A Few Days in Zimbabwe
03.05.2010 - 04.05.2010
30 °C
Welcome
Thanks to an early night last night, we’re up bright and early. It must be the excitement (!?) of jumping into the Zambezi gorge this morning on a piece of rope, with a 70m freefall. Despite a large overland group arriving at the same time, Joakim and I get to do the gorge swing first which is a relief since it looks much worse than it is. This I am truly delighted about since it’s the waiting around on these things which is the worst part.
We get rigged up with harnesses and paraphernalia and then walk onto a little bridge which hangs over the edge of the gorge. It’s awesome. The guy just holds onto us, tells us to lean backwards and then lets us go. My stomach rises up beyond my tonsils and during the entire freefall I don’t draw breath. This probably lasts for about 3 seconds, but feels like much longer. During the freefall we also somersault a few times and then I open my eyes (yes, they were shut up until now), we’re swinging across the gorge with the River Zambezi only a few metres below us. It’s a definite must if you’re around Vic Falls. Note to all men: Jocke now speaks in a much higher pitch since the harnesses are definitely not designed with the crushing action of the male genitalia in mind, particularly when you’re harnessed in tandem with a partner who has been blessed with larger than average curves!!!
What little of the falls we could see after the rainy season
A relieved smile after jumping into the gorge!
IMG_0245
Following our adrenalin filled start to the morning, we head to the Falls. You start to feel the mist from the falls before even paying the entry fee and we know we’re going to get very wet. There are people selling rain macs all over the place and naturally, there are hundreds of people selling crafts (read tat). I truly believe though that getting soaked through to your underwear is part of the experience of going to Victoria Falls! We were of course blessed to be here last year and see it from the Zambian side, but apparently you get a better overall view from this side and up until as recently as 2002, pre Mugabe’s (aka Bob as he’s locally referred to, something we had not considered before christening our car) destruction of a beautiful country, Zimbabwe had been THE country from which to view the falls.
When we get back to our campsite there’s a couple of kids hanging around outside, trying to sell us Billion Zimbabwean dollar notes for $1 (US), showing that the local currency is now absolutely worthless (and probably fake anyway). When I tell them they should be in school instead of trying to sell currency on the black market they reply that they do go to school, but these are just ‘extra lessons’!
I decide to take probably the last opportunity I’ll have this trip to do a horse-riding safari and part with another $80. There’s just me and a guide and we get a little too close to young male bull elephants in musthe and a large buffalo herd. We return to the camp for pizza and a few beers and a relatively early night, although I don’t sleep as well as I’d wished. I guess it’s the excitement of getting to play with the baby lions tomorrow! 
A little horsey safari in Zim
Stand-in for Siegfried or Roy
Stop pinching bitch!
Good kitty
walking the babies
Posted by dawniecoz 17.05.2010 05:56 Archived in Zimbabwe
wow, that looks absolutely fantastic!
We will be in Zim in July, could you please tell mewhere you were when with the lions? I would love to also do that!
Thanks, and good journeys!
Kim
17.05.2010 by Kim