Readers, beware. Today’s entry is very long. But that happens on vacation.
T and I had some much needed sleep at the H’s house and had a nice and relaxed morning (with full power!) getting ready for the Falls! Pastor and Mrs. decided to not only bring us to Livingstone, but to hang out with us for a few hours, too! They informed us about their lives in Zambia on the drive; it was nice to get another perspective, especially since they live in the rural countryside and everyone we know lives in the city. Definitely a VERY different lifestyle.
First on the docket today was to hit Victoria Falls (or the Falls, or Vic Falls as locals call it). WOW! You can definitely tell after seeing them why they are one of the seven natural wonders of the world! Being the wet season, you can barely even SEE the Falls; there is THAT much water. We could see the spray as we were driving into Livingstone, up to 30 km from the actual waterfall. Crazy. From what I did see, however, they were much bigger and grander than Niagara Falls. And on the paths, you get really close. Well, not really close, but closer than at Niagara, as close as you’d get to Niagara on a boat. Now Pastor and Mrs. H have lived near the Falls for 17 years and they’ve been to the Falls NUMEROUS times (when all the tourists come!) and they said this is the most water they’ve EVER seen there. Good thing we wore ponchos and had umbrellas. We were still drenched walking along the paths. There is a bridge you can cross, too. I couldn’t even look at the falls there though (not like you could see them, so much water!) but I felt my contacts coming out, my umbrella flipping inside out, and my flip flops sliding off (one almost went over the falls! T saved it though.). That’s the magnitude of water. It’s crazy. After getting drenched, we walked through the paths and saw the big bridge spanning the Bakota gorge and connecting Zambia to Zimbabwe. The paths are like you’re in a rainforest; Vic Falls creates its own climate. Next, we walked up above the Falls by the mighty Zambezi River that feeds the falls. And we’d heard several stories about the curious baboons by the Falls who steal anything and everything from tourists. Well, nothing was stolen, but they certainly aren’t afraid of people! Baboons would be sitting on the sidewalks and we’d walk within a foot of them. Crazy, but cool.
So next on our list was to walk halfway across the bridge going to Zimbabwe so we could say we were there. They let you walk the bridge for free without going through customs and normal border crossing procedures, so we thought it was a pretty sweet deal. Now I can say I’ve been to Zimbabwe! Ok…here’s where we got a bit reckless. As T and I were planning our Vic Falls trip, we thought about doing a “gorge swing” through the Bakota gorge. I had imagined something like getting harnessed at one side of the gorge, swinging to the other, and back. Well, nope! It’s an 111 m (333 feet or just over a football field worth) jump and freefall off this bridge before you swing back and forth. Similar to bungee (or bunji as they spell it here) except feet first instead of head and only one drop instead of the elastic making more drops and you swing instead. Well after watching one girl do it, T and I looked at each other and decided, let’s try it! (After a bit of freaking out first…) Honestly, I was more scared watching her than doing it. T and I went tandum which was nice. We practiced once and then they say 3-2-1-jump and we jumped! It’s a few second freefall (feels like the part on the roller coaster when you’re coming out of your seat and going down the hill) and then we went into the swing part. We got to see the Zambezi River up close, as well as the gorge walls, and the circular rainbow made by the falls. Quite an experience! Then they hoisted us back up, where a few guys sweet talked us and told us how brave we were. One guy gave each of us an old K20 bill, too! Hey, it’s only a fraction of a cent, but it’s the thought that counts. J We were hoisted up and walked up on the Zimbabwean side, so now I can say I’ve been on the actual land, the bridge part, and have swung between the two countries! J And now, if anyone ever says, would you jump off a bridge if someone told you to, I can answer YES!
Hard to believe all that was done before lunch, but it was! After having several guys try to sell us their loot, the H’s took us to the restaurant Spot where ¾ of us got tuna salad. Not tuna salad on a sandwich, but, as we found out, tuna on a salad. It was still good. The H’s dropped us off at the wrong hostel first, and after a bit of miscommunication with the hostel staff, we were directed in the correct way. Thanks for a few time, H’s! We stayed at a backpacker place for $8 a night! Love it! Met some cool people, too. T and I settled in for awhile and then realized it was only 2 pm and we had nothing planned for the day!
We walked around to get our bearings and ended up at Mukuni craft market. The Mukuni village members take transportation into town for 30+ minutes each day to sell their crafts. We were warned that we might get ripped off, but considering we know the Lusaka prices for things, it was pretty comparable if not better! They had some different things, too, which was nice. My $25 went a LONG way as I came home with 7 souvenirs! My bartering skills are improving all the time, especially when they gave us “local” price for being from Lusaka. I’m sure they were still ripping us off, but I didn’t pay half of their starting price for anything! J I heart shopping.
After shopping, we wandered around some more and head back, dropped off our things, and headed to Kilimanjaro for supper. There’s one in Lusaka, so once again, we left like locals. J The peanut butter banana milkshake must have been good the first time around because I had it today, too!
We ended out the night but wandering around Spar a bit, and heading to our hostel’s bar for the night. NO ONE was around, but T and I enjoyed kicking back, having sand between our toes, and chitchatting with the barmaid. She invited us out after work, but we turned in early for our elephant safari in the morning!
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