Zambia…
From the moment we got to Livingstone it was full on. We
arrived early enough to sit down and watch the videos of what there is to do in
Livingstone. After about an hour of going through the list I decided to
Whitewater raft/ kayak (only one guide good enough to tandem kayak so Cecilie,
Jareb and I split the river into 3 parts), Pet lions, Rhino Walk, A full day of
Abseil, zip line, and gorge swing (54m), then Bungee jump, and somewhere fit a
day trip to Zimbabwe.
Friday morning everyone but Yoshi, and Brit got picked up by
Rafting Extreme and had a full day of serious white water rafting. Jareb,
Maria, Kevin, Cecilie, Nico and I were in one raft, and the other was Denise,
Fred, Talbot, Alexis, and Sarah. Our guide was the shit, our guide name was
Brighton and I highly recommend him. We
did flip on rapid 3, but that was because our side of the raft (myself,
Cecilie, and Kev) over paddled the left side and we went into the rapid
sideways. Other than that we were flawless. From Rapid 6 to 23 we split the
rapids into 3 sections and Cecilie, Jareb and I did a tandem Kayak with Steve.
Kayaking is full on craziness and I absolutely loved it. I started out on Rapid
8 and got flipped at the big wall. It was full on insane being stuck underwater
not sure if we could roll out of it. After what seemed like forever (two
attempts) I bailed out, and road the rapids by hanging on to the kayak. We also
got to body board some of the rapids which were really awesome. I think I
almost enjoyed that as much as anything else. Around two we finished for the
day, and once we got to the end destination Suse was there with a guy named
bubbles who owns Jet Extreme (an insanely fast jet boat that goes up and down
the river) We were able to do a 15 minute ride for free because there was a
Chinese film crew doing a spot, and they needed people to fill the boat up. It
was really cool, but honestly I wouldn’t spend money on it myself. That evening
majority of the people went on a booze cruise, while Jareb, Nico, Cecilie,
Talbot and myself stayed back at the campground and called it an early night.
0630 the next morning Denise, Sarah, Brit, Cecilie, Alexis,
Jareb, Sherry, and myself were on a truck heading to do a 45 minutes lion walk.
Its exactly as it seems, we walked a male and female lion. Petting and holding
their tail while we walked a few km’s. It was a really exhilarating experience.
Back at the Grotto (our campsite) Jareb, Brit, Nico, Fred, Cecilie and myself
piled into Rosie, and Suse took us to Vic falls. We had couple hours there, just
walking around taking pictures of the spectacular waterfall. We tried walking
around the other side where devils arm chair was, but we got caught by scary
guys with AK-47s who told us we needed a guide to go there. We would have paid
for one, but we were running low on time. That evening Jareb, Alexis, Sarah,
Denise, Yoshi, Cecilie, and myself went on a 3hrs Rhino walk. Basically they
have armed guards watching the Rhinos 24/7 so they know where they are. We
pulled up walked about 20 minutes and the next thing we know we were 100 feet
from a male Rhino laying on his back in the shade. We then walked 200 meters to
another Rhino this time it was a female and her 18 month old baby. We later
came across another male Rhino who was 2 years old. We were able to watch 4
Rhinos in an hour and a half or so. After we finished with the Rhinos, they
took us to the Zambezi River to have a snack, and then they took us on a hour
or so game drive. The guides were the best that we experienced yet on this
trip.
The next morning was a full day of adrenalin, went to a huge
gorge that offered abseiling (Repelling), Zip lining, and finally a gorge
swing. We started the day with two abseiling (one backwards, the other
frontwards) It was okay, but the guys up top and below were controlling your
speed so it was a little disappointing. I told them I have done it a few times
but they wouldn’t let me control my speed. After the second time I didn’t want
to do it again. The problem was a 2km hike up the gorge back to the base camp after
you repel or the gorge swing. Next came the zip line basically you run and jump
off the gorge connected to a line on your back. You look like superman going
across the gorge. To me that was the less scary of the 3 but a few people were
the most scared. After the zip line, came the gorge swing. Basically you can
either go tandem, single front or back. You
take a step off of the cliff and you fall 54 meters before the swing
catches you. The first time I did it tandem with Cecilie, and my legs were
shaking. Doing tandem you have to do it backwards so it doesn’t hurt your neck.
It was really fun, and absolutely crazy. Falling backwards was really fun watching
everything falling going the opposite direction. After the gorge swing we got a great lunch
and then we were able to do everything again. I chose to do the gorge swing
again but frontwards… Way worse but it got me ready for tomorrow… Bungee
Jump!!!!
I woke up thinking WTF… WTF… Why am I going to jump off a
perfectly good bridge 111 meters? Myself, Brittany, Jareb, and Cecilie found
ourselves leaving Zambia, and going halfway on the bridge that connects Zambia
to Zimbabwe. Within minutes of paying $130 all four of us had our harness
attached and our stomachs around eye level. Brittany was chosen to go first (we
thought this was better because she was the most petrified) She got the towels
on her legs, and the extra safety line attached. She stood up and completely
had a meltdown, and bailed out. Next Cecilie got called and within 5 minutes
she was jumping arms out and falling 111meters no sound no scream. Jareb
fallowed same thing perfect dive off the edge. Now my turn… I could feel my
heart beating every heartbeat. I kept thinking fear cuts deeper than swords. It
seemed like an eternity for the guy to put the towels around my legs. He
explained everything to me and told me I was going to be perfectly safe. He got
me to the edge and next thing I knew I heard him say 5-4-3-2-1 jump… I Jumped
with no hesitation and felt like I dove perfectly… I did it, I just jumped off
a perfectly good bridge at Victoria Falls. After the bungee jump everyone
crossed into Zimbabwe for the day. Cecilie and I ditched out and ate at the
restaurant at the falls then spent the afternoon taking our time walking around
Zimbabwe Victoria falls. I highly recommend crossing into the Zimbabwe side to
see the falls. It was much more impressive and had rainbows everywhere. We
spent hours wondering around taking pictures and really just relaxing. At 1745
we met up with the group and went to a very touristy but yet fantastic
restaurant called The Boma. It was a buffet style setting with complete flair.
Imagine eating in Vegas at king’s place (the place that does the jousting). It
was a setting like that with dancers, music, and all the game meat we could
eat. I decided to try wart hog, gemsbok, and all the soup and veggies salads as
possible. We had to leave before the show was over because we had to cross the
border before ten (we barely made it)… 0400 hours oh my oh my… my stomach was
killing me. What was I thinking eating red meat for the first time ever. I was
an idiot and paying for hit. I must have thrown up 5 times before 0600.
At 0700 we took off towards Malawi. We had one maybe two
free camps or campgrounds before we got to Malawi. I stretched out with a low
grade fever and was really, really sick. That evening we stop at a hotel and
camped on the grounds. I set up our tent, and called it a night. That night I
was cursed with fever sleep all night. I woke up miserable the next morning. I
thought I might have had malaria. I took a panadol (paracedenal) and by noon
the next day I was feeling hundred times better. Not sure what I had but it
knocked me out with a fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. That night we stayed at
another hotel type place. I upgraded to a small room for only $10 per person. I
read and passed out, with my first good night sleep in a while.
We took off early for the border of Zambia and Malawi.
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