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Published: September 23rd 2006
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Adrenalin day:
At 8.30 am we headed out for a day for pulse racing, pure fear events.
We began the day by signing a waver for any accidents or death that may occur during our activities -such a reassuring beginning.
This place offered; Abseiling- backwards and forwards (don't ask), a thing called The Flying Fox- where you run at full speed and jump off the edge of the canyon (I should say here that you are attached to a body harness and you slide out over the huge gorge and they pull you back in). Then there is the zip slide which involved you holding onto handles as you are propelled to the other side of the gorge........And then there is the big one, which before I came I was not even considering. The Zambezi swing. This involves being strapped into a full body harness and stepping off the edge of the gorge, free falling for what seems like 10 minutes and then the line goes tight and you swing back and forth over the gorge, taking in the view until they get you down.
Well I was only interested in the abseiling but when it actually
came to doing it I didn't get on with it as well as I had hoped, also, once you had finished the task you had a hugely steep, sweaty and uncomfortable walk to the top. At this point I made the decision that if I was going to do this walk several times I had to be enjoying the downwards bit...... and there and then I decided to do the gorge swing.
Now, the flying fox was stomach churning enough, throwing yourself into thin air, but at least you don't fall, you slide along. With abseiling you are in control of the speed and drop. But the gorge swing is something similar to bungee jumping. ……when you think about it free fall is something that no one should really ever be able to experience without dieing...... but that is exactly what you do! Fair enough it is for 3 seconds only but it feels like an eternity.
As I was being strapped into my harness a few more people arrived to watch the events, which was slightly disconcerting. Jon, the guy who had come with us from our hostel, went first. I felt quite sick watching him pluck
up the courage to step off the edge into nothing and as he did we heard the loudest 'FUUUUUCCCCCCK' which loudly echoed across the canyon.
Then before I knew it I was approaching the edge. It didn't help that I had a video camera in my face asking me if I had any last words, thankfully the words bugger off never left my mouth and didn’t end up on the actual finished DVD!!
As the guy finished harnessing me up and turned me towards the gorge I don't think I had a single thought in my head. I cannot describe the feeling as I stepped over the edge and plummeted towards the ground. Every thing went to jelly my arms and legs. I think my heart might have actually stopped for the three seconds as I was wait-less. Then the line went taught and at that precise second I knew I wasn't going to die and let out the loudest YEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH. followed by a YEAH BAAAABY. It was the biggest rush of my life. I proceeded to do it again after lunch but that time with my eyes fully open trying to take in the view, which was
even better than the first time
We all ended the day with a lovely Indian to celebrate nearly, but not quite, dieing.
The next day we decided to all break the bank and head towards the Royal Livingston for the legendary breakfast they serve. Something like $30 but for that we got the scrummiest food I've eaten in a very long while. We did however feel very much like the scummy back packers that we were amongst the very posh people around us. However the staff treated us like royalty, which even though it made me feel slightly uncomfortable made me feel better about being there- If you left the table for a second, your napkin would be folded and placed at the side of your chair and every five minutes you'd be asked if you wanted more tea, or toast. Of course we ordered far too much food and had to wait an hour before we could even begin to move.
When we got back to the hotel our DVDs of the yesterdays events were ready. Watching ourselves jump off a gorge is probably just as bad as actually doing it but I will be making
everyone watch it when I'm back 😊
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Hi, well I've had a week of no Internet access and have so much to tell and no time to do it in.
Zambia was so long ago. Our last two days went by in some kind of alcoholic fuzz. We (our little gang, including, Will and Iolo - two med students who had just finished a placement at a mission hospital and were making up for their in-forced t- total weeks by drinking in serious fashion. Jon from adrenalin day- also a med student but travelling alone. Victoria and Ben, the beautiful ones- a stunning couple who were completely cool. Dane- an American from San Francisco who was a proper dude and adrenalin junkie (see I don't hate Americans) and of course me and Sarah.
We began our last two days with a sunset booze cruise down the Zambezi. It was a: drink all the free booze you can in the next hour or be square- kind of event. When we got back to the hostel it unfortunately carried on in a similar fashion. It was a hilarious night but the hangover I woke with was definitely
not so much fun.
The hangover day was also our last full day and we had a helicopter ride booked. Thankfully it was in the afternoon which gave us a bit of time to sort ourselves out but actually it didn't compare to the Livingston Island experience even though it was fun. When we got back we carried on with the drinking theme. We all went to a authentic African restaurant where they were singing not so authentic African tunes, such as; songs from the lion king and The Lion leaps tonight song. Sarah seemed pretty made up to have actually heard that tune live- I guess it was actually quite cool!!
We carried on drinking and had a drunken fair well to Vic and Ben who were catching a bus at three am and then we all skulked off to bed, them promising to see me and Sarah off in the morning. It was a little sad saying goodbye.
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