As I was writing my last post it dawned on me that I had given you all the short end of the stick when it came to explaining my spring break. When writing my blogs I explained to you the bulk of the trip, however I somehow managed to leave out the last, and my most favorite, three days of the trip! For the last few days of spring break we went to Livingstone, Zambia where we set up our tents at a site that we would, thankfully, be using for the rest of the trip (a huge mental victory knowing that it was our last tent to pitch). Then the fun began. On our first afternoon in Zambia we went to the Zambian side of Victoria Falls, the largest waterfall in the entire world, and the place that I had been dying to see ever since I committed to coming to Africa. Now in the brief overview that we received to prep us to see the falls, we were told that it was inevitable that we would get wet. However, I did not believe, or rather failed to recognize, the extent to which this statement would hold true. When we crossed the bridge to get to the falls we were doused with water that just poured down over the bridge. To be honest, I idiotically thought that a rainstorm had just hit us hard, but our tour guide reassured me that the rain and the fogginess was a result of the amount of water coming from the falls.
Once we reached solid ground, the rest of the afternoon literally served as a field day for the students on our trip. I actually felt like a little kid as we ran up and down the side of the falls shouting, screaming, and bursting with excitement. I did not bring my camera on this first sight of the falls because I was not sure what to expect. And we all know that in this day and age, taking pictures has become half of the experience because who doesn’t want to show off all of the amazing things they have done to friends and even the entire social network via Facebook (as you can see my this blog, I am no exception). However, I surprisingly found it rather liberating to be free of my camera and the duty of documenting each and every step that I took. I was able to run around without restraint and really experience the falls with all of the people around me. It was amazing to see Victoria Falls, the biggest waterfall in the world and one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, during its peak season. This time of year was when the water was at its highest, and trust me, we got to feel it. At certain points it was almost a bit eerie because the water fogged up most of our view, but we knew the great drop that fell before us whether we could see it or not. During the brief moments that the view cleared up, we got to see the magnitude of the falls and appreciate all of the hype surrounding this beautiful landmark. This afternoon only got me more excited for the following days after we were told that the Zambian side provided a view of only 1/3 of the falls but that the Zimbabwean side allowed you to see over 2/3.
For the next couple of days we were all allowed to individually pick from the dozens of activities that were offered at Victoria Falls. Personally, I wanted to experience a little bit of everything. In essence, I wanted to see the animals that I hadn’t yet gotten enough, as well as feel the rush in the high-adrenaline adventure activities. So the next morning I took part in the lion walk (which I managed to win for free in a raffle before the trip). In this activity, we were brought to a lion conservation park where lions were raised from when they were cubs until they were ready to be put out into the wild. We were told that this park came into existence because of the fact that the population of lion’s is drastically decreasing due to various reasons that prevent cubs from reaching adulthood. Our tour was actually an integral step in the development process because we helped the lions get used to other species sharing space in a wildlife setting. There were many steps in this long process, and while we were explained each and every one of them, we were only able to really see the lions that were at this point because any other interaction would disrupt the somewhat natural progression. Nonetheless, we were given one hour to walk with the two lions, take pictures petting them, and watch closely at how they interacted with one another, as well as the environment. The experience was extremely interesting because the lions were much more “wild” than I expected, yet we were able to get so close as long as we took the appropriate precautions. With that said, I cannot stress enough how strict they were on sticking to those precautions because of the danger that lions present to humans. We had to be very careful in the way that we took pictures and the stances that we took so that the lions would not feel threatened. We were even given sticks, not to be used to hit the lions, but rather to distract them in case we were given a “naughty look.” It was really cool to be able to get so close to these massive, yet beautiful animals that we had seen in the wild but not in such close proximities. And yes, I will admit that we were fortunate to snap some really great pictures that I will undoubtedly share with everyone after I had some trouble refraining from making it my profile picture at the same time as most of my friends did.
The fun for the day did not stop at the lion park. After a quick lunch back at the campsite, I went with a few friends and our tour guides to the gorge of Victoria Falls for the half-day adrenaline package. There at the gorge I did a total of three different activities, two of which I got to do twice. We started off with the gorge swing, perhaps the scariest and the most thrilling of the activities provided. When it was my turn to go, I had to stand at the edge of the cliff on one side of the gorge, and jump off. While I was nervous watching other people jump, when I got up there myself all I felt was a rush of energy and excitement to free fall. At the count of three I stepped off into the air and my body rapidly fell into the gorge. My stomach dropped, my mouth fell open in screams, and my legs scrambled around in the open air as I wondered when the drop would end and the swing would start. Within seconds, the rope tightened and my body went in full swing across the gorge towards the cliff on the other side. It was one of the coolest and most exhilarating 10+ seconds of my life as I fell freely into a gorge that used to host the largest waterfall in the world.
After my first jump, I could not wait for my second round. This time I was paired up with my friend Bryn in a tandem jump. Perhaps the scariest part of the tandem jump was that we had to do to it backwards to ensure that we left the cliff at the same time. Bryn and I shimmied up to the edge and stood there for the countdown with our heels off the side, leaving only our tiptoes on land. At the count of three we both leaned back and fell into the air. This jump provided an entirely different, possibly more thrilling, experience as not only did we go faster because of the added weight, but also were getting a completely different view falling backwards and not knowing when the fall would end. We screamed and shouted funny things as we swung from one end of the gorge to the other. I was so happy that I was able to do both jumps and that Bryn, our program’s most action-loving member, was the one I could experience it with.
The next activity on the list was the flying fox, which consists of a zipline across the gorge that holds you from your back so that you are hanging in a superman position. While this activity was far less thrilling than the freefall of the gorge swing, it was also quite scary as you had to get a running start on a platform and plunge yourself out into the air. In other words, instead of simply stepping off the cliff, you had to prepare yourself to run at full speed off of it. As I flew across the wire that held me above the gorge, I was able to see the entire valley from the middle of the air. My body stopped in the middle on the way back, allowing me to hang there and look at all of my surroundings. I marveled at the beauty of the gorge as I was reeled back in for my next round.
After I did my second flying fox, I was taken to the site where abseiling takes place. I had never repelled down a mountain, but I knew that it consisted of scaling down the side by repeatedly kicking your feet off the wall as you went down. I had done it at numerous birthday parties or camp visits to indoor rock climbing centers…same thing right? Well with that idea in mind, I decided to take it one step further and go down forwards. Now I would be looking down at the ground below the mountain as I walked down the side. This activity provided an entirely different type of thrill as I was no longer zipping through the air or falling freely. Instead, I was put into a situation where, whether or not it was really the case, I felt as though one slip up would send me falling into my death. It got even scarier, and actually sent my stomach into quite the frenzy, as I took my first step that had me going from an upright position to completely perpendicular to the mountainside. As I went step by step, I gained more confidence in myself and picked up speed until I lost my footing and found myself twisting and turning in the air. Once I regained traction, I once again found my rhythm and finally reached the bottom after a thrilling walk down the side of the gorge.
As if all of this excitement wasn’t enough, the following day I got to do my favorite activity of the entire trip: the microlight. Now for those of you who are not familiar with the microlight, just try to picture a handglide with a motor (I added pictures a long time ago after spring break). I suited up and took my seat behind the pilot in the microlight and before I knew it we took off down a dirt runway that blasted us into the air. The pilot explained to me all of the land that fell below us as we passed by a golf course, campsites, and the game park. We even were lucky enough to fly over a herd of elephants and several collections of hippos hanging out in the water. Completely trumping my excitement after seeing the animals from up above was the feeling that I got when we flew over the falls. We soared above the water as it went crashing far below. We dipped in and out of the mist as the microlight took us through the gorge. And we even got the opportunity, although not all that rare at Victoria Falls, to witness a double rainbow take shape behind the falls. It was an incredible ride full of thrill, beauty, and refreshment as we combined the rush of the wind with the calmness of the open air. Once our ride was over, we returned to the campsite where we packed up all of our belongings to end our stay, as well as the rest of our trip. And there you have it…I have finally finished telling you all about my spring break trip. I hope that at least a few of you have made it this far, as I am sure I lost a few people while crossing the border into Zambia. Stay tuned for new blogs and pictures discussing my latest road trip through the Garden Route!
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