Safari part 3 - Chobe and Victoria Falls (woohoo!!!)

Last but by no means least on the safari agenda was the final trip through Botswana to the mighty Victoria Falls in Zambia. Before starting the final leg of our trip, our tiny group of 3 was joined by 7 more people. The new group was an excellent one, one of the best of my trip so far. 1 American, 1 French, 3 Irish and 2 Spanish, added to our Danish and Canadian trio, made for an interesting mix! Never a boring moment!

We made our way through Botswana and headed for a final game drive in Chobe National Park, way up in the north. Chobe was gorgeous, filled with amazing scenery and TONS of elephants! It was a quick stop, only a few hours or so, but I loved it and would recommend it for sure. The scenery was prettier than Kruger, with views of the Zambezi river and animals wading on its shores. But the 'main event' of this safari was the trip to Victoria Falls, and it certainly didn't disappoint!

Besides the actual falls, Livingstone is all about adventure activities. Bungee jumping, canyon swings, white-water rafting, you name it, they do it here. Since bungee jumping is something I now felt I had to do (as you certainly know if you've read the blog up until now), this is were it was finally going to happen. So I've got to admit that while I was thrilled with seeing the actual Victoria Falls (the widest falls in the world, at more than 1700 meters wide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls), I was a tiny bit distracted by the events planned for the next day...

We had 2 full days in Livingstone to do with as we pleased, and activities galore to fill the hours, so I decided to make the most of it. When I heard that it was possible to do a sky dive in Livingstone, I jumped at the chance. Unlike the bungee, this was something I'd wanted to try for a long time (even prior to my trip) but was too scared to do anything about it. Since I was in a courageous mood, I decided now was the time and I'd go for it! Added bonus, the Irish lads and Susannah were doing it as well, so I wouldn't be going through it alone.

Same deal with white-water rafting. Although it's a popular activity back at home, I'd never tried it (the thought of getting into a wetsuit on a freezing cold river in Quebec or Ontario, yuck!) and thought what the hell, may as well go for it now that I'm here.

First up, the sky dive. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to adequately put into words how absolutely fantastic it was, but I'll try! I can sum it up by saying it was Fucking class!!! (thanks to the Irish guys for the nice language...) I was feeling a little bit nauseous all that morning (OK, a lot actually), but was very determined about going through with it. I'd alternate between being so excited I couldn't stand it, to being so petrified and thinking 'what the hell am I doing?'. This was definitely a big deal for me, more than just a sky dive. It was proving to myself that even if I'm not in the best shape nor as young as I'd like, I CAN push myself beyond my limits and fears. Bearing all this in mind, it didn't start out so well for me...

We met the sky dive guy at 1PM at our camp. The guy meets us, goes away for a few minutes, then comes back and pulls me aside. A bit of hemming and hawing and he cuts to the chase. He's concerned I'm too fat/unfit for the jump and do I really want to do this? Now, being who I am, this came as quite a blow. I spend so much time doubting myself because of this same reason and it took a lot to convince myself that I could do this, and now this guy is telling me I shouldn't??? I'd already asked if there was a weight limit for the jump and was told no. The guy said there is actually, but when he said what it was, it was OK, it was more than what I weigh now. He looked like he didn't believe me and said he'd have to weigh me at the airport just to be sure (as if I'd lie to the guy who'd literally hold my life in his hands!!!). Then he says it's not just about the weight, but I have to be fit enough to lift my legs high when landing, or else I could break my ankles. Lift my legs? I mean, I'd never sky dived before, but it seemed to me that I'd be able to lift my bloody legs. It's all well and good for ME to doubt myself, as I do again and again, but for someone else to do it? Piss off. I told him that yes, I was confident I could lift my legs, but he was the expert and if he thought I was to heavy to jump out of a plane, I'd respect his decision. He said he'd weigh me at the airport and we'll see from there, but he wanted to give me a chance to back down now so as to not be embarassed in front of my friends. Thanks but no thanks, I'm going (as if it wouldn't have been embarassing to turn back then anyways). And besided, I'm mostly beyond being embarassed about my size at this point. I am who I am.

So, not the greatest start to this adventure. All the way to the airport and then to the airfield, I'm pissed off and stressed all at once. The others are excited about the jump, but I'm not even sure yet that I'll be able to do it, until I get weighed. We filled in all the paperwork, signing our lives away, and then he starts getting the first guys ready for the jump. At this point, I'm a bunch of nerves and just want to know if I'm going to jump or not, so I ask him when I'll be weighed on the damn scale. He then says: 'Oh, never mind. I believe you, you probably look heavier because you're so short. You'll be fine.' Charming man, isn't he? ;-) He could work on his social skills a bit, but luckily, I'd be paired up with another fellow. You see, this guy is fat himself, and weighs more than I do, so I'll be paired up with the lighter guy. Happy days!

Now, all done with the negative stuff, I'm back to just being SOOOO EXCITED about the jump! Don and Ruairi are up first and it was fun to watch them be so cool and scared all at once. The whole thing took probably around 30 minutes or so, so it was a tortuous 30 minutes for me, waiting to go next... Their jumps went very well, the both had excellent landings and the hugest smiles on their faces when they landed. I couldn't wait! Up next was Rob and myself. Gulp. My instructor was great, very friendly, upbeat and encouraging. He hooked me up into my harness and we went through a run-through of the jump. Even from the ground, I was absolutely petrified when I had to practice geeting out of the plane onto the wheel shaft, to get into position for the jump. Crazy! Why was I doing this? Is this supposed to be fun? Arghhh!

And then it was the real thing! Up in the plane, we started off nice and easily with a fly over Victoria Falls. The views from up there were breathtaking. From way up above, I could now see what made Victoria Falls so special. Higher and higher we flew, until we were at 8000 ft (2400 meters or so). Rob was sitting by the 'door' of the plane and would be the first to jump. One look at his face and I was backed to being scared shitless. But once you get starting, there is no turning back. The instructor was very good, talking me through every step. At the critical point, when I had to STEP OUT OF THE AIRPLANE ONTO THE WHEEL SHAFT AT 8000 FEET (!!!), my mind was screaming 'NO! NO! NO!' but my body was actually doing it. I tell you, just writing about it now has got me shaking. It was by far the scariest thing ever. And then, we did it, we just jumped and started the 20 second freefall. The first few seconds had me screaming madly with my eyes closed, but then I realised I wanted to see this and continued screaming my head off, but with my eyes opened ;-) It was absolutely fantastic. Amazing. The best.

The whole jump took about 5 minutes, but the adrenaline lasted hours more (I swear I can still feel it today, more than a month after the jump!). Once the freefall was over, my instructor started in right away with strap adjusting, arm pulling (he had to pull my hands free as I didn't want to let go of my harness straps) and practising lifting my legs. Before I knew it, I was on the ground after a 'perfect' butt landing. No standing up landing for me, but who cares? I made it and my ankles were perfectly fine. I couldn't ask for better!

To say I was happy and excited after the jump would be an understatement. I was on top of the world and felt strong and courageous. I could do anything! Or so I thought...

The next day was the white-water rafting. After the high of the sky dive, I was a bit tired but ready for it nonetheless. Once again, a bit of a rough start to the day, with the first part being a walk down the canyon to where the rafts were. Easy enough you'd think, but it was a hell of a walk down. A slippery sand slop with a rickety branch ladder-type thing to help you down. I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the time I got to the bottom of the canyon. I don't recall ever sweating so much going DOWN a hill, so you can imagine it was a bit of a workout. Plus, I passed at least 2 people who got injured on the way down, plus witnessed countless of slips and spills than scared the crap out of me. Huh. Here we go again.

Our group of 8 (the Irish lads, Susannah & Anders, another Irish guy, the instructor and myself) parked ourselves into the raft and started practising our rafting skills. I was sitting at the back, next to the instructor. From the look our instructor was giving us, I don't think we were naturals, but we sort of got the hang of it after a while. We were finally ready for the real thing. We had 15 rapids to go through that day, one of the last days of the season where you could raft down only part of the river. Thank God for small favors, cause had it been the full 25 rapids, I don't know if I would have made it...

The first rapid was fine, a bit of fun jostling, nothing major. The next rapids on our list were called the Three Sisters, which should have been a good sign, my own three sisters being my favorite people in the world. Unfortunately, they weren't much help to me that day ;-) Our instructor warned us that a lot of boats flip at this section, so just follow his instructions and hold on for dear life if he yells 'Get down'. Not 5 seconds into the rapid it seems and he's already yelling 'Get down', so that's what I did. What followed was (un)fortunately captured on both video and pictures, so still have it fresh in my memory. The boat tilted, tilted and tilted some more, until I finally slipped right out of the boat into the rapid. Luckily, I was serious about holding on for dear life, so I was still holding on to the 'Oh shit!' roap attached to the raft. I thought we'd all flipped, but no, it was just little ole lucky me. The instructor grabbed my lifejacket to pull me up into the raft, but not before I was dunked 3 more times by the churning waters in the rapid. Lucky for me there wasn't a 4th time, cause I was done. By the time the 3rd dunking came along, I felt like I was drowning. I'd never been terribly afraid of water up until then, thinking I could swim or float myself out of anything. I suddenly realised you can't float yourself out of a rapid, and didn't like the feeling so much. Finally, I was back on the raft, a little bit the worse for the wear, but happy to be alive :-)

Our raft turned into a rescue boat in that same section of river, since a few boats actually flipped and people were floating/swimming/drowning down the rapids. We (i.e. everyone but me) picked up another girl along the way, who looked like she was in shock. She was fine, but looked about as scared and shook up as I felt. Good times for all.

Since the 'Three Sisters' rapids were to be quickly followed by 'The Mother', I spent the next few minutes absolutely petrified, waiting for the next beating. Little did I know that we'd passed 'The Mother' while on our rescue mission, so in theory, the worst was over with. In practice, even the 'freebies', the white-water sections too small to be considered rapids, were trouble enough for me. Now, I don't know if it was my placement at the back of the boat or my not-so-low center of gravity, but my butt seemed to be stuck on an auto-eject setting that day. The minute we'd hit white-water of any kind, I would either quite ungracefully fall INTO the boat or head straight for the river OUTSIDE the boat. Luckily, I was sitting next to the instructor who noticed my unfortunate auto-eject predicament and he kept grabbing me just before I hit the water. He saved me no less than 3 other times that day, for which I will forever be grateful. I had no interest of going back into the water, ever again.

Did I like the white-water rafting experience? Hum, not so much. Am I happy I did it? Of course, another 'check' in the list of things to do in my life :-) But can I just say that I was completely exhausted, shattered, pooped at the end of those 2 days??? You'll understand if my date with destiny and the oft-talked about bungee jump would have to wait for another day, if ever. I am quite happy with the sky dive I did and I think I proved to myself want I wanted to. I now just needed to take a little nap after all this adventure :-)