Named after the famous British explorer, David Livingstone, the town is the center of tourism for Zambia due to the Victoria Falls and safari options. This small city is rapidly developing as tourism increases and has an estimated 137,000 inhabitants.

Taking the ferry from Botswana, I entered Zambia and found myself at the immigration counter. The officer who was either in training or completely inept eventually managed to process my entry after almost 30 minutes of fumbling about the pages. I purchased a “Kaza” visa which allows me entry into Zambia and Zimbabwe for $50. It is suppose to be valid for 30 days, but the officer gave me two months and of course he managed to sloppily stick the visa the page.

With that, I went with the official taxi driver who took me to my hotel, The River Club along with three other passengers. We made one stop for one of the passengers to buy an entire ribcage from a street-side butcher.

The rustic yet luxurious River Club arranged for me to take a sunset river cruise on the great Zambezi.

Zambezi River Cruise

The Zambezi is the fourth-longest river in Africa, flowing from the north of Zambia through the Congo, Angola, along the Zimbabwe border, and through Mozambique into the Indian Ocean.

The boatman, Mark was a local with over 15 years of experience providing tours. He pointed out the different birds, crocodiles, and hippos that disappeared underwater to try to pop up and smash us. They don’t navigate the water well as they apparently walk underwater instead of swim.

We got to the end of a Zimbabwean island then Mark brought out snacks and beer. We chat about his village life and how they are hunting a killer crocodile responsible for eating at least one 13 year old boy. On the way back to the hotel there was a spectacular sunset.

The next day I left toward Victoria Falls with a driver from the hotel. He took me by an interesting attraction.

Royal Livingstone Express

This luxury dinner train is on an antique steam train with carriages dating back to 1924. For $165, guests can take a three hour ride aboard the fine dining train and experience what a royal treatment from the colonial era must have been like.

I was given a tour by the train maintenance man named Sunday who also Danny Glover’s doppelgänger.

The driver returned to take me to Victoria Falls on the Zambia side.

Livingstone seemed to be on the rise and has the scenery and attractions to justify the development.