On to the Safari!

After we left the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we flew into Livingstone (I presume), Zambia. As we flew into the town, our pilot flew over Victoria Falls (underlined words can be clicked on you know). The falls are a mile wide, bigger than Niagara. The bridge in the foreground of the picture is the one we bungeed off. The whitewater just to the right of the bridge was where we put our raft into the river. We got to the resort late Thursday afternoon, walked out of the lodge to the riverbank and promptly saw a hippopotamus in the water. He would periodically go under and surface, occasionally gaping his jaws to an impressive distance. During the night he (or she or one of his/her podmates) would come up on to land and munch on the grass. He felt safe under cover of the darkness and so did we as we sat and watched him feed.


Friday was an exciting and intense day. We decided to do a half day of white water rafting on the Zambezi River in the morning followed by lunch and bungee jumping in the afternoon. Hmm, seems like and odd order to do those last two things but let me preface by saying nobody lost their lunch, breakfast or supper during the whole day. For the rafting we made the request (and mistake?) to the guide, Vinnie, that we wanted to flip the raft at least 3 or 4 times. Mission accomplished. For some reason Vinnie took us through several maneuvers prior to even starting, like how to paddle, how to float, saving each other etc. No other raft did these. Either he recognized the skill level or he knew what he was going to take us through. Turns out the other rafts didn't need the practice. One group we talked to got in the "down" position for every rapid (tucked down in the raft; we did this once) and took the easy way through. Vinnie took us right into the teeth of the rapids every time but if you ask me, we had a lot more fun.

The bungee jumping was an incredible experience but it is one of those things (like running a marathon) that get better as you get farther from the event. I was very mentally prepared for the jump and after the 5 second countdown I leaped into the void. Several of the guys said I was calm and focused and didn't look like I had a problem with it at all. Like I said, I was ready. Unfortunately I can't really describe the feeling for you. You can see the pictures but if you want to know what it is like, you'll have to do it yourself (like running a marathon). At the time I felt that I had done it and I could say that and I wouldn't need to do it again. Now though, maybe I would if the opportunity presented itself. Unfortunately, I don't think the setting would be nearly as scenic the next time. Best part = rush of adrenaline as you begin the free fall. Worst part = hanging upside down and spinning with the blood rushing to my head as I waited for them to pull me up.

The next day most of us went to a large game park in Botswana. However some stayed to go fishing for tigerfish. I would rather keep my fingers so I didn't fish. On the safari we saw all of the following and more:

Herd of elephants (maybe about 200)

Hippos

Crocodiles

Antelope type animals: Sable antelope; Kudu; Springbok (I may be forgetting one or two)

Cape Buffalo

Zebra

Giraffes

Monitor Lizard

Lions.

It was pretty cool seeing them in their natural habitat. Proof of this were the animal carcasses that we came upon.