For those visiting LIVINGSTONE ZAMBIA and with a distinct taste for adventure and thrill of heights please note that Livingstone Island / on the edge of the Vic Falls is now open again for tourists to visit ...

Regards, Peter
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“LIVINGSTONE ISLANDâ€

Livingstone Island will re-open on the 15th June for the rest of the year. We ( Tongabezi) will resume with our 5 daily visits.

07.30, 09.00, 10.30 - $40.00

12.30 - $95.00

15.30 - $55.00

With the island having been closed for the last 6 weeks we have been working on improving the quality of the service on offer to guests. We will have a skottle braai which will give us the opportunity to offer warm lunches especially for the winter months. Lunch will therefore consist of soup, salad followed by a chicken stir-fry or beef as well as a vegetarian option with various accompaniments with a delicious chocolate fridge cake for desert.

The morning visits will consist of tea and coffee with bacon or egg butties as well as a selection of cakes and muffins. The afternoon visit will stay quite similar with a few extra snacks thrown in. Pick up as always is from the deck at the Royal Livingstone Hotel.

Those are beautiful waterfalls. I guess I'd have to see it up close and personal to really appreciate the sights. One of these days......

We went to Livingstone Island in 2003. This is something anyone going to the Victoria Falls area should do. We were staying on the Zim side and a shuttle took us to the Livingstone Hotel in Zambia. We got into a small boat that took us to the island. A man was waiting with a tray of champagne. The food (lunch)and views were fantastic. This experience is well worth the money.

I've always wanted to go there. The picture is beautiful.

Wow! I was at Vic falls last year, next time I go I really need to hit the island!

Hey Kathi!
Is it much of a problem when your on the Zimbabwe side? can you give me some direction

Widowmaker416,

There are no problems at all going over there from Zim. We left our firearms at the hotel we were staying. The shuttle driver collected everyone's passports and walked into the immigration office (there was a small fee for entering Zambia) and we were done. I book clients for this quite often. Next time you are going over let me know and I will arrange the tour.

Kathi,

You can count on that! I'll be in touch when I know my dates in 2006............

thanks again.....

Kathi

THat is fantastic that you have been to the island / silly me I have been to Vic Falls & Livingston on a number of occasions but never visited the island

PS: KATHI / how is progress going on your WEBSITE as it will enhance your operation once it is up and running

Thanks, Peter

We were hunting and traveling companions of Kathi and her husband. She gave us our first taste of Africa in a big way. Not only a great hunt but sightseeing like you can never imagen. Riding elephants to lunch on the edge of Victoria Falls on Livingston Island and a fantastic Train ride over the gorge of Zambia and Zimbabwe. She is not only a great friend but a fantastic travel agent.We will once again be hunting together this September in Zimbabwe and we have alot more adventures awaiting us. Thanks Kat! Linda

This might be of Interest to the guests ///

Bridging The Falls

The erection of the enormous steel arch across the Zambezi, just below the Victoria Falls, provided an essential link in the Cape to Cairo Railway project. Besides being one of the highest bridges in the world, the Bridge is situated in a spot of matchless beauty, and for this reason attracts the tourist and when the tourist has sated his eye with the splendours of the waterfalls, he finds fresh food for admiration in the remarkable arch bridge which has been thrown across the chasm below the Falls.

This bridge has a romance of its own - its proximity to the Falls; it is one of the loftiest bridges in the world; and because it is the most notable feature on the Cape to Cairo Railway, Cecil John Rhodes’ dream. From an engineering point, it is its design, and its construction in a place so remote – not only an aesthetic but also a logistical and acrobatic feat.

It is oft quoted that Rhodes said ‘I should like to have the spray of the water over the carriages’ and this was the deciding factor for its placement. The choice lay between a long, multiple spanned bridge a few miles above the Falls, near the old Drift, and a much shorter arch bridge flung across the canyon below the Falls. But Rhodes desired that travellers on the railway should, on their journey, have a good chance of seeing and visiting the Falls, although many felt that such a giant steel structure would ruin the natural beauty of the spot.

The final site was surveyed in 1900/01 and the spot chosen has a top width of about 760 feet, narrowing down to about 400 feet at waterlevel. On the north bank the cliff is practically sheer, while the southern face has a shelf about half-way up. Responsibility for the design of the bridge was given to George Hobson and Ralph Freeman

Several leading firms tendered for the construction of the bridge but most were daunted by the task and in the end, only two firms were in the running – Paulings who were also building the railway line and The Cleveland Bridge Co. Paulings tendered too high and lost the contract. Clevelands tendered too low and made no money. But they did complete the bridge.

The bridge was designed to be erected without scaffolding and to withstand the stresses of heat, weight and wind. Because there was no error for margin, the entire bridge was assembled in Cleveland’s factory yard before being shipped in ‘kit form’. The total weight of the bridge is about 1,500 tonnes. With a load added and the stresses due to the horizontal thrust of the arch, the temperature and the wind pressure, each of the four bearings on which the arch rests can sustain a maximum thrust of some 1,600 tonnes.

The contracts for the construction were let in May 1903 and delivery of the knocked-down parts to the Falls was delayed by unforeseen difficulties in the construction of the railway so they did not reach the Zambezi until May 1904. The first material delivered was that for a Blondin cable that was to be erected across the gorge near the line of the bridge, to transport to the northern bank, the steelwork and also the rails, sleepers, and other plant for the extension of the railway northwards towards Broken Hill. Even a Jack Tarr locomotive was taken apart and assembled on the other side. This enabled the railway line to advance as far as Kalomo before the bridge was finally open for traffic.

To erect the Blondin cable, a rocket was shot across, carrying the end of a cord, which served to pull a wire over the gorge. This in turn helped a small steel rope across, to bear a temporary conveyor. Mr. C. Beresford Fox, nephew of Sir Douglas Fox, was the first person to make the perilous passage across the chasm.

The first construction work was the placing of the foundations for the four main bearings in excavations previously made by the railway company. Excavating in the north bank was hazardous work, as the face of the cliff was almost perpendicular. On the south bank operations were easier, but more protracted as the solid rock had a thick coating of debris which had to be removed.

To give confidence to the workmen, a huge net was hung under the points where building was in progress. Fortunately it only ever had to catch items such as bolts and tools, and eventually it was removed, as the men complained that, instead of making them feel more secure, the sight of it caused nervousness.

The two halves of the arch were built out simultaneously until they met in the middle. On April Fools Day, 1905, less than six months from the start, the time had come to join the two sections. It is told that Africans arrived from all over to view this spectacular event. Rhodes, whose dream it was, had died two years previously.

Painting of the bridge was done by African workmen, who until then had had a superstitious dread of the gorge. But when they found that no harm resulted from a closer association, they proved very valuable workmen. For many months in the year the bridge is perpetually wet and for this reason it was of the utmost importance that the designer should make provision for enabling the painters to get at every part of the steelwork easily, and to avoid water-holding and unventilated areas.

The first ‘cat’ to try to cross the bridge was a leopard who was hit head-on by the Jack Tarr locomotive as it rounded the corner to the bridge approach.

The bridge, built at a total cost of £ 72,000, and at the cost of one African and one European life, was officially opened on 12 September 1905 by Miss Pauling, daughter of Harold Pauling.

This year, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the completion of this bridge; this feat of engineering which took place in a remote part of Africa at a time when much of the technology available to us today had not even been thought of.

This centenary will be celebrated by a steam safari train exhibition involving a 1922, 10th class Scottish built steam engine and a 1900 UK built Deluxe Coach. Unfortunately, at the time of going to press, there is still question about whether this will be held on 1 April or 5 April as originally planned. Despite numerous phone calls to Livingstone, nobody was in the office on Monday afternoon to confirm which date it is to be and at what time. One can however book train safaris through Bushtracks Africa on 03 323-232.

During the month of April, the Railway Museum in Livingstone will have a special exhibition of railway history. The Museum charges US$3 for entry and is open from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm daily.

Guided bridge walks are also available or one can go and take a look around in their own time. Either way, you should report to Immigration at the border post and you should have some form of identification with you.

Regards, Peter

The falls are pretty good from below as well.