Victoria Falls

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We spend the night at a campsite next to the Zambezi river (the river is very high - the campsite was flooded 3 weeks prior to our arrival). We spend our first night on a river cruise. This is commonly known as the booze cruise and it's apparent why; 2.5 hours of free food and booze. Fair to say we had a wobble stepping off the boat! The evening descends into dancing and swimming in the pool - most without a choice and fully clothed (although nakedness appears as the night goes on!). We head to no mans land the next day between Zambia and Zimbabwe (i.e. the bungee jump bridge). The first 'jump' is a hoist across the river; this is a quite an enjoyable experience as it allows time to appreciate the scene of the falls. The second is the main bungee jump - 111m over the river, quite an exhilarating experience! (I intend to do the biggest bungee in the world at Bloukrans Bride, South Africa - 216m, thus completing the three biggest bungee jumps in the world!). The third jump is a 'swing' and is quite terrifying - a run and jump (feet first) off the same bungee platform; my life flashed before me, I thought the swing would never catch me as it seemed I as was falling into the river forever! Unfortunately, rafting was not operational as it was deemed unsafe to do so with the river being so high (i.e. the torrent would just pull you under and keep you there).

I take a microlight the next day over Victoria Falls; a quite amazing experience (and not as terrifying as the bungee jump!) The scale, sound and image of the falls is probably something I'll never forget. You can see the mist off the falls from afar but the sound up close is quite deafening at times. You can only but imagine what David Livingstone's thoughts would have been as the first European to set sights on the falls. We take a walking tour of the falls - capturing the falls so close that we got absolutely soaked from the mist created! A highlight is the knife edge bridge over a main part of the falls where you totally engulfed in the mist. Another is the 'boiling pot'; a heavy swirling cauldron where all the water off the falls meets (and which would usually be where the rafting begins). Our final night is met with huge rainfalls - so huge that the campsite is overrun with min flowing rivers so we seem to have been lucky to have escaped the main rainfall, although I almost fall off the truck steps owing to the loudest thunderclap I have ever heard, I thought something had run into the truck! We say goodbye to our guides at this point, Julias and Barry, and meet our new ones who will take us to Johanesburg, Elbi, Chris and Stompe.

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Comments

[Saul Wainwright]

Livingstone Tourism
Hey guys, Sounds like you had a fantastic time at Vic Falls and so glad you decided to visit the Zambian side of the falls. Please do check out our website www.livingstonetourism.com and also join our Fanpage on Facebook facebook.com/livingstonetourism We hope to hear more about your adventures in Africa.