Again I am standing at the Intercity Bus Terminal waiting for the bus to leave Lusaka towards Livingstone. But this time I am not alone. Marten and Dominique are accompanying me on this trip that turned out to be full of surprises!
Arriving around 12.00 in Livingstone, I learned from my lesson during my last visit and walked to the hostel instead of letting the cab driver trick me again. It felt good to be back and I think Marten and Domi were as impressed as I was when I arrived the first time at Jollyboys!
We left our stuff in the room, enjoyed the sun lying in the pool, went for some grocery shopping and had a lovely dinner at Cafe Zambezi, a local restaurant that I discovered together with Natasha and Philip. Since it has been a long day and we were going to Botswana the next morning, we went to bed "early"; but not without welcoming the group of British students that are staying at our house in Lusaka and also planned the trip to Livingstone the exact same weekend.
The trip to Botswana started early in the morning. A driver took us to the border which turned out to be a little safari on its own since we had to cross the local national park in Zambia for more than 50 minutes. At the border we experienced a totally new way of crossing it.....a speed boat took us and a few other passsengers within a few minutes from the Zambian side of the river to the other side, which was Botswana....within a few minutes we were facing a new culture, another language and fortunately the same timezone. Our Safari guide picked us (2 other ladies joined us for that day) up and together we drove to the lodge from which the first part of our day trip (3-hours boars trip on the Chobe River) started. Serving great breakfast and getting ready for Part 1, the sun started to shine stronger and stronger. Enjoying the shade on the upper deck of the Safarin cruise the upcoming 3 hours were just amazing. Starting with the scenery one has to say that the Chobe river does not only served as the border for 4 countries but also provides tourists with 100s of species and an incredible fauna. Without getting to much in details, we saw crocodiles, Iguanas, several bird species such as fish eagles and coulourful divers, Impalas, Hippos, and elephants. The latter was somehwat unexpected since most elephants come to the shore around afternoon since they get thirsty after spending the whole day eating. But since we picked a really warm day we witnessed around 50 elephants coming to the river getting refreshments, taking a bath and marching along the river. It was just an incredible feeling to see these giants in wildlife. The boat trip ended with a delicious lunch at the lodge and us chatting about what we just have witnessed.
The second part of the day trip was a Game drive in the Chobe National Park. One can also say Elephant park because what we were about to see was just amaazing.....100s of elephants so close that you could touch them, so calm, peaceful and beautiful, that you can only wonder why people hunt these majestic animals.
The Game Drive was more or less dominated by the scenery and various kinds of animals such as buffaloes, hippos, elephants, giraffs and impalas....All in all it was a really beautiful and adventurous day...and a memorable one for sure!
We got home to the hostel in the early evening and I couldnt wait to throw myself into the cold water of the pool and enjoy a Mosi paddling around.
On Saturday we decided to go to the Victoria Falls. This time I was better prepared and wrapped all valuables and documents into bags and T-Shirts so that they wouldnt get wet. Before entering the Park, we made a little excursion to the bridge that serves as the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Reason for that was Dominique who wanted to do the Bungee-Jump (?). 111 meters of pure adrenaline, witnessed and recorded by Marten and me. I still do not understand why poeople desire to jump from a bridge....well maybe it is just not my thing! :)
The weather was brilliant and by that I mean hot(!!!). Since it was not that windy, one could see much more of the falls than last time I was there. Even though it was the second time at the falls I was again overwhelemd by the power, beauty and seize of the falls. Marten and Dominqiue definitley agreed with me on that. We met up with some of the British and enjoyed a small refreshing bath at the upstream of the falls, though standing 10 meters from the edge of the falls! Adrenaline kick...compensating for missing out the bungee jump!
Other highlights of the day include agressivve bamboons stealing passports and cookies from another group of tourists, did I mention the sun, and of course the peaceful atmosphere at Cafe Zambezi together with Marten and Domi.
Another incredible day in Livingstone came to an end but should be followed by another one! Rafting on the Zambezi river!
Sunday...= Sunny day! We were picked up early in the mornuing and went to a lodge where we would get some breakfast, instructions on how to do Rafting and what to do when we end up floating on the Zambezi River (quiet encouraging) etc. AFter splitting in two groups (Marten, Domi and me joined two germans...a wise decision as it would turn out), we drove 40 minutes to the spot where we started our tour. I thought that rafting would be the most challenging task coming up during that day, but climbing down the rocky path (600 m) to the shore was causing a lot of sored muscles the next day.
Our guide in the boat was very much experienced and told us that he wants us to have a memorablew experience asking wheter we want "to hit the big ones" or leave them out. we all agreed on hitting the big ones (he referred to the waves) but we might have changed our mind when we would have know how big the waves were. The Zambezi river is argued to be one of the wildes in the world, and even though we passed only 20 rapids some of them just catapulted the boat several meters in the air before taking it down into the throat of the river....what an experience....I found myself in the river once, uner the boat trying not to panic and eventually succeeding of getting back in the boat.
We also had some parts where the river was calmer which allowed us to jump into the river and float along the beautiful scenery, listeing to the guide telling us about the history of the river. We could also do some cliff jumping....I was surprised about myself when I climbed the 12 meters rock and jumped into the dark Zambezi river.....Pictures will prove my courage!
Arriving at the final destination of our tour we had to take the calbe car in order to avoid climbing up again....Sitting in the calbe car one had a beautiful view over the whole gorge and the rapids which me mastered!
We were so tired after the trip that staying awake until midnight in order to celebrate Dominique's birthday did not really happen. We celebrated her the next day in the bus on our way back to Lusaka!
A couple of days left now until I pack my stuff and get back to Sweden! Final post reflecting upon my stay in Zambia follows up later this week!
So long....!
Joe
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