Tourist Tax (Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe) Africa Travel Writing and Photos by Leigh Pate - May 12, 2015September 1, 2015 "I haven't seen toyi-toyi since the demonstrations," a talkative South African who is joined us today said as we walked past a group of Zimbabwe musicians and dancers making music and singing in full costume in the parking lot of the national park. Of course I ask - What is toyi-toyi. And the answer is surprising to me. It's a dance that came from Zimbabwe but was coopted by South Africans during the demonstrations against Apartheid to intimidate the troops with all the foot stomping and chanting. And this is how Mom and I started our visit to one of the seven natural wonders of the world ... Victoria Falls. Or, as the locals call it, Mosi-oa-Tunya, which means the smoke that thunders - and this is a much better name for it. I was hesitant to come here at all. I've travelled enough to know that places like this that attract mobs of tourists are inevitably painfully touristy. There is too much money coming in from international visitors to a country that desperately needs it, and where the people desperately need it - to expect to pass through easily and peacefully. My Mom and I came anyway, calling it the equivalent of paying a bucket list tourist tax ... we get to see the largest falls in the world but the touristy hounding and herding is the price to be paid. Not that people were unpleasant - everyone was exceedingly polite. Everyone introduced themselves and gave us their name. Even the people trying to sell us the worthless Zimbabwean former currency with notes worth over Five Billion with the enticement "You can be a billionaire!" were polite. The old currency was abandoned by Zimbabwe in 2008 when they adopted the US dollar. The man who asked whether he could meet us outside the hotel to