When asked the question, “What is your favorite holiday?” most individuals respond with Christmas (for the gifts, they may guilty admit), Thanksgiving (for the food comas and all-you-can-eat pumpkin pie), or St. Patrick’s Day (for the excuse to drink green beer). Never would I have grown up imagining Easter would become my ultimate favorite holiday. Before I get into why this is so, let me give you a background of my past Easters so you can get a feel for exactly why this holiday has become so special to me. Let’s start about 10 years back when I was just a short (which I still am), little twelve year old. My siblings and I used to get the best Easter baskets, stock full of Reese’s Easter eggs (which Kyle would always steal), peeps, starburst jellybeans, and of course the coveted “golden egg” with the ten-dollar bill. Although Easter meant having to get dressed up in fancy clothes for church, it was always a time we spent with family and ate cake in the shape of a lamb at my G-ma and Pa’s house. Great memories. There was another Easter about eight years back when we went to Florida two years in a row for the holiday. Then came college, with the amazing Easters. As a Freshman at Davidson on Easter Sunday, I sat in the very last row of the nose bleed section in the UNC basketball arena with my closest friends as I witnessed the Davidson Wildcats beat Georgetown (much to my grandfather’s chagrin) in the Sweet Sixteen NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Needless to say, that is one memory I will never forget. Then came sophomore Easter, when I won the 10K Southern conference title for outdoor track the day before Easter. Finally, senior year I had the most wonderful Easter with all my roommates (and best friends) at one of their houses where we were not only cooked an amazing Easter dinner, but also had an epic egg toss, multiple competitive games of HORSE, and of course the most intense Easter egg hunt that I’ve ever participated in. There may be a few Easter eggs out there in the Perry’s backyard; we’re still not sure.
Finally, Easter 2012 came around the corner and once again I had a great holiday lined up…..Easter at Victoria Falls. For those of you not familiar with Victoria Falls, it is the largest waterfall in the world, located in Livingstone, Zambia. The waterfall has a width of 5,604 ft. and a height of 354 ft, making Vic falls the largest sheet of falling water in the world. If you have visited Niagara Falls, they say that Victoria Falls makes Niagara look like a bathtub. Not only was I ecstatic about the prospects of getting to seeing this magnificent wonder of the world, I was also very excited to travel outside of South Africa. My plans included four days at Victoria Falls in Zambia, followed by three days in Zimbabwe. As the days grew near, I couldn’t sit still I was so excited. Finally, the Thursday before Easter arrived and I was onboard my flight to Zambia. After meeting up with two of my fellow intern friends at the airport, we made our way to Jollyboys Backpacks camp, where we would be staying for the next three nights. Having had very little experience with Backpackers and hostels, I was always a bit hesitant based on what I knew of the horror film ‘Hostel.’ I was so naïve; Jollyboys was amazing! Not only did it have a gorgeous pool with a bar right outside, it also had a ‘chill out’ zone with lots of couches, pillows, and a fort-like deck up top to look out over the city. Now this was my kind of place. Martha, Will and I settled in with our books by the pool, beer in hand, for the rest of the afternoon. Vacation had finally arrived.
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| Will and Martha at Jollyboys |
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| Trail down to the Boiling Pot |
On Good Friday, Martha, Will and I awoke early to head to the National Park where we would see the falls. We arrived at 7:30 am and were the only souls around. It was so very peaceful. We made our trek down a very steep path through the jungle, bringing us to the “boiling pot,” the very bottom of the falls. Nothing like doing a reverse stair master in flip-flops at seven thirty in the morning! Encroaching upon the boiling pot, you can’t see the actual falls because they are all the way to the right, blocked by hundreds of yards of jungle and cliff. Instead, the most robust rainbow and a blanket of mist blowing off the falls greeted us. It was one of the most beautiful, breathtaking images I have seen. The rainbow arched over the bridge as if it were trying to intimidate the architectural structure. The bridge you see in the picture connects Zambia to Zimbabwe, and the river below is the Zambezi river, which runs along the border between the two countries. Zimbabwe is to the right, and Zambia to the left. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the boiling pot, watching the water warp across the rocks and the current slice through the river like a whirlpool. One can only imagine the fate of anyone that happened to get stuck in the swirling water. And that’s not even taking into account the fact that the river is crocodile infested! As the mist from the falls cooled our faces in the early morning hour, Will, Martha and I sat down at the boiling pot for a long while, taking in the view of the rainbow and the surrounding area. We decided to save the actual falls for when more of our friends arrived later in the afternoon. We trekked back up the trail and resumed our position by the pool at Jollyboys, anxiously awaiting our friends’ arrival.
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| Baboons along the Forest paths in the National Park |
We all awoke refreshed and ready to explore on Saturday morning. While some of the crew went to do river rafting in the morning, the rest of us went back to the national park to view the falls. This time around, we saw the falls straight on. It was breathtaking. The mist that envelopes the area around the falls is magnificent and believe it or not, makes it hard to actually see the whole falls. That just goes to show you how tall and powerful this natural wonder actually is! The indigenous name for the falls is 'Mosi-oa-Tunya,' meaning "smoke that thunders." Gosh, were those ancestors spot on! To actually see the falls straight ahead, you have to take a certain path through the jungle where you start out completely dry, but no way are you going to exit dry. Everyone exiting the trail on the other side was drenched as if they had actually gone swimming in the falls. And that is only from the mist! Seeing Vic Falls made me think long and hard about the power of nature and the amazing beauty that exists all over the world. It was the exact breath of fresh air that I needed away from the bustling city life of Cape Town.
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| Sunset over the Falls |
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| Be careful not to eat any food around these guys, they'll steal it right out of your hand! |
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| Monkeying Around |
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| Me, Jess, and Amanda at the Falls |
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| Just before the big drop |
As we made our way back to Jollyboys from the falls (about a fifteen minute cab ride), I found myself day dreaming out the window when all of the sudden my eyes fell upon a herd of elephants on the side of the road! I had to blink twice to realize I wasn’t actually dreaming. I couldn’t believe it; they were literally just walking around about fifteen feet from the road! It was amazing. They are such beautiful animals and seeing them walk freely in the wild was such a wonderful site. I had to chuckle to myself when I got back in the car because my family had come to visit all the way from the States about three weeks ago and we had trekked two and a half hours away from Cape Town to go on a safari….with no luck of elephants. Now here I was, just traveling along the road in Zambia and I get to see them. I promised myself to send Julie, my sister, a pic of the elephants so she could at least pretend she saw them here. Better luck next time!
I didn’t think this day could get any better, and it wasn’t even Easter yet! What could top Victoria Falls, a natural wonder of the world, AND elephants, you ask? A sunset booze cruise of course! The nine of us, dressed in only the finest sun-dresses and button down shirts we could find in our suitcases, excitedly hopped on the river boat docked on the Zambezi river for a two-hour sunset cruise. Any booze cruise if fun when you have nine great friends and an open bar by your side. But any booze cruise is epic when you add a bunch of traveling Americans to the mix! We should have known that if you offer free alcohol, the Americans in the area are going to come swarming. And sure enough they did! The minute we stepped on the boat, there were so many small world stories; I couldn’t even keep track of them all! For one, I met a girl studying abroad at UCT (University of Cape Town), from Boston College who was roommates with a girl from my High School Soccer Team. My friend Jess met someone from her hometown. The best connection I made was a Med School student named Brian who was volunteering at a Malawi hospital for six weeks with two of his schoolmates. They all were in their fourth year at U. Michigan Med School. After introducing myself, Brian turns to me and says, “oh no way, is your uncle Dr. Paul Ruggieri!?” I couldn’t believe it! Brian had heard my uncle being interviewed about his new book “Confessions of a Surgeon” on NPR. (Really great book. If you haven’t read it, go do it. You won’t be able to put it down). Now I always knew my Uncle was a really cool guy but the fact that a Med School student working in Malawi had heard about him halfway around the world, I was blown away! I had so much fun making new friends, chatting up a storm with everyone on the boat, American or not, and all in all enjoying myself to the max.
Just as the sun was setting on Zambezi, a beautiful site, my friend called out “hippo!” Everyone on the right side of the boat looked out over the edge and our eyes fell upon three hippos at the water’s edge, bobbing their heads up and down. Hippos are another beautiful animal and for the second time in one day, I was blown away by seeing them in their natural habitat. They looked so happy and peaceful floating just below the surface of the water. Friends, hippos, and the red, pink, yellowish sunset of the Zambezi River. It all felt perfect. After the cruise ended, we gathered our friends (and some new friends as well), put on our dancing shoes, and tore up the rug at the international dance club across the street, well into Sunday morning.
Easter Sunday came quickly and in honor of the holiday, we were off to do some Gorge swinging! After gazing out into the 600-meter ravine below, I opted out of this exhilarating activity. Nevertheless, it was really fun getting to watch my friends partake, laying their lives in the hands of a rubber swing and two “trusted” mechanical experts. Needless to say, there was lots of swinging, screaming, and churning stomachs involved. After the Gorge swing, we bid farewell to our four friends from Port Elizabeth who were flying home, while the other five of us were continuing on our travels to Zimbabwe to meet up with two friends, Derek and Ale, who live there. Derek and Ale had kindly arranged for a woman to pick us up at the Zambian border to cross into Zimbabwe and continue on the two and a half hour drive to the Ivory Lodge, where we would meet up and stay the night.
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| Gorge Swing buddies, Jimmy and Lauren |
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| Trevor and Jess before the big jump! |
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| Police Road block in Zimbabwe |
When I mentioned that I would be traveling to Zimbabwe prior to my trip, the majority of responses I would get were, “be very careful,” or “are you sure that’s safe?” The reason being is that Robert Mugabe is the dictator that rules Zimbabwe, with a very strong iron fist. I didn’t think much of this before I left since I was just so excited to visit the country. However, immediately upon my arrival into Zimbabwe, I came to realize how corrupt the country really is. On the two and a half hour drive, we were stopped three different times by police roadblocks and forced to pay fines up to $20, often times for things that the police simply made up. After talking to Derek and Ale about it afterward (who have been living in Zim for eight months now), we were informed that the police do anything to make a quick buck. They have both been stopped multiple times to pay fees for a cracked windshield, having a scratch on their bumper, or even something as obscure as having crossed the yellow line in the road. They said it feels as if you are always being watched. Sometimes the police would go as far as hiding in the bush by traffic lights in street clothing in order to pop out at you if you drove through a red light, or simply 1 km over the speed limit. Gazing out the window, watching the yellow fields and hills of Zimbabwe pass me by, I realized how lucky I was to live in a country where I have the freedom of speech, there is more than one radio station in the country that doesn’t play solely political propaganda, and I can live without having the anxiety of ‘Big Brother’ watching over me.
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| Hanging around playing soccer at Ivory Lodge |
We finally arrived at the Ivory Lodge in Hlangwe, Zimbabwe and were greeted by the nicest staff. We were introduced to the cutest couple who ran the lodge, the cooks, the cleaners, and some of the guests who were staying there as well. We found Derek and Ale minutes later and spent a good amount of time catching up with them. The Ivory Lode is a most unique place in that it is a safari lodge located on a Natural Game Reserve. The apartments are ‘hut-style’, and the camping grounds have these great, luxurious tents which was were we would be staying. This was my type of camping…. mattresses, electricity and all! There was also a magnificent watering hole just a few hundred yards away from the main lodge where there was a lookout hut to sit and watch the animals. We were told that lions, elephants, and many other animals on the Reserve frequented the watering hole. I crossed my fingers we would see some! We were also comforted by the fact that the lodge itself was surrounded by a 9,000V fence, which supposedly could bring an elephant to it’s knees, so we had no need to worry about safety.
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| Camping in Style! |
Having been told sunset was the best time to watch the watering hole for animals, we all grabbed our cameras and camped out by the siting hut for an hour to see if we could use any Easter luck to bring us some wild animals. Sure enough, the Easter bunny delivered! Or should I say, the Easter Elephant! Just around sun down, there was a whole herd of elephants emerging from the woods to drink from the watering hole. They kept slowly creeping up to the hut and after about forty minutes, one of the elephants was within five feet of the hut! It was an incredible site. She was eating the dirt right in front of us. The whole hut was silent, you could hear a pin drop. We were all gazing at this humongous, gorgeous animal, who just stared back at us and enjoyed her Easter dinner of dirt and rock. I couldn’t get over the massiveness of this animal, so up close and personal. Elephants really are incredible creatures, with the longest of trunks and the floppiest of ears! We must have been watching her for over an hour because before we knew it, we heard the drums from a distance, which signaled dinnertime.
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| Watering Hole |
Although it was hard to take our eyes off the elephant, our empty stomachs got the best of us and we all headed up to the lodge, where a delicious three-course Easter meal awaited us. Now, although it’s hard to imagine feeling melancholy in such an adventurous place as the wilderness, I was starting to feel a bit blue on the van ride, thinking about my family back home, the Easter brunch they were hosting, and bumming out that it didn’t feel much like Easter. Well let me tell you, that dinner turned things right around! It finally felt like the Easter holiday I remembered, a time with family and friends. With the six of us all seated around this beautifully decorated table (my mom would have loved the table décor), accompanied by an adorable family of four who were also staying at the lodge, we had a wonderful Easter celebration. We reminisced about our favorite Easter memories, shared in a wonderful meal of Roast Beef, and felt very comfortable and at home in many thanks to the wonderful staff who served us.
After dinner, we all went around the bonfire that was lit outside to hang out and make the most of the remaining Easter night. Ale, a magnificent guitar player, entertained us with some great music and we all took in the beautiful Zimbabwean night. Curling up in my sleeping bag hours later, lying in the high-tech really cool tent, I couldn’t have been happier. Once again, Easter had been an amazing holiday.
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| Easter Dinner! |
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| Derek snoozing after a tiring Easter |
After an amazing night sleep in the tents, we spent the morning at the lodge and then drove the two hours to Bulawayo, where Derek and Ale lived. Bulawayo is supposedly a city but in reality, it looks very much like a town. It’s quite a small place but filled with numerous shops and stalls all over town. We bid farewell to our two friends from Kimberley, Trevor and Lauren, who were busing back to South Africa that night. After getting a quick tour around town and checking our their house, Derek and Ale drove us to the outskirts of town to Esthra’s house, a woman who has been somewhat of their ‘homestay Zimbabwean’ mom throughout their time here. They have come to know her family very well, as she ran a lodge where they stayed for three months prior to finding their current house. Esthra is an amazing woman who welcomed us all with a hug smile, open arms, and an amazing hug. She reminded me so much of Naomi, my homestay mom that I lived with for six weeks on my study abroad trip to South Africa. She has three incredible sisters who were all helping her cook dinner, and four beautiful children. You would never know she only had four children though, because once the neighborhood heard there were five white people around the block, all the kids came swarming! They were very timid of us at first, which was a bit funny. We would go and dance with them and kick the soccer ball and then they started to warm up. Within minutes, there was a huge dance party breaking out in Esthra’s backyard, with twenty little kids jumping about. Everyone was having a blast. Esthra and her sisters cooked us a delicious meal of chicken and pap (a traditional cornmeal type of dish) and we all ate together. It was unbelievable how everyone single child and adult had a dish of pap once the meal was served. It was the greatest site, all twenty or so of us eating together.
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| Esthra (Right) with her sister, cooking a delicious dinner over the fire |
After bidding farewell to everyone with very VERY full stomachs, Derek, Ale, Katie, Amanda and I lounged back at Derek and Ale’s house. We projected some Modern Family episodes up on the wall, compliments of Derek’s computer and the office projector machine. It was the perfect way to end an exciting, fun filled day.
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| Amanda helping out in the kitchen |
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| Neighborhood friends....and the boys are twins! |
Sadly, Tuesday rolled around sooner than I would have ever thought. We spent the day traveling around Bulawayo (although there wasn’t too much to see), visited some fruit vendors and city markets, and then made it in time for our bus back to Johannesburg at 4 pm. It was sad saying bye to Derek and Ale, as they were such great hosts during our visit. However, I know I’ll see them again back in the states sometime soon so that was very comforting.
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| Derek and Ale's third world work-out room....those are rock boulders on the floor |
The bus back to Johannesburg, South Africa.... 16 hours. Crossing the Zimbabwean border into South Africa…..4 hours. Knowing how immigrants and herded cattle feel…priceless. Yup, that’s right. Four hours to cross the border, three trips on and off the bus to have our passports stamped exiting Zimbabwe, literally walking alongside the bus to cross into SA, then carrying our bags off the bus to walk officially through customs and back onto the bus for the remaining eight hours to Johannesburg. After a very tight filled bus ride, sitting next to a nice, yet large gentleman who unfortunately had a very different perspective on the meaning of ‘personal space,’ than myself, we arrived in Joberg. From there, I caught my two-hour flight home to Cape Town, snoozing the whole way. As I disembarked the plane in Cape Town, Table Mountain quickly came into view and a deep breath filled my lungs with most delightful, fresh, crisp air. I was finally home.
Finally, Easter 2012 came around the corner and once again I had a great holiday lined up…..Easter at Victoria Falls. For those of you not familiar with Victoria Falls, it is the largest waterfall in the world, located in Livingstone, Zambia. The waterfall has a width of 5,604 ft. and a height of 354 ft, making Vic falls the largest sheet of falling water in the world. If you have visited Niagara Falls, they say that Victoria Falls makes Niagara look like a bathtub. Not only was I ecstatic about the prospects of getting to seeing this magnificent wonder of the world, I was also very excited to travel outside of South Africa. My plans included four days at Victoria Falls in Zambia, followed by three days in Zimbabwe. As the days grew near, I couldn’t sit still I was so excited. Finally, the Thursday before Easter arrived and I was onboard my flight to Zambia. After meeting up with two of my fellow intern friends at the airport, we made our way to Jollyboys Backpacks camp, where we would be staying for the next three nights. Having had very little experience with Backpackers and hostels, I was always a bit hesitant based on what I knew of the horror film ‘Hostel.’ I was so naïve; Jollyboys was amazing! Not only did it have a gorgeous pool with a bar right outside, it also had a ‘chill out’ zone with lots of couches, pillows, and a fort-like deck up top to look out over the city. Now this was my kind of place. Martha, Will and I settled in with our books by the pool, beer in hand, for the rest of the afternoon. Vacation had finally arrived. 
I didn’t think this day could get any better, and it wasn’t even Easter yet! What could top Victoria Falls, a natural wonder of the world, AND elephants, you ask? A sunset booze cruise of course! The nine of us, dressed in only the finest sun-dresses and button down shirts we could find in our suitcases, excitedly hopped on the river boat docked on the Zambezi river for a two-hour sunset cruise. Any booze cruise if fun when you have nine great friends and an open bar by your side. But any booze cruise is epic when you add a bunch of traveling Americans to the mix! We should have known that if you offer free alcohol, the Americans in the area are going to come swarming. And sure enough they did! The minute we stepped on the boat, there were so many small world stories; I couldn’t even keep track of them all! For one, I met a girl studying abroad at UCT (University of Cape Town), from Boston College who was roommates with a girl from my High School Soccer Team. My friend Jess met someone from her hometown. The best connection I made was a Med School student named Brian who was volunteering at a Malawi hospital for six weeks with two of his schoolmates. They all were in their fourth year at U. Michigan Med School. After introducing myself, Brian turns to me and says, “oh no way, is your uncle Dr. Paul Ruggieri!?” I couldn’t believe it! Brian had heard my uncle being interviewed about his new book “Confessions of a Surgeon” on NPR. (Really great book. If you haven’t read it, go do it. You won’t be able to put it down). Now I always knew my Uncle was a really cool guy but the fact that a Med School student working in Malawi had heard about him halfway around the world, I was blown away! I had so much fun making new friends, chatting up a storm with everyone on the boat, American or not, and all in all enjoying myself to the max. 
Just as the sun was setting on Zambezi, a beautiful site, my friend called out “hippo!” Everyone on the right side of the boat looked out over the edge and our eyes fell upon three hippos at the water’s edge, bobbing their heads up and down. Hippos are another beautiful animal and for the second time in one day, I was blown away by seeing them in their natural habitat. They looked so happy and peaceful floating just below the surface of the water. Friends, hippos, and the red, pink, yellowish sunset of the Zambezi River. It all felt perfect. After the cruise ended, we gathered our friends (and some new friends as well), put on our dancing shoes, and tore up the rug at the international dance club across the street, well into Sunday morning.
Easter Sunday came quickly and in honor of the holiday, we were off to do some Gorge swinging! After gazing out into the 600-meter ravine below, I opted out of this exhilarating activity. Nevertheless, it was really fun getting to watch my friends partake, laying their lives in the hands of a rubber swing and two “trusted” mechanical experts. Needless to say, there was lots of swinging, screaming, and churning stomachs involved. After the Gorge swing, we bid farewell to our four friends from Port Elizabeth who were flying home, while the other five of us were continuing on our travels to Zimbabwe to meet up with two friends, Derek and Ale, who live there. Derek and Ale had kindly arranged for a woman to pick us up at the Zambian border to cross into Zimbabwe and continue on the two and a half hour drive to the Ivory Lodge, where we would meet up and stay the night. 
