April 8

Rest days....

Well maybe not as restful as they should have been but greatly enjoyable.  I started the rest days with a sunset cruise on the upper Zambezi River just above Victoria Falls.  It was so different than the constant biking and camp meals.  It actually felt like I was on vacation!  It felt so good.  The sunset was amazing, the cruise relaxing.  Couldn't have been a better start to the three rest days.

Next came a white water rafting trip on the lower Zambezi River just below the falls.  A number of us went on the trip.  The day was overcast which added a bit of atmosphere to the trip.  It rained during a good part of the trip but that didn't matter as we were already soaked by the rapids.  We had to climbed down from the top of the gorge to the bottom where the river was.  The climb down was challenging to say the least.  I do not believe the "ladder system" that they used would have passed any safety guidelines of any sort that is known in the free world.  Where the terrain was too steep for a trail (which was most of the climb down) they had erected a ladder (word used very loosely) that was made of small tree trunks and branches nailed together.  As you stepped on the branches they would bend and creak.  Several broke away and added another level of extreme danger to what already was a OSHA nightmare.  If one of the people in the group that was traversing the trail began to fall, it would have been like dominos.  Once we got down we floated or should I say shot the rapids.  There were 15 sets of rapids names from widow maker, washing machine to the terminator.  They ranked from class 3 to several class 5 rapids.  It was fantastic!!!

The walls of water that we would hit that was created by the rapids defied description.  We hit one class 5 rapid and I do mean hit!  I was in front and when the boat went down into the trough, all I could see coming at me was a wall of water.  It hit me and knocked me back.  I took out the guy behind me and remember looking up at my feet.  Yes, I looked up at my feet which were at full extension above my head.  The next thing that occurred to me was that I was under water.  With that thought in mind I quickly came to the conclusion that I was no longer in the boat.  I came to the surface in the middle of a raging rapid.  Waves of water kept washing over me as I gasped for air.  I finally remembered ... Relax and aim your feet down river.  That worked like a charm.  The most humorous thing was the lady who was left in the boat.  Of the six people in the boat only two remained after that rapid.  She looked around and said... Where did everybody go?!

It really was an amazing trip.  They say that this section of the Zambezi River is in the Top 5 Whitewater Rapids in the world.  I can see why!!!

The sunset over the Zambezi!