Christmas with a difference!

• Nickyloo's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Victoria Falls

Trip Start Sep 02, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Jan 23, 2008 Next
Entry

  Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Hey folks!  Hope you all had a great christmas & new year.  Mine was certainly different, very strange being away from all of you!  Vic Falls was great & action packed to say the least.  We were satying at a Campsite called Shoestrings which was right in the town centre & were all the locals came, so was pretty lively.  My first day a group of us went White Water Rafting.  I'd been really undecided about rafting as I'd heard some horror stories but I'd also heard great things.  Decided it was probably the only chance I would get to do it for a long time & the Zambezi river is supposed to be the best rafting in the world.....so I thought bugger it!  We had to walk down into the gorge to reach our rafts, which in itself was pretty tough.  Almost vertical steps - not for the vertigo sufferers.  We met our guide (Tabs) who taught us how to paddle & what his instructions meant - paddle hard, get down that sort of thing.  He also showed us the OS line, which is a rope going round the edge of the raft which you hang on to if you fall in

Singing carols on Christmas Eve

.  It stands for outside line but we liked to call it the oh shit line!  We set off & our frist four rapids were fantastic.  We all managed to stay in & even smiled for the video camera.  As we approached each rapid Tabs would talk us throught was grade it was & where to try & paddle to so as not to get flipped over.  Next came rapid 5 (The Stairway to heaven or in my case hell) which was our first grade 5 rapid.  We were all feeling pretty confident having not yet fallen out..........!  We paddled hard into the rapid & got down in the raft when Tabs told us to, just in time to drop down the 12 foot drop!  Crashed into the water & little old me came flying out.....having let go of the oh shit line!  When the rapid spat me out after a couple of seconds my boat was nowhere to be seen.  I was washed down the river so quickly when I aventually got to the calm water all the safety kayaks & my raft were miles away.  It was fun but pretty scary at the same time!  I was still in shock when Tabs started describing Rapid no 6, the Devils toilet bowl (think whirlpools!  Down we went & this time our whole raft flipped & we all came out.  Remembering what I'd been told I curled into a ball & the whirlpool spat me out.  After getting everyone back on board we made our way down the next couple of rapids fine.  No 9 we had to get out & walk around as it was a Grade 6.....didn't fancy tackling that one after my grade 5 experience!  We stopped half way for lunch & me & Gemma decided a half day was enough.  We then had to walk out of the gorge back up the almost vertical steps - it was worth it though because there was a cold drink waiting at the top.  Was a fantastic experience & so glad I did it but was pretty scary so think once is plenty for me.

That night it was Chritmas eve so we got in the spirit singing carols at the campsite

Me Kim & Elly

.  Was really nice cos had barely thought about christmas up until then.  I also found a new love for Gin....I'll say no more.  Christmas day we went to a retaraunt called Elephant Hills where we had a buffet style lunch, was lovely but all I could think about was turkey & trimmings.  We did Secret Santa which was hilarious!  In the afternoon we went on a sunset booze cruise, which was OK but we drank the bar dry oops!  Not beacuse we're alcoholics but beacuse they hadn't bought enought drink.  Spent the rest of the night at the campsite chatting & dancing with locals.  Even Santa Clauss made an appearance!

Boxing day I was up at 6am for my microlight flight over the Falls.  It was pretty exciting especially taking off & landing.  Was amazing how safe I felt being propelled through the air by a big fan!  The falls were beautiful, got a better idea of the size from the air.  Spent the afternoon walking around town & buying souvenires from the markets.  Walked down to the falls to see them from close up....they are very impressive & very wet!

Wizby, Robbie, Bear & Anna left the truck on boxing day.  The truck won't be the same without them believe you me!!

Cheerio for now
Love you all xxxxxxxxxx

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Christmas Day	Secret Santa	Brendon	Theres an uncanny similarity
Bit different to your traditional santa	The girls?!!	Victoria falls	Victoria falls
It was pretty wet	Rainbow falls	Microlight flight	Flying over the falls

Slideshow Print this entry Share Victoria Falls hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry