Before I left Ireland, the only thing that I knew about tourism in Zambia was the Victoria Falls. I knew that this waterfall was one of the seven natural wonders of the world. But having visited Zambia I have learnt that tourism is one of the country’s largest industries and earns a lot of foreign currency.

I have mentioned the Victoria Falls. They are really amazing! Dr David Livingstone, the first European to see the Victoria Falls described them as “scenes so lovely, that it must have been gazed upon by angles in their flight.” Even before we reached Livingstone, I was able to see the mists rise above the town’s skyline, even though it was 6 km away. That’s about the distance from Newry to Warrenpoint. We visited Zambia just as the rainy season was coming to an end. This meant that the falls were fuller and more breathtaking than usual!

Approaching the falls, we could hear the massive roar of the water long before we could see it. The local name for the falls is “Mosi – O – Tunya”, this translates as “the smoke that thunders.” Now we no longer required an explanation of this name! At first glimpse of the falls, I was dumbfounded! It was amazing!

We each rented out a poncho to protect us from the spray, and began following the path which runs parallel to the falls, taking us to within a few hundred feet of the falling water. We were soaked within seconds by the incessant mist and rainfall thrown up by the cascading waters in front of us. Taking photos or video was impossible in these conditions!

The roar of the water caused us to shout to one another in order to be heard and every now and again the wind would clear the mists to reveal a huge wall of water on our right hand side. Everyone in our group had an expression of total amazement on their faces in the presence of this wonder of nature.

We crossed a narrow bridge known as the Knife Edge Bridge which runs parallel to the falls. Here the power of the water running past our feet was like a river and it even knocked some people to the ground!

Next we headed down toward the “Boiling Pot”. This is part of the Zambezi River where the channel suddenly changes direction. Huge currents in the river cause the water to churn and foam as if it were a boiling pot. It was frightening to think that if you fell in there you would almost certainly drown.

Above the boiling pot stood an enormous Iron bridge which spanned the Zambezi gorge. As well as being a border crossing between Zambia and Zimbabwe it was a great place for bungee jumping. We spend half an hour watching a succession of people hurl themselves off the bridge. A few of us wanted to try it but, in reality, I don’t think we’d have been brave enough!

Another night we returned to the falls view the lunar rainbow. This is a rainbow formed by the light of the full moon and the spray thrown up by the falls. It only appears on a clear night when the Moon is full. This was a very unusual sight and the almost perfectly circular rainbow was really worth seeing. The falls themselves were beautiful in the pale moonlight. This was a really romantic celebration of Patrick’s 17th birthday!!!

Just some facts about the falls which really show how impressive it is; they are 1.8km wide, 100m high (that’s over 300 feet!) and a massive 9 million litres of water per second go crashing over its side.

I believe that the people are one of Zambia’s greatest resources when it comes to its tourism industry. I really enjoyed meeting these people as they all want to shake your hand. As our group travelled up and down the country in our mini bus, we were greeted by smiling people waving at us, this was a great feeling. Even the children in our school were really friendly. They all wanted to shake your hand and have their photograph taken. They constantly greeted us with “How are you?” and we’d reply “I am fine!” Despite their obvious poverty the children were always smiling and ready to play with us.

I personally enjoyed the curio markets, because everyone calls you “my friend” and catch a hold of your hand and try to pull you into their stalls to sell you something. I met some really great characters like Duncan and Michael. They were both lovely people who showed great interest in why we were in Zambia and the work we were doing. Both these men made a living selling various souvenirs to tourists on the street. They were happy to trade their goods with us for things they needed, such as t- shirts, pens and batteries. We’d all like to think we supported many of the locals by buying our souvenirs from them rather than the expensive tourist shops.

When everyone thinks of Africa, they think of a Safari, and travelling through the wild bush, tracking elephants, rhino and lions. We were lucky enough to be able to go on safari in Chobe National Park, which is in Botswana.

Botswana is a different country about a 1 hour drive from Livingstone. We arrived at the border which is in fact the Chobe River and took a small boat across to the other side. Once we had crossed the river, we were greeted by our guide. He had been a poacher, and had tracked large game all his life, so he was defiantly the right man, after all, old poachers are the best game keepers!

Chobe National Park is huge, it is half the size of Northern Ireland. There are no gates or fences so the animals can roam for over 2,000km. The park also has a huge population of elephants - over 36,000!

That morning we all went on a river safari first. This was great because we saw Fish Eagles, a herd of Hippos, Elephants and a few Crocodiles. Our guide was extremely informative and during the 2 hour journey amazed us with his knowledge of the native wildlife. After the river safari we had lunch in the safari lodge with dozens of tourists from all over the world. We met Japanese, Americans, British and many other nationalities, all attracted to this part of the world by the wildlife.

In the afternoon, we set off into the park in the back of 2 large jeeps. We came across a small herd of Elephants, a few Hippos’, Warthogs, Impala, Vultures, Baboons, Water Buffalo, a Leopard Tortoise and many other animals. It was amazing to be within touching distance of animals we’d only previously seen on the T.V. or in the Zoo. But here they were in front of us in their natural environment.

I really enjoyed my time in Zambia. Although the country is poor, the recent expansion of Livingstone airport will help to attract many more tourists, bringing more money and helping the country to develop. Tourism will have a huge role to play in Zambia’s future.