Rafting the Zambesi

We had talked about doing a river raft trip down the Zambesi for the last week or so, but when Ann - our trip leader - got information it would always change.  Some days they said it was all class 5 rapids, but closer to the rafting date they said it was 3 and 4. Kids under 15 were not allowed, so I went with 7 others in our group, including Aaron - a 15 year old boy - and Alex, a 13 year-old who we said was 15.

I'm so glad we went!  We started with a 20 minute hike down the gorge to the launching area, all of us in Tivas or sandals. From there, we mounted a boat, and got to know our guide, Mr. "K".  They also had two safety kayakers, and a videographer. So we all felt safe, and if something unfortunate happened anyway at least we might wind up in a viral "epic fail" video on YouTube.

The rapids were really fun.  Mr. K told us the first one was a "5", and we had a 50-50 chance of making it through without capsizing.  He may have been exaggerating, but we did get up on edge a few times, and there were plenty of times he said "everyone down", which meant to get your whole body inside the boat. I've done a few raft trips in the past, and this was as rough and tumble as any I remember.

Anticipating the rapid

Bracing for impact

"Everybody down"

There were also a few times where Mr. K said "Who wants to swim?"  I had done this before, so I was always first overboard.  A couple of others followed, and we bobbed through some rapids with our life jackets keeping us above water.  That part was really fun too.

We also saw a few small crocs on the side of the river.  Apparently crocs, hippos and elephants fall over the falls from time to time.  All the big animals never make it, but some of the smaller crocs survive, and we saw three of these lucky few gracing the riverbanks.  We trusted our guide so much that when he offered to let us swim, none of us thought twice about the crocs we had seem upstream.

Returning from rafting, we piled into an open-air land rover, and drove on some dirt roads through some of the native villages.  The driver would toss water bottles out for the kids who ran next to our vehicle, and then we started doing the same.  Ann had some clothes she was going to leave behind, so she started tossing them out to the villagers as well.  They were all excited to receive these unexpected, random gifts - such as they were.

Villager boys chasing our jeep

While the rest of our group did a more leisurely river float in the afternoon, the eight rafters finished the day at the Royal Livingstone's river deck lounge again, watching the mist from the waterfall rise in the distance with yet another spectacular African sunset as a backdrop.  As we were enjoying drinks, a group of monkeys were playing nearby, and then a herd of five Zebras raced across the lawn behind us.  The whole thing was surreal.

Kids and other parents on their river float

Laurel and Arwin on the raft

Zebras at the hotel