Victoria Falls

P1000800
Originally uploaded by kgoldsch.

Last weekend was a trip to Victoria Falls. I have been to the falls many times befor, but this time I would be on the Zambia side, doing a trip to Livingstone Island. We took a speed boat from the Royal Livingstone Hotel along the Upper Zambezi River. We sped along the river, winding through rapids, rocks and islands towards the falls. We arrived at Livingstone Island and were greeted by our guides and some energy drinks. An energy drink in Zambia consists of some orange juice, bananas and milli meal (corn meal). It was a bit gritty, but good. We walked along the island towards the edge of the falls. This island is where Dr. Livingstone was taken by the Tonga people to be the first white person to see Mosi A Tunya, the smoke that thunders, later to be named Victoria Falls. Upon viewing the falls, Dr Livingstone decribed them as, "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight." I couldn't have said it any better. We walked to the edge of the island before we had to go for a swim in the Zambezi about thirty meters to a small island. It was a nice swim, but I was still nervous about it, seeing the water falling off of the falls only fifty meters down stream. Once on the small island, we made our way to the edge of the falls. When at the edge of the falls, it is a thrilling sight, watching all of the water rush over the edge. It was time to go swimming again and take a closer look.

Our guides showed us a pool at the edge of the falls that was three meters deep and safe to dive into. This pool is called Devil's Armchair. It is only about two meters wide and we had to jump off of a cliff into this pool that was right at the edge of the falls. One of the guides went first, showing off and doing a back flip into the pool. We followed, minus the backflip, jumping into the pool and swimming to the rocks right at the edge of the falls. My heart was racing being right at the edge of the falls, in the water, with only a few rocks for me to grab on to. As I looked over the edge, I saw one of the most amazing sights I have ever seen in my life. A wall of rushing white water was falling all around me and crashing into the gorge two hundred meters below. The force of the water crashing down was amazing and causes mist to come rising up from the falls, high enough to be seen from twenty kilometers away. Looking down was like looking into the mouth of God. It was just a breathtaking sight. We spent some time at Devil's Armchair, staring into the falls and doing some more dives off of the cliffs. We then went for a rough swim up the rapids a little to sit in the "poor man's jacusi." I can't think of a better jacusi in the world, just don't slip!

After the trip to Devil's Armchair, we swam back to Livingstone Island to have a few drinks and take a walk around the island. I hit up the "loo with a view," which puts the view from the 95th floor of the Hancock Tower to shame. I took a walk around the island, checking out the views of the falls and some of the wildlife on the island. There were also some flowers that only come out for a few weeks a year called fireball lillys. They were pretty cool flowers about the size of a softball and looked like bright red balls of fire. We eventually had to leave the island and got back in the boat for a ride back to the Royal Livingstone.

We stayed at the Royal Livingstone to watch the sunset while having a drink at a bar built on the banks of the river. There were amazing views of the falls from here. I was even treated to a phone call from the parents who were a bit jealous of me sitting back and enjoying life on the Zambezi. We had a beautiful African sunset and were joined by some hippos along the river. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.