Blogs from Livingstone, Zambia, Africa - page 28

We have visited the Falls twice in the last few days and they are mind blowing. The figures of 800,000,000 litres of water flowing over in one minute are just too much to take on board. So I won't talk about those! The Falls are in a National Park which you have to pay to enter, which is fair enough. They have laid trails that you can follow to get to the vantage points for viewing them. (These paths are of course fairly near to the edge of the opposite 'cliff', so my vertigo received some serious battering. I think it is being pushed into some sort of order, I did the walking and by the second visit I walked over knife edge bridge unaided and with my glasses on. Great achievement! Enough of that though.) ... read more

Sorry about the lack of pickies - I think I have sorted myself out, so let's try again!! Others watiing to use the internet, so not many words - for once!! Well, that didn't work - so i will leave the pictures until S Africa and a broadband connection. Sleep is proving to be quite important on this trip. Going to sleep in Africa is a totally different ball game: insects, frogs, bats and some birds all start to sing. Loudly. That is fine in the countrysde until the hippos start to laugh which makes me giggle and sleep becomes even more elusive. Here at Lawlty Towers, there is another sound effect that is rather shattering - the soiund of mangoes falling from the trees and hitting the corrugated iron roof. The first one sounded like ... read more

Kayaking has allowed me to do, see, and just be in some really spectacular places. Today is one of those days. I’m laying on a rock in a pool at the base of Victoria Falls. As I look up I see nothing but water cascading down this magnificent waterfall. It is amazing. The only reason I’m here is because we put-in, ferried over to Zim, portaged and then paddled up under the falls. Only kayakers get to do this. Today I’m very lucky. Today was also my last day on the river. I decided that days of paddling is enough. My body is starting to hurt and I’m getting tired. But I will definitely be back to paddle again. This river is too amazing not to come back for. Today will also be my third time ... read more

Not sure where to start this TR. I guess I’ll start with the bad --- 4 swims in 2 days. I swam rapid 13 twice, rapid 3, and rapid 4. Ok, got that out of the way, now onto the Zambezi River. The Zambezi Gorge is amazing. It is big water as big as water can get. You think the Mash Brothers and Keeney are large waves… those waves are the small waves that don’t even get mentioned when you paddle the Zambezi. This water is big, fast, exploding and boiling. One minute you might be cresting the top of a 1 meter wave and the next, the wave is gone and you are being sucked under by a whirlpool boil line that just appeared. Better brace and paddle and stay loose. No such thing as ... read more

Up at 3:30am (after setting my alarm too early for the elphant ride) I watched the sunrise and then Alisa and I set off for our elephant ride at 5:30! We were hoisted up onto mummy elephant Mashumpi and we set off into the forest. It was a really comfy ride and we were closely followed by her little baby elephant which was just a few months old- cuuute! The elephants smelled a bit especially afterwards when we were allowed to feed them!- talk about early morning breath! We trekked through the scrub and then crossed the river, some of the smaller elephants had to swim and the riders got wet! (Emma, you would have loved this- although the corn maze was fun too eh?!! x)... read more