Victoria Falls

Next stop was Victoria Falls on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. In the morning we took a tour of the falls first and they were absolutely breathtaking. The size and power of the waterfall is unreal. We had to speed through the tour a little bit to get to our next activities on time but we still got a bunch of good pictures. Next we went to the adrenaline activities. Three of us signed up for the half day package of activities so we were doing all of it. They were all in the same area at the top of a huge cliff near the Zimbabwe/Zambia bridge with nothing below us but rocks, rushing water, and a dead hippo. The first thing was the Flying Fox (the least scary of the three activities) where you are attached to a zip line on your back and you run and jump of the platform superman style. It was exciting but not terrifying. Next was the zip line that Caroline and I did together. This one you go down in more of a sitting position but there is a pretty significant drop at the beginning that is scary. I screamed the whole way down but it was a lot of fun. Last was the most terrifying thing I have ever done—the gorge swing! Again, Caroline and I went together. I watched John, and Tara and Jaclyn go before us and I had decided there was no way I was doing that. The man hooking people up on the platform was all sweet to me and told me he would just hook me up to look over the edge and if I still decided I didn’t want to then I didn’t have to. He told me, “I’m not here to push anyone, just to give them courage.” I got to the edge and told him I couldn’t do it and I was yelling no as he pushed me off the edge. It was by far the scariest thing I’ve ever done but I’m glad he pushed me. The initial free fall was 70 meters (so whatever that is in feet) and then the total swing was 120 meters down. When we were swinging at the bottom I only noticed I was still screaming when my throat started to hurt. It was CRAZY but so worth it!

Later that day we had booked to go on a sunset cruise. I was expecting it to just be relaxing and that we wouldn’t see many animals but we did. Right away we saw some crocodiles and then a bunch of hippos. We even saw a group of elephants on the edge of the river. The sunset was beautiful on the water too.

Then that night we went to the Boma for dinner. It was a huge buffet of meat like crocodile, eland, warthog, impala, and even worms. All of the food was good but the best part was the entertainment. When we first walked in they gave us traditional looking wrap type dresses to wear and a little bit of face paint. While we were eating, a group came out a danced and sang for us while one man walked around and painted animals on people’s faces. They also had a fortune teller and a hair braider you could go to. During the second performance, they gave us all drums so we could play along and then it ended with us all up at the front dancing in a big group. We all had a good time.