Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe: The View From Here and Deadly Rafting

The next day, we crossed the border from Zambia to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls from the other side!

What It's All About:

The actual name of the city in Zimbabwe (or "Zim," for short) that borders Victoria Falls is Victoria Falls. #selfexplanatory  It's a little newer than its counterpart city, Livingstone, in Zambia - whereas Livingstone was its own functioning town before tourism came and drove it to become a tourist town, Victoria Falls developed because of the tourism to the falls.  It's definitely a little pricier than Zambia (the first night, I paid almost $20 for a hostel dorm bed that was a million degrees with no windows or fans or A/C), but also has its own special charm. And it's much closer to the falls - easy access!

Victoria Falls from the Zimbabwean side has more stunning overlooks onto the falls - seriously, there were 20 separate photo opportunities and they were all breathtaking. You can really see the scope and breadth of the falls from this side; and there's an awesome overlook called Danger Point (creative; I like it) where you can wander an unfenced portion of the cliffs and look 100m down to the canyons below.

The view over the Falls from Danger Point!

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Spent the early afternoon after our border crossing wandering the various paths and overlooks on the Zim side of Victoria Falls. 

Welcome to the Zim side!  Which was definitely a little more put-together compared to the Zam side.

Yep, still baboons running amok

The first overlook! The spray is so crazy that there's a fine mist that swirls around everywhere = amazing when it's super hot

One of the big waterfalls! #descriptive

Me and Jesse and waterfalls. The waterfalls are in Zambia and we're in Zimbabwe. Cray.

Believe it or not, this year has been especially dry so the waterfalls are not nearly as ginormous or crazy as they usually are. Which is insane. Because look.

Look at how much mist!  Apparently if you come in high/rainy season, you need to wear a raincoat because you'll get completely soaked.

Looking down the canyon at all the falls - complete with rainbowwwwww!  Seriously, you'd look up and down both sides of the canyon and all you'd see where more and more waterfalls. So. many. waterfalls.

This area is called Rainbow Falls, where the guardrails suddenly disappear and there's a huge stretch where you're standing on rocks right next to the canyon. Terrifying. I may have had a paranoid thought that randos could just come up to you and push you in if they wanted to, so I was a little jittery whenever anyone walked by us

BUT THE RAINBOWS. Magical.

Jesse and a pano shot of the canyon and waterfalls

• Seeing the Falls from the other side was completely stunning - every viewpoint was like a postcard, and it just makes you completely in awe of nature.
• Later that evening, Jesse and I went on a booze cruise/combo boat safari that a guy at our hostel had recommended.  For two hours, you get unlimited drinks (Jesse's biggest draw), see the sunset and tons of animals (my biggest draw), and cruise down the Zambezi River (which is the river that feeds Victoria Falls).  I don't know who I'm kidding, because the unlimited vodka was the besttt (and I guess the animals were nice too). =)

Pre-sunset cruise down the Zambezi River

This is kind of hard to see, but there's an elephant on the banks!  Eeeeeee

And then we came across a big group of hippos!  The other boat got a little to close for the hippos' comfort, so one of them is opening his mouth and roaring, which is a sign of aggression.  GET AFTER IT, HIPPO

The sun goes down (the stars come out)

A warthog.

I don't know why, but all I can imagine is this hippo going "....merp?"

More gorg sunset views. How much prettiness can one day have.

Boat pulling back to shore after numerous vodkas were had

• The next day, Jesse and I had planned on moving on from Zimbabwe down to Botswana by bus. However, Jesse was on a fried chicken run the night before and had met a guy named Kelly - he's from Botswana but is studying in university in New Zealand. He was visiting Victoria Falls with his girlfriend from NZ, as well as his sister, who is still attending high school in Botswana. They had room in their car and offered us a ride to Botswana with them - but they weren't leaving until the day after, so Jesse and I had a free day in Zimbabwe. 
• One of the most popular things to do in this area is to raft down the Zambezi River (in the canyon that Victoria Falls thunders into).  It's known to be one of the best spots in the world to whitewater raft, as the rapids are known to be totally crazy, with tons of Class V rapids (equals insane and terrifying) - sounds right up our alley, but the cost was holding us back a little (Africa is expensive, y'all!).  But knowing we had an extra day was all we needed for me to go negotiate hard at a rafting company and sign up to go the next day!

This is the only photo Jesse and I took before rafting, because we refused to pay $50 for the rafting photo package.
Honestly, though, the rafting was INSANE.  I've never been rafting like this before.

This is a photo I stole off the internet of actual Victoria Falls rafting. And it's what I basically felt like for most of the trip.  There were 19 rapids we went through, several Class V, and for two of them (I was in the front), I was thrown completely out of the raft into the water. Like, there was no human way I could have held on and stayed in the raft. 

• Not helping the situation was the fact that our raft was extra-light because there were only five of us, and that the other three people in the raft consisted of a Chinese dad and his two sons, who 1.) could not distinguish between the guide yelling "FORWARD" or "STOP", 2.) were the most useless rowers ever (like stirring a pot of soup), and 3.) would throw their paddles to the side and death grip on the safety rope anytime we were near any rapids at all, even if the guide was screaming at us to row harder to get out of the rapids.
• The second time I was thrown into the rapids was on Rapid #7, a Class V rapid called Gulliver's Travels - apparently I flew out of the raft, knocked Jesse on my way out into the water (where he was then washed into a whirlpool and almost drowned), and as I was being kicked around in the water, the entire raft went over my head and I was underwater for a very long time before being able to surface. When I did finally get back to the raft, it turns out 4 of us were thrown in during that rapid (including the guide-in-training), and there were only 2 people left in the raft at all.  
• Rafting was incredible. My adrenaline went through the roof and I'm pretty sure I spent 90% of the time praying that I wouldn't fall out on the next set of rapids. I don't know why people pay to have the living daylights scared out of them, but it was overall a ton of fun, and I'm so happy we added it to our itinerary. 

One the way back from rafting; 3 totally useless rowers in the row behind us (not that I totally think it was their fault I almost died a bunch of times or anything.....)

Fun Facts of the Day:

• Zimbabwe uses U.S. Dollars as its currency!  Makes everything so easyy
• There was a Grade VI rapid on our journey, which we had to go out and walk past because going through it would apparently mean imminent death. I regret calling my Nepal rafting "The River Wild" now. THIS WAS THE RIVER WILD.
• I took a photo of an alligator on our booze cruise, whose photo didn't make the blog because it looks like I was taking photos of a rock.
• Zimbabwe's president, Mugabe, is the world's oldest still living head of state in office. He's 91. 92 in a month.
• This is former Rhodesia, aka where Leonardo DiCaprio was from in "Blood Diamond."

Meal of the Day:

You know, just some African game meat - which was delicious, obvs.

Top dish is an impala steak; bottom dish is crocodile pesto pasta (tastes like chicken!)

Livingstone, Zambia: Visiting Victoria Falls and DEVIL'S POOL

I am not overly loving this post title, but I refuse to dedicate anymore time to thinking up something more clever. So.

Anyways, Jesse and I literally had zero idea where to head on from Uganda - we knew we wanted to hit up some more of Southern Africa, so we basically did a price search on flights and booked the cheapest flight we could find.  Which ended up being Lusaka, Zambia.  It doesn't hurt that Zambia is also half-home to the super-famous, one-of-the-places-I'm-dying-to-see world wonders: Victoria Falls.  

Therefore, ZAMBIA HERE WE COMEEEEEE.

What It's All About:
All you need to know is that Zambia is fancy and people like to shop in malls a lot.

As for Victoria Falls, it is a series of the largest, most baller waterfalls in the entire world - they span over 350ft tall (108 meters) and are 5,600 feet across (1,700 meters).  Victoria Falls straddles the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and are called Mosi-oa-Tunya in the local language (meaning "the smoke that thunders").  And they are completely stunning. The falls are so powerful that over a million liters of water PER SECOND goes over the side.  You can visit the falls from both the Zambia and the Zimbabwe side - the Zambia side allows you to be right on top of them and has the infamous Devil's Pool (a natural rock pool right near the edge of one of the largest waterfalls), while the Zimbabwe side has the more stunning views of all the falls.

Gratuitous shot of me hanging in Devil's Pool over Victoria Falls

Cliffnotes of the Day:

• Spent two days in Zambia's capital of Lusaka: and all I have to say is that Zambia is fan-sayyyyy.  Especially after Uganda, everything was super wow-worthy.  First off, there are a zillion shopping malls. Like, going down a main street you might pass by multiple fancy shopping centers - and never mind the fact that they all have the exact same 10 stores inside (consisting of a Wimpy's burger chain, Woolworth's/Truworth's clothing stores, Fresh Cinema movie theatre, and a Mugg & Bean coffee shop) (this list may indicate that I spent an inordinate amount of my time in Lusaka in malls, which is correct). Also, they have ICE CREAM STORES. It's a chain called Creamy Inn and is on every street corner; and I may have already eaten my weight in soft-serve.

Fancy shopping mall has not gotten the memo that it's way past Christmas 

Here is the infamous Wimpy burger chain

My bag may also have been torn apart on the flight from Uganda; so we had to hunt around for someone else to fix it. This thing is on its last, last legs

• After 2 days in Lusaka, we took the world's most miserable 7-hour bus ride from Lusaka down to the city of Livingstone - the jump-off point for Victoria Falls, the WORLD'S LARGEST WATERFALLS.  Livingstone is named for the Scottish explorer David Livingstone, who was believed to be the first European to see the falls, and was a pretty big deal in Africa way back when.  All I can deduce is that he discovered a bunch of Africa that people back in Europe didn't know anything about, and he basically stopped slavery in East Africa.  And his heart is still buried in Africa because that's where his heart belongs.

First night's dinner in Livingstone: a million different kinds of meat and a lump of the local squishy bread made of cornmeal (called nshima) that has the consistency of mochi/mashed potatoes. Nom.

And the next morning, entering Victoria Falls!

• The first day, we signed up to go to Devil's Pool - I touched on it briefly above, but it's a natural pool that seriously sits right on top of one of the largest cataracts - you can hire a guide to take you out to Livingstone Island, and they will trek you to the Devil's Pool.  The hike out to the pool was no joke itself - it involved basically trekking through rocky rivers and mini-waterfalls for about 45 minutes.  

Just balancing on tiny unstable rocks while crossing rivers

And basically wading through rivers

This was one of the craziest parts - balancing on a thin concrete pipe with water rushing over it to cross this entire river. You could feel the water pushing your feet as you moved

• Then you get to the top of the waterfall - and you have to swim against the current (you know, the current that's trying to pull you over the edge of the waterfall) with only a tiny safety rope to prevent you from going over  (which is insane because I don't recall being asked if I knew how to swim -- which you DEF need to be able to do, and semi-strongly to go against the current).  Then you reach the Devil's Pool! Which is SERIOUSLY right at the edge of the top of the 100m waterfall - and you're given instructions on how to enter, where to hold onto, and how to sit: because one false move, and you're basically over the falls.  The entire time you're in the pool, you feel the current pushing you towards the edge.  It was WILD - like, super, super dangerous-feeling - but also one of the coolest things in the entire world.

Joining our guide Wilson, me, and Jesse, was Christian from Germany. There's a natural half-rock ledge that sits near the edge where you can perch on (it's what we're sitting on) - but it doesn't go the entire way across or up out of the water, so you have to make sure it's there and that you're gripping onto it tightly

This is not a gratuitous ass shot.  Ok, it is.
Then Wilson held onto my legs and told me to lean over the waterfall. Which I did, but only because my Chinese upbringing ensures that I always follow instructions to a T.  It was crazy looking over the edge and 100m down into the canyon - all you see is crazy crashing, rushing water everywhere going so, so far down.

And then Wilson told me to do this. The entire time, you just feel this strong current pushing you - it's crazy.

Jesse's turn. I should point out that he was terrified and refused to do the "leaning over the edge" part.

COOLEST EXPERIENCE EVER. And terrifying. 

Walking back, we saw the next group of people at Devil's Pool - see the super super tiny people on top of the largest waterfall?? We were just there!  How crazy is that??

So many waterfalls - and it's a low season for the water, too!

The crew overlooking the Victoria Falls Bridge

And this is a pool on top of the falls called the Angel's Pool - it's 12 meters deep and you used to be able to dive and swim in it, but not anymore. It's a lot more calm and peaceful than the Devil's Pool (hence its name).

• After crossing our crazy trekking-through-rivers route back to the park entrance, Christian, Jesse and I visited Victoria Falls National Park itself. 

Christian and Jesse, just strolling on bridges past zillions of waterfalls

Waterfall pose

Look at the height of these falls!  SO IMPRESSIVE

You seriously just followed the paths and saw waterfall after waterfall after waterfall

And there were giant baboons everywhere. This is a very menacing photo of one.

These baboons are especially vicious - you couldn't even bring in plastic bags to the park because they told us the baboons will think there's food inside, and they will come and attack you for the bag

A very historic-looking steam train going over the Victoria Falls Bridge, which was built in 1905 by Charles Darwin's son (random)!

Another path led down to a gorge called the Boiling Pot

Named the Boiling Pot because the water swirls around like crazy. At the bottom left, you can see a tiny tiny Jesse in red shorts sitting on the end of the cliff. I opted to not die and stay up a little higher.

Fun Facts of the Day:

• The official language of Zambia is English (in fact, the official language of every single country in South Africa, except for Mozambique, is English) - however, each country also has its own local language that the locals use when chatting with each other. But it has been SO much easier to get around, considering everyone can understand you.
• The water flowing through the canyon of Victoria Falls is the Zambezi River.  It's considered to be super-clean, which means our hostel told us you can drink from the taps here!  Crazy.
• Our guide at Devil's Pool claims that no one has died there. Then why does Google search autofill "deaths" after "Devil's Pool," hmmmm Wilson??  Speaking of Wilson, he does the trip out to Devil's Pool with tourists 4x/day, 6 days/week. How. crazy. is. that.