It's so strange to wake up in a room and have a TV set to switch on, not that there was a huge variety of channels available, but it was still fun to have a cup of coffee in bed and catch up on the cooking channel.
After a lie in, we set off to meet up with the folks for brunch at the Vic Falls Hotel. Buffets, like this one, should be illegal; you just eat far too much. However, as it turned out, it's just as well we were well fortified for the long day ahead.
We took the walkway from the Hotel to the falls, escorted by the Falls police, not that there is danger but just to keep away the peddlers trying to sell their soap stone statues and wooden carvings (and one offering weed). The falls, on both the Zim and Zam sides, is one of the few places that we were bugged by locals.
We entered the falls area and first wondered up the top section of the Zambezi River and watched the flowing river channel through the rapids before cascading impressively into the gorge below. Then we wondered past the giant statue of Livingstone that is erected so he can permanently overlook the length of the falls.
Then for the best part - walking through the rain forests, along the path and watching the thousands and thousands of litres of water gush around islands and rocks and plummet over a kilometre into the narrow gorge below. It then hits the bottom and returns back up in a mist and spray that makes amazing rainbows and gives visitors a good shower. One can never tire of visiting the falls and we have been so fortunate to visit it 3 times in the last 18 months. Each visit was at a different time of the year and each time was different depending on the rains and volumes of water.
After spending a wonderful morning at the falls, we ambled down to the border post on the old bridge and got our pass to cross over into ZimZam (no man’s land). Besides giving another awesome view of the falls, it is also the place of the dreaded bungee jump.
One look over the edge was all it took to convince the kids this was all they had ever dreamed of doing in life and for the adults to feel the exact opposite. So off we set to the view point, come office (sure the kids would see more sense when it came to actually signing up). No such luck, so US$240 later, we were heading back to the middle of the bridge to wait their turn, while watching other idiots plunge into the gorge below.
Ga went first, after being strapped up, he walked the edge and without blinking executed a perfect swallow dive off the 111m bridge, as if it was a 3m diving board. After all the years of Lina, his diving coach, nagging him to point his toes, she would be delighted to know that in executing this dive, his toes were pointed- and we have the video to prove it.
Then it was Robs turn, she was doing the gorge swing – almost the same and just as stupid (and apparently more scary) than the bungee. The main difference being that the jumper jumps off feet first and swings backs and forth across the gorge, instead of going off head first and bouncing up and down. Robs got to edge, looked down at the swirling waters below and had serious second thoughts but after a little pep talk from the guys there - about it being soooo safe and they had never had an accident - she also jumped off and swung around the gorge, waving up at us.
While watching my brave/idiot kids head off, Gus asked me how 'mommy' was feeling - actually I was very calm and if it had not been so busy, I might have considered going across the gorge on the zip slide.
With all in one piece, we returned across the bridge to find the longest queue of people at a border crossing to date. A bus load of Chinese tourists were doing the whole passport and visa crossing. After waiting in the queue for 15 minutes, without it moving, Gray headed inside and managed to sort out our pass in a minute and then it was back for high tea at the Vic Falls Hotel.
We had another lovely dinner at Vic Falls Hotel (all except Ga, who was man down with a tummy bug).
The only thing that would have made this a perfect day was if Kirst was there to share it with us. As it turned out, she was having a pretty perfect day herself at the Stellenbosch Wine Festival.
Robs on her gorge swing
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