Zambia Part 2 (Oct 10th - Oct 14th)

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Sat - Oct 10th
Final morning on the houseboat as we make our way back to the shore of Kariba. Back over the dam, back over the Zambia/Zimbabwe border and a 150 mile drive to Mazabuka and Linger Longa campsite. We were going to stay at the Kushinga campsite again and then do a 375 mile drive to Livingstone on Sunday but instead we decided to drive 150 mile to Mazabuka so we would only have 211 miles to go on Sunday. It was an impromptu campsite arrangement as we did not have accommodations booked and had to find a campsite. It was adequate except being next to a train track. I still slept good through the night none the less and even had a dream I was a bassist in Metallica.

Sun - Oct 11th
We left Mazabuka at 6am to start the 162 mile drive to Livingstone. Livingstone was not quite what I expected. I expected more of a city, instead I got a two-lane road heading down one main street of a town for a few miles. It was not that impressive for a city that boasts so many activities and things to do and see here. We stayed at Grubby's Grotto that night.

Mon - Oct 12th
Woke up at 5:30 to get ready for the Lion Walk. I was really excited for this. After waking Jess and Marcus up we quickly found out we could not get onto our truck to grab Marcus’ camera or the passports we would need to go to the Zambia/Zimbabwe bridge to watch the others Bungee and Gorge swing later after our walk. Turns out that the inside dead bolt slid into place last time the door was closed so we were locked out from the inside. We woke up our tour leader (Tito) and the driver (Isaac) and spent the next hour trying to get in. Finally we took the pins out of the hinges of the door and just took it off its frame. This made us miss our lion walk but we decided we will do it tomorrow. Around 9am I went with a big group from both AS trucks to where many of them were going to Bungee jump and gorge swing. I did not do it as it was a smaller jump than the 134m Nevis Highwire in Queenstown and I am going to try and get to 216m jump in South Africa. This bridge was only 111m. It was a long and fun day watching people jump. One girl from the other AS truck got hurt on her bungee jump which was unfortunate. The carabineer slipped free from the protective cloth that separates it from the flesh of the foot. It pinch her skin behind her ankle and tore quite a large gash in it. She needed 14 stitches. She was a trooper though as few people noticed because she did not want anyone to see the injury and get frightened into not jumping, Which I am sure most would have. After the bridge Marcus, Jess, Ed, Claire and I went to the Victoria Falls Part to see Victoria Falls. It is the dry season right now so the falls are not as amazing as they are in the wet season but they are still very cool. You could can see them from the Zimbabwe side of the boarder better then Zambia but we did not want to pay the visa again just to go see the falls from that side. But when we were coming back we ran into a Livingstone Island guide who told us about the island. We were planning on going to Livingstone Island tomorrow but we found out we could right then for just $50 opposed to the $90 we would have had to pay through the campsite. The main differences being with the $90 you get a boat ride to Livingstone Island and High Tea. Both of which were not worth it. The walk (opposed to the boat) was about 30 minutes and took you along the edge of the falls, which you could walk on during the dry season, and provided amazing views. At Livingstone Island the main attraction is The Devils Pool.
The "Devil's Pool" (or "Devil's Swimming Pool") is a real phenomenon, a natural rock pool at the very top of Victoria Falls in Zambia where (at certain times of year) adventurous swimmers can splash around in relative safety just a few feet away from where the waters of the Zambezi River cascade over the waterfall and plunge more than 350 feet into the gorge below. The terrifying aspect of such an adventure is heightened for first-time visitors because the pool does not appear to have any sort of barrier (natural or otherwise)

14 month old.

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Not quite wild.... not quite tame. Hence the stick I am holding.

to protect swimmers who jump into it from being swept over the edge of the falls.
It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. After the falls the 5 of us grabbed some dinner and headed back to camp.

Tue - Oct 13th
Woke up again at 5:30 for the 2nd attempt at the Lion Walk. This time we made it as planned. Let me just saw that I had very high expectations for the Lion Walk. It was the only thing I knew I was going to do before I got here. And even with my high expectations I was not disappointed. It was amazing. I probably will never have another opportunity to be that close to a pseudo wild animal. I say “pseudo” because even though they are not wild they are not tame either. They are breed in captivity but raised to be wild and released. There were 4 lion cubs. 1 male and 3 females ranging from 12-14 months old. They were very active and playful and then would rest for a while before they got up to play again. I also got to see the adults too but they were behind a large fence because it’s a little too dangerous and unpredictable for non-handlers to go in. I had the option to do the same thing with the cheetahs but we have a cheetah park we are going to later for free and I could not justify the extra $50. Got back to camp for a while then headed into town to search for wireless internet. After a few failed attempts I found free wireless at The Fairmont hotel. It was slow but you get what you pay for. Had a poker tournament that night with 4 others and had a bad beat to take 2nd place. Later I found my tent covered in hundreds of unknown insects. They were either very large ants and very small cockroaches and some had wings. So I took some bug killing powder and doused the front flashing of my tent and hey all died pretty damn fast. The only unfortunate thing was the powder, obviously, went through the mosquito netting into my tent. So I had a chemical breathing nightmare inside. I tried to clean as much up as possible before I went to sleep. Then slept the night with an impromptu mask over my mouth and nose made out of my t-shirt. Tomorrow I will mop my tent clean.

Wed - Oct 14th
Had a nice sleep in until about 9:30 and did not do much for most of the morning outside of a little breakfast and chatting with some people. I went back to The Fairmont around 1pm to use their wireless again and was there for most of the afternoon. We had a big group BBQ tonight as it will be the last all of us will be together as 6 people are leaving our safari. I was in my tent pretty early that night though as a whole day of doing pretty much nothing had worn me out.

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