White water rafting and Victoria Falls

Not sure when we might have access to the internet again and had some down time before meeting our cycling tour, so thought we would take the opportunity for a quick post to the blog.

Saturday, June 18, 2016 – Livingstone, Zambia

Zambezi river gorge below Victora Falls

We are staying at the Waterberry Lodge, named after the Waterberry tree which grows in abundance on the Zambezi riverbank.  It’s a very beautiful lodge with 7 huts and luscious gardens. Again the staff is excellent and the food is quite good.  The lodge is located about 15 miles west of Livingstone on the riverbank with a clear view of the Zambezi National Park in Zimbabwe on the other side of the river. We took an evening river cruise when we arrived and saw more elephants, giraffes (3 of them drinking), baboons, crocs and hippos that were in the park.

Our day started with a whitewater raft trip below Victoria Falls.  Due to the high level of the river we were only able to take a half-day trip instead of the planned full day trip.  The hardest part of the trip was the walk from the top of the gorge to the bottom.  Most of the climb down was on tree limbs which had been nailed together to form a ladder type step.  Luckily for those of less sure footing, porters were available to help.  Once

Walking down the makeshift ladder to the river

at the bottom, we were instructed in basic rowing techniques.  Most of the rapids were a grade 2 or 3, with 1 being the lowest and 6 the highest grade.  We did master one grade 4 and made it through rapids 10 to 25 without flipping or anyone falling out.  Like on all good rafting trips each rapid has a descriptive name; Oblivion, the Three Sisters and their Mother (gotta respect the mother) and the Washing Machine.  At the end we took a cable car to the top.  The guides, porters (carrying all of the equipment) and a few of the guests chose to walk up the steep path.

After lunch the lodge had arranged for a driver to take us to Victoria Falls.  What an impressive sight and you can really only see a small part of it at any given time.  We walked over Knife Edge bridge, again getting wet.  The falls are so tall and the water hits the bottom so hard, it’s like it’s raining all the time as you walk across.  On the far side of the bridge there are spectacular views of the falls and of Victoria Bridge.  Once we had finished our trek, our driver took us to Victoria Bridge.  Walking across, we stepped across the border into Zimbabwe.  Then we watched the bungie jumpers fall from the bridge into the canyon. 

Rafting one of the rapids

For dinner, we were treated to a traditional Zambian meal typically eaten with your hands.  Very similar to a traditional Tanzanian meal.  Cornmeal that has been ground very fine and then cooked to the consistency of playdough is used to soak up the other components of the meal and is used in place of utensils.  This is called Nshima here, Ugali in Tanzania.  This is a staple in the diet because it fills a person up, although seems to have little nutritional value.  We also had a variety of vegetables, all with tomatoes and onions, beans, chicken and beef stew.  A family might have one of the meats occasionally but typically only use what vegetables are grown in the garden or bought at the local shop.  We have not seen tomatoes growing but they must be plentiful and cheap. 

Sundday, June 19, 2016 – Livingstone, Zambia

Sunday, June 19, 2016 – Livingstone, Zambia

Today we had a relaxing morning, repacking for the bike trip portion of our trip.  We meet up with the bike tour group in Livingstone this afternoon.  It will probably take us between 2 and 3 hours to get the bike back together and checked out.  At least we had no problems with lost luggage in all of our travels so far and to be really honest, things couldn’t have gone any better with the whole trip so far.

Just a small section of Victoria Falls