Rafting the Mighty Zambezi, Zambezi River Festival, Livingstone, Zambia

To See Our Zambia Photos, Click Here

Me with some local kids at the river

It's funny the things that you happen upon whilst traveling.  At Jollyboys Backpackers, I overheard mention of a kayak festival in town and simply asked 'How can we get to watch the fun?' Next thing we knew, we were signed up to join in the festival and white-water raft the Zambezi for 7 days!  And  at a bargain basement price of $195, it was just too good to turn down.  It also included 7 days accommodation, and a few free meals.  Not to mention many other little perks and extras, including hanging out with a cool, fun group of partying kayakers for 8 days!!!

It was a week of fun and challenges. Beneath Victoria Falls, the Mighty Zambezi really is exactly that - truly mighty!  Its white water is incredible,

Kayak Gorge Swing

massive, and not to mention, dangerous! There are 25 rapids beneath Vic Falls and these take a whole day to raft which we did the first day. With each day came a different kayaking event, either racing or slalom or rodeo, and we would raft ahead and pull into an eddy to get off the river and watch from the sidelines. The un-fun bit was on the three days that we rafted from rapid #1 to rapid #10, the climb out of the gorge was just awful at 10. Not only was it a long hike out, it was a climb on rustic ladders that were steep and precarious. On the first hike out, the sun was just beating down on us and it pretty much killed me. Later, I discovered that the temperature in the gorge had been over 50 deg C! No wonder I hadn't been happy!

The most ridiculous event of the week was the kayak bungee swing where a kayaker is strapped to their kayak and then drops 120m from the bridge at the halfway point between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The kayakers raved at how awesome it was, but I was very glad to be just watching from the bridge.

Windas with an old school rodeo move - in the teeth

The parties were always good in the evenings and I was definitely sore one morning.  Unfortunately, this was the morning of the raft race, where everyone got split into teams, and I ended up on the serious raft - the one with kayakers who wanted to win (to add to their overall score for the week). This meant they didn't stop to rest for all ten rapids. I was exhausted even though I tried to sneak in a few rest strokes. Martin's raft on the other hand, were busy playing around with the third raft and swapping guides every couple of rapids. They also had a few man-overboards and a lot of swimming!

Andy's winning rodeo move - crazy

To top off our week, we won a one-night stay in a luxury hotel in Livingstone - a prize we won for always 'going big' on the rapids i.e. getting our guide to take us down the most challenging /dangerous lines.  It was fantastic to sit and chill-ax all day and enjoy the pool and our large room with a proper bed (a nice change from the tent and dorm beds of the last few months).  The next morning we stuffed our faces with the all inclusive breakfast and then managed to sneak a variety of food from the buffet to tide us over for the rest of the day for traveling into Zimbabwe.  It was a great way to end a really excellent week with a really great crowd of people. Thank you Waterbynature! * Mush

Us in the Raft going in to rapid #5 - Stairway to Heaven

Carnage in Rapid #5

Things I will remember:
1. The fun organisers, Hamish and Eve, from the UK-based WaterByNature. Plus Hamish has the same nickname as me, Mush
2. Some of the kayakers were really amazing and it was very cool to watch their talents through the rapids. And even though we were only 'rafters' we were made to feel welcome by all 20+ kayakers.
3. Ant, one of the kayakers from SA was always the instigator of the parties and would pull out 'the boot' - literally a kayaking wet boot - for bootie beers. Eeewwwe! (Thankfully we weren't subjected to that penalty!)
4. Mikey pulling down his shorts at Fez Bar on the last night, and Barbara, the hostel receptionist who randomly just happened to be at the bar with friends, sticking her camera down low to capture the shot from below and then just rolling around laughing. Oh dear Mikey.

And finally, 5. the world-renowned Zambezi with its incredible walls and holes of water at each rapid, and ploughing through the sheer volume of water. Wow! *Mush

Us in Rapid #5 again

Rapid 5 with Windas Riding the Bull on front