VIC FALLS!

A very long two days on several buses landed me in Victoria Falls late at night. The Jolly Boys hostel had been recommended to me by some friends I met in Zanzibar. They were right it was 'spot on'. I had a beer at the bar and met some of the people staying there. But, alas, I was bushed after the long journey and hit the pillow.

My journey down from Nkhata Bay, Malawi had been very lucky. I made some bus connections, which if I had missed them it would have taken three days. It doesn't look to be a long way on a map, but as this is Africa short distances can take ages. Surprisingly the roads improved when I entered Zambia. No potholes to be dodged, which usually meant that the driver of the bus would alternate between the road and the side of the road!

I ended up staying in Livingstone for longer than I had originally planned. It is a fantstic place with tons of activities and I met some great people staying at the hostel.

The Victoria Falls area has tons to offer, not just a look at the falls. There is so much to do that some people forget that they came to see the falls...

I bungied off the Vic Falls Bridge, took in the falls, did a day of gorge swinging, and had a laugh on the booze cuise at sunset! The bungy was my fifth in my life, but my first tandem. My friend Tim and I took the plunge(his first time). It was cool to be able to share the adventure during the bungy itself. The falls themselves are a sight worth seeing. They are about 1.6 kms across andquite high. I viewed them from the Zambian park and then took a recommended micro-light flight above them. Both of these were great ways to see the falls. Seeing them from the park you get drenched from the spray and it is impossible to see the whole lot. But, from the air you can take it all in. For the flight, I set it up for sunset and we also flew over a game park, excellent. The gorge swinging was an all day, fun filled, day of adventure. It definitely ranks up there with some of my favorite days of my trip. It included abseiling, rap-jumping, a zipper line, and a gorge swing. The gorge swing was the best part and I did one solo and one tandem. The tandem was done backwards and being heavier we got going around 180km per hour! Fantastic. This may be better than bungy jumping! But, as it is different they are hard to compare. The last night I was in Livingstone we all went on a booze cruise(actually right after the gorge swinging). It is a game viewing boat where everyone has some beers and reconvenes on land for a meal. It was a great topper to a great day a great week with some wicked friends! In the end, there were two Ammies, five Brits, two Aussies, and three Irish. We all signed a shirt that will hang in the Jolly Boys bar for eternity!