There was a lot of crashing and banging in the night, and it sometimes felt like we were on a rollacoaster. The cocktails did help us get back to sleep, though.

This morning, we awoke to the alarm because we are disembarking and need to pack. I opened the window shutters, and we appeared to be going in the opposite direction from last night. Are we going back to Pretoria?

On our way to breakfast, I asked Bruce, our admin manager, what was going on. It appears that during the night, they went to a large loop in the line and turned the train around so they could attach the borrowed engine. This accounted for the eventful ride during the night, as they were clearly trying to make up time.

After breakfast, we stopped in the lounge and were told the engine they had hired was struggling to pull the train up the hills, and we would be a couple of hours late arriving at Victoria Falls station. They offered to contact everyone’s agents regarding the transfers to let them know there would be a delay. The staff were amazing and couldn’t do enough for us.

We eventually reached the station to be welcomed by tribal dancers. Sue could not resist joining them.

The next surprise was having to queue to go through Zimbabwe imigration to check out of the country, then after a few more yards we had to join another queue for Zambian imigration to check in, which surprisingly was free. En route, we got a glimpse of the falls.

We arrived at our lodge on the banks of the Zambize River, and after searching for Sue’s lost purse and cancelling the credit cards, we sit for a very nice cold beer.

The clouds blew over, so we stopped by the hotel pool. The dot in the pool is Sue, and the sandals are mine. I had seen the crocodile sunning itself on the grass nearby and was going nowhere near water.

We survived being close to the wildlife, had a shower, and went to the bar for a sundowner. It is a shock to have to start paying again.

We sat with drinks, a light meal, and the sounds of ethnic music from a trip boat passing by on the river.

Living the dream.