Day 11 plus 2 extra days - Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. January 24-26, 2014

Up early so we can arrive to Vic falls at a decent time. Some of the group has booked a 15 min flight over the fall for 3pm. We arrive at the Zimbabwe border on time, yes! As usual, there is a border surprise - they are trying to prevent the spread of hoof and mouth disease so we have to all bring all our shoes to disinfect them. They apparently did not trust we had brought them all so we had to bring the bags and someone went through the truck looking for other shoes we had. Of course, I had to tear apart my backpack which had been locked down like a fort Knox to dig up my cycling runners and hiking boots. Oh well, my workout for the day. It is so hot here, scorching when it isn't raining so you sweat buckets doing the littlest things. I was knackered after that!

The delay caused us to be late - again. We saw the falls as a big mist which looked like smoke. Once at the bridge, we had a partial view of the falls - brilliant. The bungee jumping is right there as well as a zip line and giant swing - looks like so much fun!

When we arrived at the hotel - Elephant Hills, I almost cried - it was SO lovely fantastic and clean and modern and the rooms were lovely and the pool was wonderful…what a treat! Before he left, the porter had all my dirty, no filthy clothes for washing - in a machine, wow! Then, off to bungee jump. I had to go through the border again to get to the bridge and then walk in the heat for 15 minutes before getting there. It was past 4pm and they closed at 5pm so I had 3 activities to complete before they closed shop - there were not very many people there, just the hawkers selling their junk - they were quite enthusiastic for 'Canada'. The zip line was a little primitive but OK; a good warm up. When I finished, 2 guys had to haul me back onto the bridge and then basically pointed where I was to go and I walked by myself, clipping myself off and on the safety line - up stairs to a fence and back over railway tracks to the spot for the 'giant swing'. Here, they clip you in a harness 2 places then you hang onto one, toes over the edge then basically jump straight down, you free fall for a couple of seconds then the ropes kick in and you have the best, huge swing ever…..so fun. You have to stop moving before they haul you up then bring you, by hand, over the bridge….walk back to the starting point again. Now I'm ready for the grand finally - bungee jumping. It's 111m above the Zambezi River which is quite full, running swiftly and very muddy looking. They tied my feel up with 2 towels on each leg then wrapped them with a strap tightly. Your feet are then bound together and an additional cord is connected to the harness for a safety. Up comes the cord and you are on the edge again. By this time, I feel a tad bit queasy as I've had to do everything bang bang in a row. "Give me a minute" I ask to gather my senses. You have to jump head first, preferably out from the bridge to get a good jump - I am thinking brilliant swan dive. You can see on the photos how good it was - what a great ride down. Problem, toes pointed. So as I start feeling the tug and huge pressure of the bungee holding me back, I also feel the restraints pulling downwards and totally feel like my feet are going to come out of the towel restraint. Forgetting that there I s a second strap securing me, the 'oh s***' sets in. I flexed my feet as hard as I could. Fine on the recoil but when I went down again, the pressure was huge, then the oh s*** s*** s*** s*** set in; but I managed to keep the feet flexed and the rest of my body relaxed, not totally panicked yet! On the 3rd bounce, it went to holy f,f,f,f, - as I bounced up a down swearing with fear, I started to spin wildly. Talk about disorientated! Then I saw the guy who repels down and hooks on to bring you back up. I was so happy to see him. As I spun, I lost sight of him, but maintained my composure til I stopped enough to for him to hook on. I restrained myself from clutching. Once hooked on, you slowly get set upright and the pressure came off my muscles which flex the feet - what a relief and man was I exhausted. We finally were pulled to the top and I was hauled over the bridge railing again, then up a metal ladder to get to the bridge where I again walked by myself back up to the starting point. I felt like my stomach was inside out. "How was the jump - Grrreeeeaaaat", I replied - liar. The staff there and hawkers were all so happy for me so I didn't say anything. Note to self - DO NOT 'POINT' your toes while bungee jumping - what an idiot! Oh well, I survived, received my 'did all 3' certificate and bought the pictures and video. It's actually quite brilliant and very well done.

Home after 6pm and we were supposed to meet at 7pm so we could all go for our final dinner together as the tour group will change for the next leg. I had to lie down for 20 minutes before doing anything as I felt positively rotten. Up 15 minutes before meeting time - but I made it, my room is a tip though. Off to dinner; Sandile and Nyki brought their kids (so we had a lot of fun and someone (not me) even tried the fried worms - nummy!. It was sad to say goodbye to the Argentineans, Sam and Rebecca and Johaun from Switzerland. We become very close on this type of tour.

After we went home, I went straight to bed - why - had to be up early again, 6am, for the whitewater rafting I had signed up for. I so did not want to go but, I probably will not come back so - here I go. We gather at Adventure Tours motel and camp ground for a briefing then off to where we start rafting. Sam and Rebecca from our group (the Kiwi's) are there as well. After a brutally steep hike down, we get to the Zambezi River which is warm as a bath but muddy looking. Our boat (I'm with Sam and Rebecca) goes to practice the paddling and getting in and out of the boat. Paddling is a LOT of work and since I have not been doing much since Kili, I am feeling it big time. We are only going over rapids 11 to 23 for 1/2 a day as the waters are too high for all 23 of them. It's fine as there are several 4's and 5 levels. There are a pack of experienced kayakers with us to help if someone goes over, so you feel quite safe. The first one is a level 5 and a few of us go in the waters. Not too bad as we hauled them out OK and no one is hurt. After the first couple, every time the head guide said we could go in the water, Sam, Rebecca and I were in - others were not as brave. We even went through a series of rapids in the waters with the guide - so fun. Did I mention the water is so warm - fabulous. Several times the guide let us go in and when we were far from the raft, would say 'hurry up, in the boat'. The first couple of times we all panicked and tried to swim back to the raft, often swimming against the current while the head guide had a good laugh. Once we caught on, I grabbed the nearest kayaker and straddled the front for a ride - much easier! We swam a lot the last bit and once the ride was over, we had a triply long brutally steep hill to climb up. I stayed back and helped a couple of girls having trouble as they were struggling, probably due to lack of food, over exertion and not drinking enough water. We had cold water, beer, hot chicken and pasta with salad for lunch. I could only manage a piece of chicken and some pasta - still feeling yesterday.

When we arrived back at the hotel, I was able to relax by the pool and eat ½ a BLT and some fries, felt so good! Then back to the room to send the letter we made for Sandile regarding the Malawi accident, which took 3X longer then it should have, then Sam and Rebecca came for a visit. We were able to download each other's pictures but gave me so little time to do anything else - like organize the tip in my room as am leaving for another 8 day tour. Thank GOD it's accommodated. After dinner with the remaining group (Sam and Rebecca leave tomorrow) off to bed so I can pack my stuff up for the next leg - don't need the sleeping bag handy anymore - yah!

Zimbabwe is recovering from Mugabe chasing whites off their farms 10 years ago. Countries put sanctions on them plus the soldiers and natives he gave the farms to, didn't know how to farm so things went downhill fast. Then tourism dried up and after the 2008 crash, Zimbabwe has been recovering slowly. They were the 'bread basket' of Africa until this happened so the roads are still good, people seem to be educated and speak English but you can tell they are struggling for money as the hawkers are aggressive and some people beg. So sad to see however, it seems this is the norm here. The 'leaders' are so corrupt and greedy and make selfish & stupid decisions so the people suffer greatly. In the meantime, they live high on the hog and expect 'tourists' to support the poor by buying all their 'crafts'. I feel bad for them but my skin is thicker as I cannot fix nor fund the world. The 2 exceptions thus far are Rwanda and Botswana. Botswana seems to be OK as they did not have to have a war to gain their independence from Britain and they have diamonds - LOTS of them - and copper and other minerals. You are not hassled in these countries to buy stuff - a nice reprieve.

Off to 8 day Chobe Park and Okavango Delta tour - new group, new adventures!