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| Jolly Boys Backpackers: Livingstone, Zambia. |
What an incredible weekend away! Alice and
I took a long weekend and Friday morning we were off to Zambia. Victoria Falls
is considered one of the 7 natural wonders of the world and is tucked in just
between the Zambia and Zimbabwe border. We decided to stay on the Zambia side
in a town called Livingstone right near the falls and the Zim border.
We arrived Friday midday and started
sorting out what activities we wanted to include in the weekend. The afternoon
began by going to the ATM to withdraw ONE MILLION Zambian Kwacha to pay for
our food/activities. It was pretty funny to withdraw 1 million of any currency!
Friday night we decided to do the Sunset cruise along the river that some other
Americans from our backpackers had signed up for. We quickly learned that these
other Americans were a good portion of the Peace Corps Zambia kids, so we got
chatting to them. It was really fun to have some new Americans to chat to and
compare experiences. It was a really nice perspective to
speak with them about their life in rural villages and reminded me that we
really have very little to complain about in our day to day life here.
Saturday morning we decided to cross over
to the Zimbabwe side to see the falls from their border (it’s known for having
better views this time of year). It was the first time I had ever walked across
a border which was neat! We spent the day walking around the national park
taking far too many pictures of waterfalls. At lunch, we noticed the table of
women sitting next to us was speaking Xhosa, so we worked up the nerve to greet
them in Xhosa and ask where they were from. They were so surprised/entertained
by the fact that we were white Americans that could speak any Xhosa, but it was
certainly fun to speak with them for a while. We saw them in the airport as
well where we continued to practice our skills.
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| Main Falls |
Saturday night was spent at dinner with the
Peace Corps group. Sunday morning we were off to what might have been the
highlight of the whole trip- Devils Pool. This is a natural pool that sits just
at the breaking point of the falls. A small motor boat took us to the island
that sits on top of the falls and we walked across the island before arriving
at the edge of the falls. The excitement began when we stripped down to our
bathing suits and swam across the current (only about 10m from the edge of the
falls) to a rock at the edge of the pool. Once we arrived at the rock, we had
just a few moments to climb to the top before jumping in! We swam around in
this little pool with only a rock ledge between us and the 90+meter drop of
the falls. The craziest part was the guides were walking literally on the edge
to take photos of us and make sure we were staying in the right area.
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You HAVE to click on this one to zoom in.
Spot the people and the pool at the top! |
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| Our turn to swim! |
The pool adventure ended with a delicious
breakfast on Livingstone Island on the edge of the falls. The rest of Sunday
was spent lounging around at the nice hotel that the Devil’s pool trip left
from pretending like we were staying there and ordering drinks by their pool.
Monday morning was our last day and we wanted to get one last activity in
before we left. After wandering around aimlessly for a bit, we ended up back at
bridge between the Zam and Zim border- the bridge known for its bungee jumping,
gorge swing, and zip line. Well… why not?? I signed up for the gorge swing and
Al, the zip line. A swing sounded fun I thought, and a cool way to view the
Zambezi River rushing below me. So there I was, getting harnessed up to jump
off the bridge. I hadn’t quite realized yet that the free-fall for the Gorge
Swing was actually longer than the free fall for the bungee jump- 70meters (or
just around 210feet) before the fall turned into a swing!
I stood with my toes
hanging off the bridge until he said jump. It was wild- I had never done a free
fall activity like that before, and for the first couple seconds, I realized I
was falling long enough to actually think about how uncomfortable it was to
have my stomach and heart feel like they were floating above my head! But then
the swing caught and I got to swing between the Zim and Zam border over the
huge Zambezi River- can’t think of a better way to end the weekend! I was
hauled back up, unharnessed and we hustled to grab a cab and head back to the
airport.
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| See if you can spot me! |
Overall, it was an incredible weekend
entirely worth the “splurge”! It was also interesting to spend time in a
different Southern Africa country and compare to South Africa. I knew that
South Africa was different to the other Southern African countries, but it
wasn’t until I actually left and spent a couple days away that I realized how
truly different it was. South Africa certainly experiences challenges of
poverty, power struggle, and economic struggle like many other Southern African
countries, but it materializes in such a different form here! The disparity
between rich and poor here never ceases to shock me, and the way the poor live
in South Africa is so different- so much more crowded, dirty, small- to the way
the “poor” live in other African countries I’ve been to. It was also incredible
how much safer Alice and I felt walking around in Zambia and Zimbabwe than we
do here. There were so many people walking around on the roads and the whole
atmosphere felt so much more relaxed. Our new Peace Corps friends were telling
us about how they hitch rides anywhere they need to go. We were blown away by
the idea of hitching- that’s something we would never be able to do here
without risking being the latest news headline!
The weekend proved to be a great vacation,
a nice perspective and an exciting adventure. If you have the time and the
money- go to Victoria Falls!!
