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| Ready for a day of zip lining! |
The day started pretty early for me as today was white water
rafting down the Great Zambezi River!
Shannon and the girls got a sleep in as their day started at 10 am with
Shan going to the spa for a massage, manicure and pedicure while the girls hung
out. Later in the day they did a canopy
tour which is composed of nine zip lines that weave back and forth across a
side canyon from the Zambezi gorge. It
was to be a fun filled, adrenaline rush of a day and we were not to be let
down!
My day started with a 7:00 am start where we got taken to a
cafe overlooking the Zambezi to get our gear, find our groups and have our
safety briefing. Got a coffee and had a
look at the river we were about to run... ohhh it looked awesome! Our group was the four of us from the bus; Isaac,
Lev, Brendan and myself and we were hooked up with a family from the UK with an
older guy and his 16 year old daughter and son.
Once we got our gear, met our guide and signed our life away, we headed
to the start of the trail that lead to the bottom of Victoria Falls where our
trip was to begin.
The trail started out mellow enough but it quickly went
vertical down a number of ladders. Part
way down one of the handrails came off so as we climbed down with our life
jacket, helmet, and paddle while holding one railing made for an interesting
balancing act. It also became pretty
apparent who was up for the task of the day and who wasn’t. There were a number of people that were
already scared and the scary part hadn’t even started! Luckily everyone in our boat was great and we
all had a good laugh hiking down into the gorge. We were wondering how they got the boats down
there and it’s all by local porters who hike the boats down and then locals
from another village fold them up and hike them out. Needless to say they were in pretty good
shape.
When we got down to the put in the view of the falls from
below was incredible. We got into our
boat, did the usual paddling drills and got up to be misted by the falls before
it was time to start out on the adventure.
Running the first few rapids was great and we just flew through them
getting good and wet with nice warm water.
Some of the other groups didn’t fare so well and a number of boats went
for swims right off the start. As we
progressed further we picked up a few swimmers on the way and everyone was
pretty pumped up. We finally approached
rapid number 7, which we were told during the briefing that many people walked
around and had to sign a special waiver saying we understood the risks. Our guide informed us that all the boats that
ran it yesterday flipped so we were prepared for a swim.
We got all pumped up to go and hit the first standing wave
which just crushed us all backwards and I felt the girl behind me go into the
water. She looked pretty shocked when
she surfaced but relaxed after and had a good swim. Lev fell out the other side on the next wave
but the rest of us hung on and made it.
Wow, what a crazy section! Rapid
10 we had to walk around as it was a Class 6 rapid and a few groups managed to
flip below the tough part after we got back in.
One group was not having fun and skirted the entire rapid below with one
woman sitting in the bottom of the boat for over half the trip.
Our boat was still having a blast and one rapid we were told
we could swim so we all jumped in a floated down. Isaac floated beside me and got caught in a
whirlpool getting twirled around three times and then sucked under for a few
seconds. Wow, was it ever funny seeing
his face as he tried to figure out what was happening. The rest of the trip was great and we hit
every wave possible until it was time to get out. The trail up the gorge was even longer than
the one down but it was great to stretch the legs and climb. My cardio isn’t quite as bad as I thought it
would be after travelling for almost three months. At the trail head we were treated to lunch
and beers so there was a carrot at the end of the hike. After lunch we headed back to the campground
where I got to hear how the girl’s trip went.
The canopy tour sounded incredible and Shannon did fine with
the heights and jumping off platforms to slide across the gorge. The guide was great and the girls were shown
how to brake using their gloved hand.
The girls loved the zip line that you had to tie into a safety line and
walk along a ledge to get to the actual platform. Then you flew across the whole gorge on the
longest of the zip lines. The girls
decided Shannon should go first to show them how it was done and I think they
wanted to see if she’d do it! So after a
slight hesitation across the really exposed part, she stepped up and let it
rip. Everyone came back with huge smiles
on their faces and could stop telling stories.
It costs a bit to do but what a great way to spend the day on a pure
adrenaline high.
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| Rapid 3 and 4 on the Zambezi with the bridge to Zambia in the background. |
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