just crossing out the visa or putting a new visa over it, but instead it got mired in 2 hours of bureaucracy. After I finally got my correct visa, I walked quickly back to Zimbabwe and got stamped in.
I had thought I’d spend a few hours walking around Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe side (where the town is aptly named Victoria Falls). Instead, I had just enough time to poke around the visitor’s center but not enough time to hike down to the base of the falls.
After a disappointingly short visit, I found a taxi and headed to the airport.
The “dressing room” (not bathroom) at the airport was interesting. I checked in and waited for my flight through Botswana to Gabon.
