Victoria Falls

vic falls. in this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words, so here you are. it's not quite the roaring curtain of white water depicted on most of the postcards, and at first we were disappointed that we had come just at the beginning of the rainy season when the water level wasn't at its highest volume. but very soon we became immensely glad that we came when we did.

we got the privilege of visiting this wonder of the world because we were en route to southern africa mcc retreat in lusaka, zambia, and decided to seize the opportunity and spend a weekend at vic falls before going on to work. (which wasn't really work at all, by the way, since the retreat was delightful and refreshing and a wonderful time to reconnect and meet new people... but that's also the topic of another blog post.)

we flew into the livingstone airport and i immediately felt at home. we'd spent the previous night in joburg, and driving around the city kind of threw me for a loop. in the downtown area, surrounded by huge skyscrapers and bustling shoppers and commuters, i became disoriented, because this same scene could have easily been taking place in new york or chicago. and walking around in massive shopping centers that were nicer than any mall i have ever been to in north america, i felt strangely like i had been unwittingly transported to another continent. or maybe just another africa. because this too, is africa, but one entirely different than i am familiar with.

so after the shock to my system that joburg was, coming into zambia felt like coming home. this is the africa i know, i thought to myself, as we bounced down the road to the backpacker hostel we were staying at in a ridiculously overloaded kombi. there were red dirt roads, and friendly people hanging around in a downtown that was about the size of that huge shopping complex in joburg. that afternoon we got to visit the livingstone museum, which has a fascinating display of kabwe, "broken hill man", an early skeleton that i had studied casts of in my archaeology lab last term. it also had a whole exhibit devoted to telling the story of david livingstone, so i got to learn more about this missionary and explorer, best known as the first (white) man to lay eyes on Mosi oa Tunya (the smoke that thunders).

and the sight is really incredible. but as i said before, because the water volume was lower, we had the chance to go on a (definitely unofficial) tour where we walked across the top of the falls. we had to crab-walk along the top of a concrete damn, holding hands for balance, and pick our way across dangerously mossy rocks, where the strong current flowing around them threatened to pick you up and toss you over the edge waiting only a few meters behind. arnold, our guide, assured us that no one had ever been carried over the falls, although he did tell us that sometimes in rainy season when the zambezi is swollen full, you can see hippos that have been swept up by the current falling the 1600 meter drop to the rocks below. that did not inspire any confidence, but we pressed on.

our perilous journey was well worth it, because at the end awaited angel's airchair, a deep pool on top of the falls. we got to jump off rock formations 6 m above the pool, and have our toes nibbled by the fish that shared the water with us. and it was so unbelievable that we were swimming on top of victoria falls. we also got some sweet photo opportunities.





we ended up our action-packed adventure with a sunset cruise on the zambezi that evening, where the excitement level, although not quite at the peak of walking on top of victoria falls, was still high as we got to see herds of hippos in the water and crocodiles that slid down the banks quickly as our boat approached, leaving slithering stomach-trails in the sand. after a classic south african braai on the boat, we headed back to shore and much-deserved sleep.