So we stayed on the bus all night - I didn't sleep very much! Then we left on time (well an hour later than we thought but that is on time nowadays) and headed for Lusaka - we had planned on staying there but we arrived at 12 and decided we'd power through to Livingstone, so after 2 hours respite we hopped on another stuffy bus and headed for Livingstone. So we arrived in Livingstone around 10pm (about 29 hours after we left south Luangwa), tired, cranky and hungry so we just headed to bed!

On Wednesday our first day in Livingstone we took it easy (well I did) we went on a walking tour of the city which was nice but hot (Zambia is still really hot - above 40 degrees daily). Then we headed to the bridge which connects/separates (depends how you look at it) Zambia and Zimbabwe. Two of the people I'm travelling with did a bungy jump (the fourth highest in the world 111m), I did not (I've done one before and this never has to be repeated). I did however walk to the Zim border to check how much it costs for a Visa (it $55 for Irish and British but only $30 for other Europeans) - gutted! Anyway that took up most of our first day so after a few beers and dinner we had an early night!

Day 2 was our trip to the falls. We had planned on going to the falls and devil's pools/livingstone island (this is a pool at the top of the falls where you can swim and dangle over the edge). Organised trips were $55 but we were convinced we could do it for cheaper - we had heard from other people you can just walk up there yourself and don't need to pay (This is in fact not true and we would have saved ourselves a lot of hassle and actually a little bit of money had we just paid the $55 up front - so if you are ever there, there is no cheap/free way of entering devil's pools.) It is the end of dry season at the moment so the falls are at their lowest (4% of their volume at their highest). They are much lower on the Zambian side due to a hydroelectric plant. So my first view of the falls was not very impressive. However our mood was lightened when a baboon tried to steal one of the girls's bags (if only I'd caught that on camera). We then hiked up to Devil's pools, getting conned into taking a guide when we were on the way (this is why it cost us slightly more) but he did tell us we could fall off the edge if we didn't follow him (this was not true - well of course you can fall of the edge but it was not likely). Anyway we arrived at the top of the falls - where we were treated to some magnificent views of the falls in all their glory (well as much as they can muster at this time of year). Then we went for a little swim in the Zambezi (which was very refreshing, it was very hot that day). Then we jumped into devil's pool, which was amazing, there is a rock wall which prevents you from going over, however if you were to move around said rock wall you would in fact very quickly be swept over the edge. We were then allowed to hang our heads over the falls which was awesome - but very frustratingly because "people" think this appears too dangerous you are not allowed to take pictures (yes they let you do it but you can't take pictures of it grrrr). Anyway other than our frustration at not having that picture - it was an awesome day. We got an excellent view of the falls from directly above it, had a refreshing swim in the Zambezi oh and had our feet nibbled by some fish and crabs - which wasn't exactly a nice or horrible experience but was actually a bit scary as it made you jump a little when you were sitting on the edge of a wall with a >100m drop into the falls!

The next day was white water rafting - which was amazingly fun. While the dry season means the falls aren't at their most dramatic it does mean you can access devil's pools and that the rafting is better. The Zambezi is (apparently) the hardest/best commercial white water rafting world wide - they are grade 5 rapids (that's the highest you can raft commercially). I did a full day rafting (it was only $20 more than a half day) and it was definitely worth it!I have a DVD and photos (which I will upload when I get access to a disc drive). Following my exciting day there was nothing better to do than get wasted! So I went on a mission to the market to get a watermelon which we filled with some horribly cheap Vodka. I also treated myself to some crocodile curry (it's a bit like fish but a bit like chicken), it wasn't an unpleasant meal but also not exactly enjoyable! Then we did some more boozing and ended up going out to a local bar/nightclub. This was my first proper night out since getting to Africa where I managed to break out some moves! It was GREAT!

The following day was less than great - my first proper night out was followed by my first proper hangover! This was not a particularly enjoyable day, I struggled through, wandering around town with a few tasks to do - which took much longer than it should have and I only managed to do some of them - ah well no harm done. That night was our last night in Livingstone - I got an early night because we had a big trip ahead of us the following morning to get to Maun in Botswana.