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Published: December 23rd 2007
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Victoria Falls
Quite impressive Hmm... for the first time I have spent the last week with one of my subscribers (hello Becky, hope you got back OK), so I had better make sure I tell the whole truth and nothing but...
As most of the people who are reading this probably know, the genesis of this whole trip was an invitation to the wedding of the lovely Dan and Katherin at Katherin's parents' family estate near Harare in Zimbabwe. The wedding was two days ago, so Zim is where we have been for the last week.
We kicked off with a two day trip to Victoria Falls, where we met up with our friends Becky and Michael, and Dan's doctor friends Anuj and Suj the best man. While we were only there for two days, we packed so much in that it felt like far longer, not least because it included a near death experience for all six of us. As I promised to tell the whole truth at the start of this entry, you will know that I am not exaggerating.
The occasion was a white water rafting trip on the Zambezi river. I have never been white water rafting before,
The Lion and I
Pleased to meet you... and I don't think I will be going again. To set the scene, the six of us from England were each issued with a paddle, a helmet and an extremely restrictive life jacket, before descending a very steep path to the bottom of a 100m gorge just near the bottom of Vic Falls (which are spectacular, by the way, but I won't dwell on them). We clambered into a reinforced rubber craft with our guide, Lee, who taught us the basics of how to paddle forward, how to turn, and what to do when you fall in, before we set off to tackle the first of the ten rapids.
It didn't begin too badly - we successfully negotiated the first couple of rapids, and high fived one another as we watched other boats tip upside down and their occupants plunge beneath the waves. Things first went wrong on rapid 3, which was only a grade 3 (rapids are graded from 1 to 6 in order of difficulty), when perhaps complacency got the better of us and the boat flipped, but with some strong teamwork we were all soon back on board.
We had another dunking a couple of
Air Zimbabwe in the rain
Safe as houses, en route from Vic Falls to Harare... rapids later, but it was only when we got to rapid 7 (Gulliver's Travels, a number 5) that things went badly wrong. Lee's safety briefing at the beginning included various points, one of which was that, whatever happened, we must not go through the rocks on the right, or we would be in serious trouble.
Unfortunately, he didn't tell us what to do if that did happen, and the DVD of the event shows that a huge wave kicked us off to the right, and despite some frantic paddling, we had no chance of recovery, and soon got stuck between two large rocks, with a big drop and the swirling, frothing waters of the Zambezi speeding along at below us. Looks of terror were exchanged. The DVD also shows that Lee tried desperately to tie us to another rock, but to no avail; the force of the water was too great, the boat flipped and pirhouetted in all directions, and various helmeted heads narrowly avoided smashing on to the rocks before being plunged into the river.
The DVD then stops, because the cameraman had to rush in to assist, so I can only recount what I remember, as
Two Rebeccas
With Becky, and Rebecca the Giraffe the worst was far from over (each of us has our own slightly different survivor's tale). After spinning through the water for what seemed like an age, my head emerged beneath a boat; this means you have to go back under in order to come out, which I did, only to soon go under another boat. I emerged again a little later, to find us all trapped between somebody else's boat and our boat and the rocks on the right bank of the river which we desperately tried (with the help of canoeists) to avoid being smashed against. Our boat was upside down. We scrambled on top of it, but Lee told us we had to go back in the water and turn it up the right way. Which was right, of course, but not exactly what we wanted to hear.
I lost the boat again after we flipped it, and went spiralling through the rapids for another distance, eventually recovering to swim as hard as I could towards the craft, where a brilliant combined effort from Gemma and Becky pulled me back on board. Unfortunately, as we all struggled back to our rowing positions, it became apparent that
The wedding scene
Becky and Gemma before the ceremony we only had two oars with us: one at the front of the boat, and one at the back. Despite valiant efforts from those with the oars, it was a hopeless cause, and within no time we had flipped again, and were all back under the water.
Again, we swum and grabbed and pulled and scrambled and got back on board. This very long rapid was still far from over, but somehow - thanks to grim resolution with the few remaining oars, probably a lot of praying, and some luck as well - we didn't tip, which was just as well, because I don't think any of us could have coped with it. There were still two grade 4 rapids left before we finished, and again grim determination dragged us through without another tip.
The rest of the trip to the Falls included walking with lions, riding elephants, eating half the game in Zimbabwe, oh, and a couple of extraordinary hotels, but those stories will have to wait for another time...
* * *
No doubt people will be expecting a blog about Zimbabwe, particularly one by me, to dwell a bit on the somewhat unusual
Wedding vows
Dan and Katherin's nuptials politics of the country. But I'm not going to. I will just offer a few brief observations. It is unusual to pay 1.4 million dollars for dinner, and to have to hand over a brick of notes to get into a tourist attraction (the locals that is; us foreigners stick to US). I have never been begged at with such desperation as in Vic Falls, with people offering sculptures in return for old T-shirts and odd socks. The petrol stations are all closed, and most of the shops are threadbare if they have anything at all. At the same time, it is an extraordinarily beautiful country, and the people - of all races - as welcoming as any I have met anywhere. Much of the tiny bit of the country's infrastructure that we saw - roads, Harare airport, and certainly hotels - is not bad by developing country standards, although the electricity was constantly going off. It is a place that has been successful before, and can be again in the future, and I really hope it will be soon.
***
We flew from Vic Falls to Harare on Air Zimbabwe, which could have been a near death experience
After the ceremony
The post-wedding scene in itself, but apart from some unusual rattling was actually fine.
I could write far more about Dan and Katherin's wedding and the four days on Katherin's family's beautiful farm than even the very long white water rafting entry above, but I have just noticed that time has nearly run out, so I will instead keep my fingers and everything else crossed that the photos I am trying to upload have uploaded, and speak for themselves, and just say that we had a fabulous time, and you can drop me a line if you want to hear more...
damn these photos they're not uploading...
We are now in Maputo in Mozambique - arrived this PM - looks like the photos have not worked... bugger...
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Becky
non-member comment
Frighteningly accurate!
I've just relived the near-death experience reading your blog! I think you did a good job there! Hope you and Gemma have a lovely New Year! Becky x