In Zimbabwe we stayed right near the Zambian border nearby Victoria Falls…just so everyone knows America has better falls ;) Those of you on the tour reading this will surely get my joke. Anyway, this was the place for a lot of the adrenaline activities, so I decided to partake in a few. First up flying fox…I didn’t know what this entailed but knew it was some type of ziplining activity. The flying fox harness is on your back so you are prone as you sail across a gorge which holds the water of the mighty Victoria Falls. I felt like superwoman!! It was thrilling and only increasing the adrenaline flowing through my body in preparation for the gorge swing.
Next up: Gorge Swing…again I wasn’t sure how this activity worked, but what the heck let’s do it!!! The harness is now in front and I face forward on a wooden plank that’s blazing hot! My toes hang precariously over the edge and I’m not sure what I’m doing here overlooking an intense drop…5-4-3-2-1!!! And I am pulled by the tension of the rope and swing like a gorilla, but not as elegant across this 316m wide, 120m drop with a 70m free fall gorge hanging by a rope!! Wow! Thrilling!!! As I was hanging at the bottom my imagination came alive with my eyes fooling me into seeing crocodiles swimming around in the bottom of the gorge awaiting my rope to snap and have their lunch delivered like dominos pizza in 30 minutes or less! Fortunately for me no crocs…only logs and the rope withstood my weight! Next up: Gorge Swing #2! Yes after my first adrenaline filled-what-the-heck-am-I-doing-swinging-over-a-rushing-river-swing, I decide to do it again…only this time I go backwards…well that was the intention! So again I get to the edge of the plank, feet on fire, facing my trusty harness securing experts, but this time with my heels hanging off! I give the guys one last fearful look, arms crossed over my chest and yell so loudly as the tension of the rope pulls me off!!! I ended up doing a backflip and then flipping back over and flying across this incredible gorge! As a Kiwi friend of mine would say…AWESOME!!!! Again filled with so much adrenaline I came up trembling with a rush and a high that felt so euphoric!!! Unbelievable!! After that I went on to see the falls from above…yes a 12 minute helicopter ride to view a beautiful sight…superfluous rainbows over every part of the falls, seeing the intensity at which the water rushes over the edge to drop 100m below into a swirling pool and a mist so pretty and cool like awakening to a foggy spring morning! Twelve minutes just isn’t long enough.
Next day…BUNGY JUMP!!! An 111m (~360ft) jump from Vic Falls bridge with approximately four seconds of freefall!! As I walked across the bridge, in all honesty I wasn’t scared one bit, I actually thought the bridge was going to be something more spectacular and for some reason I thought it would be higher?? Anyway, I registered, weighed in and patiently waited in the queue. My turn came, I stepped into the harness, secured by two carabineers, sat on a bench as instructed, watched as my legs were wrapped in dark blue towels “for comfort” and a multitude of straps and lanyards and carabineers. As I sat there my new found friends kindly recorded my fear expressed on my face and cheered me on. One last instruction given to me, “Remember this is called a bungy jump and not a bungy fall, so jump!!” 5-4-3-2-1, BUNGYYYYY!!!! I leapt off the edge and plummeted toward the Zambezi River rushing furiously below me!!! Staring all the way down, keeping my body stiff as not to get retracted by the cord like a tape measure! INCREDIBLE!!! The rush was thrilling!! I must have recoiled about 3 times before the elasticity settled in the cord and I spun in circles like an Olympic figure skater…unfortunately I wasn’t accustomed to this motion and began to feel ill. I decided to go into OT mode and deduce whether it was better to keep my eyes shut or open, so I did a bit of both and neither helped. I just spun until I was retrieved and tilted upright and hoisted back up!! I did it!! I bungeed!! The worst part was walking under the bridge back up to the top as my body was trembling with adrenaline!! Oh how incredible!! Later that evening I noticed my right calf was in extreme pain and the driver of the overland truck had noticed some blood in my left eye! I guess that’s what I get for throwing my self off an 111m bridge! FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!
