One of the Wonders of the World

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Day 111: Sunday, Sept 10: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe/Zambia

I crossed the border into Zambia to do some white water kayaking in the Zambezi River, starting right after Victoria Falls. Its a tandem Kayak with a professional in the back and me in the front. After practicing a few manuveurs, we were off. Immediately in the first rapid, we tipped over and I was under the kayak in the water, I only gave him one chance to flip us upright and I bailed out of the kayak, its a weird feeling to hold onto something to keep you under water on purpose and I didn't do very well. We made it through rapids 2 and 3, but rapid 4 really took us over. Its one of the biggest rapids (a class 5) on the river and knocked us under. I gave my guide 2 tries to flip us over and then I bailed again. We tried rapid 5, but had the same problem, so I decided to take a break by becoming a rafter instead.

We rafted through 6, 7 and 8, and then had to walk around 9. It is a class 6 and pretty much unrunable. I got back in the raft for 10 and 11 and then got to try river boarding through 12 and 13. It was so much fun, just a boogie board separates you and the water. It was a lot of fun. I rafted 14 and then it was time to tackle the kayak. Rapids 1-10 are the hardest and they don't even run them in the wet season as its pretty much impossible. For rapids 16 and 17, it went perfectly. Rapid 18, we flipped again, bt my guide was able to flip us back over. The final 7 rapids are fairly tame, with one class 3 in the bunch, we ran them beautifully as well. I was definately glad I got back on that kayak, I was told later that some people give up after the first couple of rapids. I got the DVD of the trip but I haven't yet seen it.

Back to camp, it was beers and an early night.

Day 112: Monday, Sept 11: Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe/Zambia

Crossed over to Zambia again today to do a full day of adreneline stuff. First up was the abseil (mostly known to americans as rapelling). Once down to the bottom, we had to climb back up the gorge, about 300 ft up. When we got back to the top (after a halfway water break) we did something called the flying fox. Basically a cable that stretches the length of the gorge, you run off and fly across in a harness.. Kind of superman style. After doing that twice we went back over to the abseil ropes, but this time we jumped down the wall face first, called rap jumping. This was one of my favorite activies, its hard to get your self horizontal face first off the side of a canyon wall, but once you are there and in control of the rope, its great. We had to climb back up a second time and then, the big event.

The gorge swing. Basically a rope attached to the middle of a cable that crosses the gorge. You jump off, tarzan style. Freefalling 150 ft in 3 1/2 seconds before the rope grabs you and you get to swing across the gorge. I had done this in NZ before, but this was bigger. An amazing rush, I stepped off feet first. Unfortunately, when you get to the bottom, you gotta climb back up the gorge again. We were getting tired.

Lunch was ready for us at the top, along with sodas and beers. After the break, we did a zipline and back up to the top for more gorge swings. I did one more, tandem with another person and we were attached and jumped off together. It basically makes you freefall faster.. Great thrill, but once we climbed that gorge for a 4th time, I was done. So were most of the rest. We headed back to Zim and called it an early night.

Day 113: Tuesday, Sept 12: Victoria Falls, Zim/Zambia

Today was an early start, as I needed to be at the border by 7am. Once I crossed the border, I took a flight on a microlight. A microlight is basically a hangglider attached to a go cart with a propeller. You are only strapped on with a seat belt. We took off and flew over a heard of elephants and some hippos in the river. We made the turn and all the sudden, I could see all of Victoria Falls from the air. It was amazing. Its the dry season, so the falls aren't completely full, but still spectacular none the less. Also got to see some of the rapids that I did the other day from the air. After ac couple of loops, we headed back over the upper Zambezi, checking out the wildlife, including a croc in the water that looked bigger than the elephants.

After the flight, we headed back over to Zim to check out the falls from the ground. We walked along the opposite edge for a couple of hours, taking in the falls and taking photos. Once we got back to camp, it was relaxation time. Then, we got word that one of our people was involved in a Tiger Moth crash, we still don't have all the details, except that he's fine with some cuts and bruises and they were keeping him overnight for observation. We should see him tomorrow afternoon as we head to Botswana.

In the evening we went to a game restaurant and I had some warthog. It was pretty yummy, hard to describe, but closest to pork.

I'll be out of contact for another week and a half or so.. Until then..

~Dave

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