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Published: July 19th 2005
Tazara Train
Despite the delays, the views and experiences on this train journey were truely amazingAs you may recall from my last blog, I was beginning to experience an unusual entry into the land of Zambia. I had collected my Tanzanian exit stamp in the early hours of the morning and joined my mate Anita in order to get our visas from the on board customs officials. Having explained to the officials just what they needed to know, the officers felt the situation might best be dealt with in the privacy of their onboard office. The slight hitch to our situation was that Anita had slept through her Tanzanian exit stamp, and I had mine in the wrong passport. We stepped into the first class 'office' and the door was pulled closed for further privacy. As the window blind was shut as well, I decided to pull the corridor door back open. Sitting on top of a bed in a dark cabin with 2 officials wasn't really how I had envisioned getting my Zambian visa. There really wasn't a problem with any justification, so we battled with the first presented option of getting off of the train at the next stop and making our way overland back to Tanzania for a stamp. "There MUST be an
Victoria Falls
Such a natural beauty easier solution officer?" Anita and I were then presented with a $450 option. Having to laugh at the ridiculousness of this offer, I decided to make negotiations easier and pay the higher Visa fee on my British passport. We didn't give in and pay an unnecessary private rate to anybody, just tired of circling the same non issues. I wanted to enter the next round of peanut poker with peace of mind that I wouldn't get kicked off of the train! When we finally pulled into the final stop just 15 hours late, the relief that the adventure was over was overwhelming. We found a bus into Lusaka and slept our worries away.
Arriving into Lusaka at 3am was a slight hinderence. Half of our group planned on boarding the next bus to Livingstone, althought it didn't depart until 6am. The rest us were planning on staying in Lusaka, so we all decided to stay on the bus and sleep until it was a reasonable hour to get a taxi to the hostel. Luckily the bus driver was okay with this plan. Walking the streets of Lusaka was not an option at this hour. I was hoping to
meet up with a friend of a friend for a drink or two before venturing down to Livingstone. Friends of friends in all foreign places are most welcoming and appreciated. Having exchanged a few emails with Grace I was looking forward to getting an insight into the life of a true Zambian. How extremely unfortunate it was that I wasn't able to get in contact with her prior to the next days' bus to Livingstone. For this reason and having no available bed at the hostel and not being able to withdraw any cash from the cashpoint, for me, Lusaka was a dissapointment. Contrary to this feeling of failure regarding my intentions in Zambia, the locals that I did meet in shops etc., were so incredibly kind and considerate that my faith in Zambia was reasonably restored. I was surprised at the Westernized life I saw in walking past the shops/strip malls. The available food and products were comforting for the expat life, and convenient for me in now having a free day to fill with assorted errands. I got a chance to see Brad Bitt and Angelina Jolie on screen and even managed a grocery shop for the bus
trip early the next day. Hopefully the day that I return to Lusaka to meet Grace and absorb the life there, will not be too far away.
Arriving in Livingstone was a very smooth journey. I found the hostel 'JollyBoys' and marvelled and the lushness of this backpacking resort. The pool, the bar, the people and even the dog were inspiring enough to put all other Zambian tragedies behind me. I met up with the girls from the train and reviewed the planned events for the next few days in the adventure hotspot of Africa. The choices were limitless; bungee, micro-flights, rafting, safari to name a few. I tentatively selected the most appealing options and crossed my fingers that all went well.
The next day was an early start to the rafting center. They filled us with food, gave us a brief talk, a helmut and a paddle and we were on our way. As I couldn't take my camera with me, there wasn't an opportunity to photograph the steps leading down the gorge towards the rapids on the Zambezi River. Do you remember building a treefort when you were 10 years old and how the
Rafting Thumbs Up
The facial expressions say it all after surviving the first rapid! steps might have looked leading up to your lobsided playhouse? This is kind of the feeling I was overcome with as I strategically placed my foot over the nailed sections of the ladder going down. The narrow branches on the ladder were sometimes 2-3 feet off of the ground so some people seemed to find it easier walking through these rungs. This felt too much like an army drill that I soon decided rolling down the hill just might be easiest! Thankfully, the river soon appeared.
As we approached the first rapid the blur of instructions I had nodded agreement to came flooding back in a rather jumbled order. Do I paddle through this? Duck and hold on? Throw myself over? I ended up doing a combination of all of the above, except for throwing myself over. Lyndsey in front of me wasn't so lucky and tumbled into the swirls of chilling water beneath. She was a bit shaken and bruised when she returned to our boat so opted for a more secure boat with permanent oars. Proceeding with the events, our boat challenged the aggressive waters. The adrenelin was pumping so we thought furthering the excitement could
Rafting Action
The rush continues only be through a flip into the water. Some of the other boats were trying a few stunts and crashing into the recovery mode, so we decided to strut our stuff too.
We approached the next rapid with all members of the boat squeezed into the corner. The rapids rolled under and around us, yet we continued to bobble along the water like a float on a fishing line. The 45 degree angle that we maintained for so long got a bit boring so we started to bounce hoping to flip ourselves over. It was at this moment that I felt my senses kick in-WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING? Splash-we were in. Where am I? Gulping water and grasping non existant survival ropes, I opened my eyes to a brilliant yellow sky. The pace of everything around me dulled and I realized I was the only one under the boat with a pocket of air to confuse me. Missing some action, I dove back into the water wrapping my arms around my big yellow rubber ducky. I shook the water out of my ears and was soon overwhelmed by a bellowing voice, "Found her"! Sucking in air
Gorge Swing
I can't believe I managed to take that step... like I had never experienced something so amazing and coming into the clarity of the situation, I grinned from ear to ear-"Let's do it again!" Now I don't mean to bragg or anything, but our boat well and truely rocked.
After a few more rapids and a few more stunts, we pulled over for lunch. I thought we might get to beach ourselves on the Zimbabwe side of the river, so I could 'check off another country visited' but instead we ate on the Zambian side and warmed up in the sun. Earlier on we had pulled over and climbed a cliff and I think this might have been Zimbabwe. I was the last one to jump the 20 meter drop into the river, but I did it. And mom, I'm sorry for what I yelled out as I plummeted down.
The event chosen for the next day was slightly more calming as Anita and I made our way over to Victoria Falls. Having been to Niagra Falls before, I was aware of how wet you get with the sprays of water coming up and down. I still opted to avoid the allover plastic bag look
Bungee Bridge
This is what I didn't attempt to jump off of. The location of being at Vic Falls was tempting although not enough! and just got extremely wet. One of the main differences between Niagra and Victoria Falls is the temperature. Thankfully,I didn't physically announce to everybody that I was cold AND in a wet t-shirt, just in a very wet t-shirt!! We squished our feet through the trails and made our way down to the 'Boiling Pot'. The water was not thundering around us here, and we had an opportunity to sit on the rocks and dry off whilst watching the bungee jumpers take the plunge on the bridge behind us.
The evening activities filled in the adventure required for this part of the world. We joined the other girls on an cruise along the Zambezi. Very classy eh? Well, there was a lovely meal, and a few drinks, and a few more drinks and perhaps a few more drinks. Calling these evening boat rides a 'Booze Cruise' is the norm. My drinking skills came sloshing back to me as I practised downing a drink in a minute, then 2 in a minute, and then 3 in a minute. As these were full sized gin and tonics I felt a youthful drinking pride. Of coarse the boat wasn't all about
Booze Cruiser
How the boat looked at the beginning of the trip the drinking. We saw a beautiful sunset and I think I even saw an elephant on the banks of the river. At least it looked like an elephant at the time!
Far too soon we docked the boat and slumbered our way over to the dance floor on shore. We had a bit of a boogie and drank back the contents of the flask I'd snuck off the boat. When we started to not reckognize those shaking their booties around us, we decided it might be best to head back into town. We clambered onto a bus with many other drunken Aussies. I'm sure the sober pedestrians had a laugh as we sang our way to the hostels in town.
For my final day in LivingstoneI decided to go for the gorge activities option. The first event was to abseil down the cliff and as I've done this once before I felt confident. Although, down the side of a building in North London does feel slightly different than a 60 meter gorge in Zambia. I felt confident enough that I decided to abseil facing forwards so I could essentially run down the cliff. Once I was
Zambezi Sunset
The lastclear sight of the night roped in, I began walking down the ramp onto the cliff face.
"Bugger, did somebody put glue under my left foot? I can't seem to move it."
I was paralysed with fear that if I loosened the rope I might tumble down to the bottom of the cliff. It made things slightly difficult and I lost my footing from the cliff face. I dangled and headbutted the cliff with my helmut not realizing the DVD man was capturing every moment for me. Thankfully, I made it down, but I don't think I'll ever be able to look at the DVD again! Being roped into the harness created the biggest possible wedgy that only Bart Simpson could have pulled. And the DVD captured it all. Great. The DVD man also had my camera for a few shots, although it sadly slipped out of his hands mid shot. When he handed me back all 5 pieces of my camera the fury overtook me but all I got out of it was the DVD for free. And then there will be the bill for a new camera that I've decided to get in Hong Kong at the end of the month. Oh well, disposables can take good photos too right?
The second event was called the 'Flying Fox'. I harnessed in and onto the cable that ran to the other side of the gorge. I then ran off the cliff as fast as my little legs would carry me landing mid air in either a straight standing up position or Superman style. Gliding over the gorge was a spectacular feeling, certainly not as scary for me as the face first abseil. The scariest part of course was actually allowing my feet to leave the ground, but somehow I managed. 3 times actually.
The final event for the day was certainly the highlight. The gorge swing can be likened to a bungee jump, except there is no bounce and my retinas are likely to stay attached. I harnessed in like a pro and then crept towards the edge of the platform. My biggest problem here was actually keeping my eyes open, but I didn't really want to see myself plunging down the side of a 60 meter cliff anyways. The few seconds of freefall activated every feeling of life in every portion of my body. It was amazing. And I can't believe I did it, but I did! So the second time around I joined forces with a lad from the UK and we jumped together and backwards. Equally exillerating. Maybe I'll manage a bungee jump afterall!
As the entire trip has been planned, I know I've not spent enough time really exploring Zambia, but the amount of adreniline that has pumped through me over and over in just a few days has made this country an absolute pleasure to be in. The people here are extremely kind hearted and I leave with a great smile. The next adventure is over to Namibia, quickly followed by some rest time in South Africa. The bottom tip of Africa is near!
I hope everybody is extremely well, thank you for the comments-they do inspire me to keep writing so keep them coming! And if you think any of these words might inspire somebody you know to start travelling, please pass them the blog address! I'm missing emails with gossip from mates and life updates of family so keep me posted too please!! Namibia details soon to follow!
-Fiona 😊
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anonymous
non-member comment
Love these journals
These journals are improving. I feel like I am taking this trip with you. Thanks for the vicarious pleasure. Love Ian