So I realize that I kind of fell off the bandwagon in updating this and stopped in the middle of the semester. Even though the semester is over, I still have another three weeks here in Cape Town and in Namibia, so I am going to try to bring everyone up to speed before I get back. For fall break, which was the last week of October, everyone in the group decided to go to Victoria Falls, which is the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe and is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Quite simply, it is worthy of such designation.
In order to get to Victoria Falls from Windhoek, we could either fly, which wouldn't really fit within our college budgets, or we could take the 23 hour bus ride to Zambia, which we ended up doing. And if my plane ride here wasn't filled with incessant motion sickness the entire time, then this would have been the most torturous travel experience of this trip. I was stuck in a seat with a guy who kept putting his legs right in front of my seat. I kept asking him to move his legs, he would do so for a couple minutes, then move them right back. It resulted in only about two hours of sleep.
After the awfully long bus ride, we arrived in Livingstone, Zambia, which is considered the tourist hub on the Zambia side. However, upon arriving, you would never know it is a tourist destination. Maybe because I am spoiled by the beauty of Namibia, but Zambia was not nearly as nice, with worse conditions of buildings and a general dirtiness to the city. To be completely blunt, it felt poorer, which is interesting because as a country is has consistently produced a stronger GDP and had a more stable economy than some of the other countries surrounding it, yet that doesn't really show. On our first night, we went out for some food, and Zambia has just won a huge soccer, or should I say football, match that qualified them for the Africa Cup. Everyone was downtown and just going crazy with excitement. The road was unofficially close and people were streaming the streets with chants and vuvuzelas. It was definitely really cool to see such national unity, especially in an area that has never had much considering the widely held beliefs of anti patriotism acorss the region because countries were separated arbitrarily by European settlers.
Out first night we mostly hung out around the hostel, because we were exhausted from the bus ride. At the hostel, they offered a wide array of different trips and activities through tours companies, so we decided to do what were called the "under the spray" tour and the Livingstone Island tour. Our first full day was the under the spray tour, which focused on actually going under the falls themselves. First, we had a 45 minute hike down to the Zambezi river, which flows through the falls. Once at the river, we all got into a raft similar to those used for white water rafting and paddled a short way over to a different part of the river. After hiking through a bunch of boulders, which was really fun in itself, we got to a pool of water separate from the flow of the river, which we proceeded to jump into from a rock about ten feet high. After swimming for a bit, we went over to a spot under the falls that was not flowing very hard at all (if we had gone under the hardest falls, we would have been killed instantly). Even though it looked like a small cascade of water compared to the big falls, it still pelted us pretty hard. After the tour, we just walked around admiring the beauty of the falls. One thing that was surprising was actually how little water comes over on the Zambia side. During the rainy season, there are massive amounts of water going over the falls. However, during the dry season, there is obviously much less water. And in Zambia, there was really not a lot going over, especially compared to the Zimbabwe side. We later learned that the government has diverted the water that goes over the falls for use in green energy movements. Considering how fast the water flows, it makes for a good renewable energy source for the fairly large population around the area.
The next day we did the Livingstone Island tour, which was based around the devil's pool. Devil's pool is a little pool of water surrounded by a natural rock wall at the top of the falls, where you lay on the rock wall while a guide holds your legs and you look over the edge of the falls. It was absolutely terrifying. I was almost not about to do it, but the peer pressure forced me to jump into the pool and sit on the wall, then eventually look over the edge. The tour also gave a really good breakfast (with some of the best scones I have ever had), and consisted of a boat ride to get to the island and back. Unfortunately, they took my picture on the edge looking over with somebody else's camera, so I don't have pictures of it. Out of the two tours on the Zambia side, I definitely preferred the Under the Spray tour, but even still both were incredible.
The next day we headed over to the Zimbabwe side. After hearing about how they ran their currency into the ground and that their international reputation isn't sterling by any means, I was not expecting much. However, the Zim side was actually beautiful, reminding me a lot of Windhoek. It was fairly quaint, had a bunch of good restaurants, and was a great little walking town. Because they inflated their currency to the moon, they struck up an agreement with the U.S. and now use American currency, which was definitely a bit weird to use again. Many of the bills the the U.S. takes out of circulation get sent to Zimbabwe, which was incredibly evident considering the state of some of the bills. For coins, they use South African rand, but there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the values of the coins. One day, on the way to the falls, we stopped at a supermarket. For change, I was to get fifty cents back, but they gave me a two rand coin and a one rand coin. Then, later that day at the same supermarket, my total was X dollars and 45 cents. I figured that I could just give the rand that I got earlier that had equaled 50 cents to cover the 45 cents. However, the cashier told me it was not enough, to my obvious surprise. I told her that is what I got for fifty cents, yet she still said not enough. Also, for her change, another girl got back a two rand coin and a lollipop. Oh arbitrary money.
Later that day, we decided to step out of our comfort zone big time by doing the flying fox, which is a zipline 300 feet over the falls laying down. It was absolutely terrifying and I don't think I really knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up for it. Actually I know that I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I knew it looked pretty cool and was cheap. After getting strapped in, and asking them to pull it especially tight, I was set into position on the platform. To get going, you are supposed to run and jump off of the 12 foot platform out over the gorge. So once I was in position, they quickly start counting down from five. At one, I start running. But instead of channeling my inner superman and flying off of the edge, I kind of hesitate and end of flopping off of the end, making for a fairly lame initial picture. Even without the most graceful start, it still was amazing, albeit as terrifying as I thought it would be. After getting pulled in and watching my friend Christine do it as well, we asked if we could go again, as we were the only ones there. Luckily they said yes (probably because I was so pathetic jumping off of the end, which I used as reason to allow me to go again). The second time I did a bit better, channeling my inner flying fox.
Yup, I'm a Binder. Starting to wimp out at the last minute. Actually, I did this, which most Binders wouldn't do in the first place
Overall, it was an unbelievable trip. The views were breathtaking, and the different trips all allowed for completely different ways to see the falls. I will hopefully update soon with the end of the semester, then a post on Cape Town. And soon after I will be back in the grand ol' U.S. of A. See everyone soon!
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