The Bridge to Zimbabwe

The bridge from Zambia to Zimbabwe is filled with interesting sights and people.  Foot traffic moves freely once one passes the security check and Pass Port - Visa station..  It is a little more involved for vehicles and can take several hours to process..

 

One way traffic makes rather slow going and lines are backed up for miles.  The fee for foreigners is quite high so we just walked the bridge.  Now we can say we have been in Zimbabwe.

 Travelers who walk back and forth between countries are usually loaded down with all sorts of things to sell, or trade or take home.

                      Bikes are used for transporting merchandise and are frequently seen on the overpass.

 The bridge has a couple interesting enterprises going as well.  One is a Bungee Jump above the deep gorge. Travelers and the curious gather to encourage one another to jump.  The other is a Zip Line that spans the gorge.  While I have participated in Zip Lines before, and loved them, I felt less than secure looking at the set up off of this bridge.

 Here Elder Webb congratulates a man who successfully made the jump.  He did a swan dive off of the platform shown above.  The next participant was all set to go when his legs began to buckled; no doubt from fear.  He backed away to find his courage.  Then had to sit down.  He kept saying he had his son with him and wanted to prove his bravery.  We don't know if he ever made the jump.

         Above a large trucks passes slowly as traffic going the opposite direction waits it's turn.

               The spray from Victoria Falls can be seen in the background of this picture. and the one below.

 Below in the middle right one can barely see a bridge which spans the a break in the topography.  It is the one we walked along when visiting the Falls on the Zambia .  You can see it in the blog on Victoria Falls.

 The side of the bridge is reinforced with steel beams which contrast the green of the gorge.  Still the spray reaches us and we see rainbows in the mist.

 This is the old security stop for the border on the Zimbabwe side.  A new Pass Port office has been built further down the road and just recently opened to service the traffic back and forth between borders.  There doesn't seem to be any effort to coordinate the process so people can move more freely.

We enjoyed our afternoon here and had a nice time visiting with people we met along the way.  We even met one woman  ( a teacher) who had traveled 6 hours to bring her student to see the Falls and then let them watch the Bungee Jumpers.  As we walked by her she looked at me and in a surprised voice said.  " I AM ONE OF YOU"!   She meant she is a member of our church.  She was so please to see us. After talking a bit and explaining what our mission is about she told us she has been trying to get information on PEF ( The Perpetual Education Fund) but it has not been available to her.  I was able to get her name and personal information and then hook her up with the Shields who are serving in Zambia.  We will be able to get her signed up for the program before she is 30, the cut off age for the program.  It was a little miracle we met at this spot and this time. God does provide.