Nov. 17, 2012 - I survived

Nov. 17, 2012 - Livingstone, Zambia (I survived)

Well. Im still alive.  I made it through 3 days of nothing but pure adrenaline rush.  That first day was whitewater rafting the Zambezi.  Yesterday was swimming in devil's pool.  Today was ziplining, bungee jumping and gorge swinging.

The Devil's pool is a nature pool of water at the very edge of Victoria Falls.  That in itself sounds scary enough.  But getting in makes it even scarier.  The tour starts at the Royal Livingstone Hotel.  A high class hotel just upstream of the falls.  A 5 min boat ride takes you to Livingstone Island in the middle of the falls.  On the island we walked to a few different view points to see the water falling over the edge.  Then we stripped down to our swimsuits and had to swim across a section of the river with a mild current.  It was no more than 100ft from the falls' edge.  There was a safety rope just in case you couldnt swim against the current.  After the swim we walked across a bit of rock that stuck u above the water.  This rock went all the way to the edge.  Just before the edge however you had to stop and jump about 5 ft out from the edge to land in the devil's pool. OH MY GOODNESS!  Alene volunteered to go first.  She is much braver than I am. The pool itself was pretty deep but if u jumped to far u would hit the current and most likely be swept off, if you didnt jump far enough you would hit rocks.  So with a big smile on her face Alene jumped into Devil's pool.  I was next and terrified but I managed a satisfactory jump into the pool.  The other 5 followed.  Once in we all lined up against the rock keeping the pool blocked.  Keep in mind though that there was still a moderate current and water was still going off the edge of the very pool we were swimming around in.  One by one the guide held our feet so we could peek our heads over the edge and look down.  This was the MOST TERRIFYING thing I have ever done.  Absolutely nothing can compare to the feeling that came over me while in that pool.  The fear could be read on my face by everyone else and Alene and Tom very nicely let me in front of them to crawl out and back onto the rocks. Thanks guys!  It was a once in a lifetime experience and Im glad I didnt but I dont think I ever need to do that again.

Today Kirsty and I had opted to do the Big Air Combo at the Bungee bridge.  The Zambezi river is the natural border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  The bridge connects the two countries.  For $160 I got to zipline across the river from Zambia to Zimbabwe, bungee off the bridge, and then gorge swing from the bridge.  Kirsty and I started with zipline.  Easy.  I had done zipling before.  Then was the bungee jump.  They changed my harness and wrapped towels around my shins and then around the towels they tied a rope.  The rope was then tied onto the bungee cord.  Again a feeling of terror came over me as I inched my way to the edge of platform.  I seriously considered backing out. I didnt really have to jump off a bridge 111 (over 330 ft) meters above a powerful and swift river.  But my pride won out and I made it to the edge with my toes hanging off.  The bungee guy did a count down from 5.  At 1 I spread my arms and jumped into the horizon.  The speed and fear prevented me from screaming on the way down.  It wasnt until the first rebound that I managed to let out a scream.  By this time however it was a scream of enjoyment and not of terror.  Minus the slight discomfort of the rope around my shins the jump was a complete success and rush! After the jump a bungee guy comes out to get you and haul you back up to the catwalk on the bridge.  This too was a bit scary.  You, of course, can see straight through to the water below.

BUT I wasnt done yet.  I still had the gorge swing left.  They once again changed my harness and clipped me into the swing ropes.  The ropes were heavy and pulled me towards the same platform that I had just bungee jumped from.  This jump had a 3 count countdown.  I jumped. Again I couldnt scream.  On the swing back I managed another scream of enjoyment.  YEsssss!!

What a crazy crazy few days.  Im exhausted and my adrenaline reserves are spent.  Very worth it! Most of all Im still alive. I survived!

What I have learned:
Jumping off a bridge is a terrifying and exhilarating experience.