We arrived in Zambia after one last night at Senga Bay in Malawi. Crossing the boarder brought us our first tribulations, as the customs agent decided to take his lunch break just as we went through immigration, so we were stuck at the boarder for about an hour just kind of hanging around. We had some fun while we were waiting though - I tried to do a couple of standing back flips (which are quite hard in hiking boots), and Mayumi and Saori, the two girls on our trip from Japan, taught me the traditional Japanese stretching routine that kids from all over the country do together every morning of summer break. I'm fond of the routine - it's energetic and accomplishes the goal of stretching everything out.
When we finally made it through the boarder we stopped in a small town just past a very large bridge where there were all sorts of hand woven items. Two of the people on our truck picked up straw woven hats, and I played a little bit of one-on-one soccer with a little local boy and taught a group of kids volleyball. The stop was short, but I definitely got my heat beat up while playing with all the kiddos. We continued to journey on, and stayed two nights at camp sites. Before our first night we stopped for lunch on the side of the road and while we were pulling out the tables and all of the food, a man and a woman who were riding bikes down the street pulled over to say hello. They were a New Zealand couple that was biking from Cape Town up to Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania), and they had been on the road since May 16. I was fascinated by their attitude and perspective on life, and was so pleased when they joined us for lunch. It made me realize that I never have to stop adventuring, even though I'm approaching all of my travels at the moment with the mindset that this may be the last time that I'll have the opportunity to go.
The first camp site we stayed at was fine, but unremarkable. The next night (we drove pretty much all day to get there as well), was pretty cool. There were probably 10 different overland trucks on the property, and the entrance to the camp grounds was a game reserve that had water bucks, zebras and giraffes on the grounds. I walked through the park and got pretty close to the water buck, but the giraffes and zebras were no where to be seen once I was on foot.
After departing from Eureka rest camp we made our final leg of travel before arriving in Livingstone. The road conditions were average for African roads, and we made it to Livingstone by about 3:30 in the afternoon to our campsite. The campsite here is awesome - it's huge, has an incredible waterfront restaurant and bar that's on the Zambezi river, and it is infested with monkeys that jump above you from tree to tree. After getting out of the truck we were walking to the registration area when we saw a couple of monkeys climbing into a person's tent. I ran closer to get a better look because I thought it was hilarious, and the monkeys popped back out of the tent and ran after me! I started jogging away and one decided to swat at my leg to give me a good slap. It wasn't too hard and it didn't scratch, so I thought it was a rather awesome encounter. That night we had a group dinner at the restaurant by the water and went to bed decently early - because the next day was packed full of adventure.
We woke up on Friday to have breakfast at 8 a.m., and departed the campsite via taxis by 9 a.m. to make our journey to Zimbabwe. When we arrived in Zambia most of the members of our group purchased double entry visas (sold for a $30 premium over the single entry one) so that we would be able to leave Zambia and return. We left Zambia and walked across the Victoria Falls Bridge on our way to Zimbabwe. The view of the falls from the bridge was breathtaking, and we saw a guy bungee jump off of the bridge while we passed! Midway through the bridge there is a painted line that marks the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is positioned such that the Zambezi river is equally shared by the two countries. It was fun to stand over the line and be in both countries at the same time. Once we made it to the other side of the bridge we reached the Zimbabwe customs, where we had to purchase an entry visa. After making it through a quick immigration we went in to the Victoria Falls Park, and embarked on an extremely epic adventure. We walked as far upstream as we could to the end of the park before allowing ourselves to look at the falls. There were about 11 different viewing points along the path, and each one was remarkable in its own way. I was quite literally blown away by the beauty and majestic power of the falls, and in awe of the size and sound. At some points along the path we felt like it was literally raining torrents on us because the mist that was produced as the water fell was so strong that it would hit us in massive waves. My favorite moment was at the end. There was a site called "Danger's Point" that you had to walk directly into one of the mist clouds that was guaranteed to soak you through. At the ledge there were a couple of rocks that you could climb up on, so that the view and feeling was as if you were actually a part of the falls. The best part, however, was the double rainbow that was produced from the mist and light. I couldn't help but recall that old YouTube where the guy freaks out about seeing a double rainbow, but I must say I shared his sentiment - it was just awesome.
When I left the park my pants and shoes were soaked through, but my rain coat had done a miraculous job at keeping my body and my bag dry. North Face, I salute you. We walked up the street a bit towards the town in Zimbabwe and explored around. Along the way we saw an elephant by the side of the road, and a really sad piece of architecture at a casino where they placed tusks to create a crowing dome for the building. The art in Zimbabwe was really good, and they had a focus of stone carvings that I haven't seen anywhere else yet. There were restaurants that served all types of local game as well - including crocodile! I didn't try any of it.... go figures. We crossed back into Zambia, caught a cab, and returned to our campsite just in time to board a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi. While I was waiting, someone jumped on my back from behind, and as I turned around I realized that it was Savannah, my friend from Tri Delt who was going to travel with me. I knew that she would be arriving soon, but I was expecting her to come the next day so it was a wonderful surprise. It was an even better surprise to hear that she had already purchased her ticket for the sunset cruise and that she was on board with friends from Germany that she had met at the airport who were also doing G Adventures tours. The cruise was great. We saw hippos, enjoyed some drinks, and had an OK buffet dinner. Pranks were being played on everyone by Matt, Mike and Massivu, and we met all sorts of different travelers on board. The biggest shock, however, was seeing Olivia Arena and a group of 4 other UT students on board! I had seen her Facebook status about studying abroad in Botswana, but I was SHOCKED to discover how small of a world it was for us to end up on the same sunset cruise in Livingstone, Zambia.
The rest of the night was a blast at the bar, and everyone was in bed by 9:30. This morning we woke up for breakfast at 8 and we made our way to the border again, but this time it was for a completely different adventure - Savannah and I were bungee jumping off of the Victoria Falls Bridge. We registered and went to station, very excited, nervous and eager for our jump. It turned out that we had to wait about an hour and a half before our turn, during which the electricity cut off to the bridge for about a 10 minute period putting a halt in operations. By the time we were finally in harnesses we could hardly contain our excitement. Savannah jumped first, and went down with gorgeous form (and her horns up). I jumped after her, and while I didn't have too many nerves (I was more determined to do it rather than nervous about the experience), I really wanted to jump far out so I swung my arms pretty hard on the launch, which ended up causing me to flap around in the air on my first decent - which also put me into a pretty fast spin. The feeling was UNREAL. It was absolutely terrifying hurling through the air towards the water - I felt like I was accelerating down SO fast and I had absolutely no grip or control. When my bungee caught the first time I brought my arms in, which caused me to spin even more, but I straightened out when I extended my arms back out again. The scariest part of my jump was on one of my rebounds - I swung back up and somehow managed to be right side up again (head above my feet). I was so confused as to how I had rotated, and so freaked to know that I was going to fall right back to my head below my feet. It was actually a really awesome feeling, but it was the same worry of not having any control as I had in my initial jump. By the time I steadied myself on the bottom I had some of the deepest breaths of my entire life, and I felt an extreme peace that is very hard to describe. The view was gorgeous, and I could see a rainbow, Victoria Falls, and the rushing Zambezi. It was surreal.
After the jump we went to the Zambia side of the Victoria Falls Park, and enjoyed some new views of the falls. I was just as amazed by the falls from this perspective, but the park was smaller, and didn't have quite the same variety of views as the Zimbabwe side did. Nevertheless, it was wonderful to marvel in the power of the falls a second time. After the park Savannah and I ran to town for some internet, food, and groceries before returning to camp for our welcome meeting with the new group. Tomorrow starts the first day of the new tour, so we lost 3 members of our last tour group as well as our driver and CEO, and gained 11 new people and a new CEO and driver - even though we're staying in our tents and truck. Most of the new people are Germans (actually all but 3, one being Savannah and the other two being Austrian), but everyone seems nice. It will be a hard transition going from having 11 people in the truck to having 19. We won't have our own rows any more, and it will be a lot tighter of a squeeze to get everyone's bags under the truck each morning when we pack up camp. I anticipate the next couple of days to be a little tough, but I think that once we have a little bit of time adjusting we'll be working efficiently again. Tomorrow I'm going white water rafting in the morning, and we depart the next day for Botswana!
Written on July 12, 2014 and posted when internet is available.
