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Melissa Mpofu in Victoria Falls
South Africa afro-fusion band — Freshlyground stole the show at the just ended Victoria Falls Carnival with a well-polished act at the Victoria Falls Farm School on Sunday.

Led by lead singer Zolani Mahola, the group that had been barred from performing in the country during former President Robert Mugabe’s era wowed audiences and left them clamouring for more.

Performing tracks such as Doo Be Doo, I’d Like and Chicken to change — the track that got them banned from performing in Zimbabwe, the group was at home as they related well with the audience.

Their set was unique in that it appealed to all age groups that were present at the show.

With a very different line-up this year, the carnival kicked off on Saturday with a train and bush party that was not up to standard as most DJs failed to live up to their billing.

They simply failed to keep the momentum that event attendees had at the Railway station as they boarded the train.

While the likes of DJ Francis tried to hype the party goers on the train, the DJs at the bush site let him down. It was clear most revellers were not enjoying as they quickly filled the first train that was going back to town.

This was at about 10PM, a time when the party should have been getting into full swing. However, the likes of Freshlyground, Lady Zamar, Black Motion and Hyena fixed this mess by rocking the crowd on Sunday.

The Black Motion duo, as usual, was a marvel to watch because of their antics on stage.

When Hyena who was the closing act left the stage just after midnight to give patrons an opportunity to party at other spots in town, it was clear people still wanted to party.

From the carnival venue, people thronged the Victoria Falls CBD and patronised any place that had a speaker as they wanted to have a good time while waiting for the New Year.

Comfort Pub and Grill which hosted Judgement Yard was quite busy as well as Rest Camp.