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Published: September 17th 2008
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Victoria Falls
From the helicopter So my day started out very ordinarily - or as ordinary as you can get in Africa. Woke up at the crack of dawn, booked a helicopter flight over the falls, went on the helicopter ride - oooh, aaahhh - came back to camp site relaxed for a bit, had a fantastic hamburger (Matt, you would've loved it) then met up with the rest of the group to walk around Victoria Falls.
Victoria Falls is a pretty amazing site, it's as if the ground cracked open in the middle of a river. It's very impressive. We were there during the dry season so the flow is only at 30% - but it was still stunning. Vic Falls is also the divide for Zambia and Zimbabwe, we stayed on the Zambia side - would have cost over $100 just to cross the border into Zim.
So on to my story... we're walking around the edge of the falls oohing and awing at the splendor... and then we see people walking on the falls. Meaning the river just before it falls over the edge. Intrigued we decide to finish our walk and then go check out what was on the other
Vic Falls - Angel Falls viewpoint
The first stop on the misadventure. I made it in one piece (almost!) side. Some of you have seen the pics of the Devil's Pools at Vic Falls - I was very keen to see them and so was the rest of our group, we decided they might be on the other side.
We walked over to the falls - lots of do not leave the path signs - and saw a local man (in his skivvies) running across this dam like thing. We all looked at each other and agreed that we all wanted to do it. Silvan and Katie went first - athletes that they are they skipped their way across - next was my turn. As most of you know I am not the most nimble of people and when I got on the dam thing I realized it was a narrow as a balance beam and covered in green sludge. But I was on an adventure so away I went, slowly inching my way across, water gushing above and below me. What felt like 10 mins later (it was prob only 2-0 secs) I started to shake with nerves. In case you didn't know shaking and balance beams do not go well together. Nerves, Nerves, Nerves.... FALL!! Wack
Vic Falls - The guides
Nice guys... but the BO - wooo hooo into to the falls, lose big toe nail trying to hold on with my toes (bad idea), camera bouncing off the rocks, struggling to keep my camera out of the water. It's funny how at a time like that the regard for my body was so much smaller than the concern for my camera. So there I am holdiong on to the dam trying to keep my purse above my head and over runs the local in his (white) briefs to rescue me. He pulls me up, gets me steady and then helps me to the end of the dam. I'm amazed at his ability to balance, there were times were I thought I was going to take us both down and he manage to keep us up.
Finally on dry land, we find out that Angels Pools (a different version of the Devil's Pools) was about a 30 min walk away - through the river! I turned around to ask Lauren (she's 16 and her father told us to take good care of her before we left) if she wanted to continue. We all agreed and forged ahead. I won't bore you with the details but let me
just say that I fell 2 more times (I had smartened up by this time and passed my camera to the more nimble of the group), scratched the side of my arm, banged my ankle into a rock (scab and swelling) and was completely covered in green slime by the time we got to the pools. All I can say is it was worth every scratch, every bruise - even the lost toe nail. We were standing right next to the water going over - it was a fabulous spot. We could also swim in the pool, but because I would have had to scramble down the rocks to get there I decided not to try my luck.
Sadly, the way back was the same as the way there. I managed to stay upright (with the help of a local on either side of me - basically holding me up) on the trip back where my friends and tour mates nicknamed me Clumsy Canadian (or C -squared). Spent the evening disinfecting my scrapes - had severals beers and slept with my ankle raised. My unfortunate camera did not survive the fall - except because I am telling you this
story now I can say that it recovered with only a few scratches. There were a few days there where it wouldn't even turn on, but a couple of days of airing it out must have done some good.
For anyone going to Vic Falls I would recommend going off the beaten path. This adventure ended up being one of the highlights of my trip. A word to the wise though - hire the locals before you fall and make sure you organize the price first!!
Sorry for the spelling and grammar - don't have time to review!!
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Mom
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Injuries
Hope you have healed by now. What happened to the water proof case for your camera? You said in your email lots of "injuries"! What else???