walk the earth

Thursday, April 13, 2006

The Smoke that Thunders



Victoria Falls is known as "the smoke that thunders" in chichewa (the local language), and thunder it does.

In Lusaka, Zambia I met a British/Chinese guy named Kun (pronounced "Quinn") at Chachacha backpackers who was also heading to Victoria Falls/Livingstone so we took a 7 hour bus down there together. It's was an easy (rooster free) ride and once there we checked into the awesome Jolly Boys backpackers in Livingstone. Upon arrival I saw a couple of friends that I'd been traveling with for a while and was happy to meet up with again, Steve and Isabella. They'd met up with Andy (UK) and Nina (German) so there was a good group instantly, sweet. We cooked a dinner together and planned some fun for the next few days.

The next morning Kun and I took the shuttle to the Falls and spent most of the day checking them out on various hiking trails and viewpoints all around on the Zambian side. Victoria Falls is shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe; you can cross over to either country on a huge bridge over the gorge with spectacular views and a 300ft bungee jump.


The gorge between Zambia and Zimbabwe with the Zambezi in between. Bungee is off the middle of the bridge.


With so much water pouring over the falls a soaking mist gets stirred up all around.


No photograph can do it justice.


overlooking the thundering falls and getting drenched.

Here in Southern Africa the rainy season has just finished. Because of this the Zambezi river, which flows over the falls, was running as high as ever. This was both good and bad. Good because the falls were huge, thundering, and awesome. Bad because the river was too high to go rafting, only one company was running the river and they were just doing rapids 14-23, not even half the river. A bummer, but there's plenty else to do around the falls and I kept very busy.
After checking out the falls all day, Kun and I walked into a 5 star resort nearby and bargained are way into a most spectacular buffet. It was a great feed and we gorged ourselves on the edge of the gorge and the falls, fantastic.

The next day Kun was keen to try the bungee jump so Isabella and I went to watch him do it/push him off if he chickened out. He did it with ease, it looked like tons of fun. But bungee's not really my thing, I passed. Later that day the whole group went on a sunset booze cruise on the Zambezi above the falls, it was a super fun all you can drink fiasco with about 30 people which ended with a birthday cake fight, we all made it back to Jolly Boys for a late night swim.

On the following day Kun and I were keen to do something active so we checked out the Gorge Swing. It was a great day filled with gravity and terror as we chucked ourselves off a massive cliff over and over again. The free fall was about 160ft until the rope went tight and pulled us away from the ground. It was so much fun but really really scary. We also went rappelling forwards and backwards, shot across zip lines and hiked up and out of the gorge many many times. We were completely spent by the end of the day and crashed out by the Jolly Boys pool which was filled, yet again, by bikini clad Swedes. Yep, another tough day in Africa.


lets fly.


being pulled back over the gorge.


terrified. this was my second jump on the gorge swing which was done facing the cliff with my feet tied together (so the rope wouldn't go between the legs...), the safety guy basically leans you out over the edge of the 300 ft cliff and then counts to three and lets you drop.

After five days of fun in Livingstone I got a great deal on transport to Windhoek, Namibia; where I am now. A safari trip from Windhoek had just finished its journey at Jolly Boys and the two guides were heading back to their base, I got on board with them in a 9 passenger Land Cruiser with trailer for the whole ride (~600 miles) for $50. Way cheaper and more comfortable than the bus! We camped overnight next to a massive meteorite and got to Windhoek in two days. It was really fun having the whole vehicle to myself and the guides, Benny and Martin were really good fun. We took our time and eat like kings having a big BBQ at camp. I met back up with Isabella in Windhoek and planned the next adventure...

3 Comments:

  • Pat! I love the story about the chicken. I often feel torn about eating animals because . . . wait, no I don't -- they're tasty. I can't wait to see you when you get home. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Happy Easter!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at April 16, 2006 7:55 PM  

  • Happy Easter, Joyeux Paques! We're thinking of you as always.
    Dave & Andrea

    By Blogger Andrea, at April 16, 2006 8:01 PM  

  • Wow such great pictures. The zip line looks soooooooo fun. :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at April 17, 2006 11:38 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home