Over the holidays I had a visitor from the
states! Over the course of their stay we went to a few local markets, ate at
some tasty restaurants in Lusaka, stayed in my village for Christmas, and went
to Zambia's number one tourist destination, Livingstone. While everything we
did was pretty fun and definitely a new experience for Ryan, the most
outrageous and crazy thing we did was white water rafting on the Zambezi River.
I've had numerous volunteers say it is one of the best things they've done in
Zambia. Perhaps for those adrenaline junkies, this was an awesome experience.
For me and Ryan it was slightly (really?) terrifying and we were glad 1) we
only went for half a day and 2) when it was over. Before even signing up I was
hesitant. I’ve been rafting once in the states and really enjoyed it but water
isn’t my favorite element and I don’t find digging a paddle into foaming,
raging water and hanging onto a raft for dear life very relaxing. Ryan is
slightly more experienced than me when it comes to white water rafting and was
really looking forward to it so it became our one big splurge during his visit.
Rafting on the Zambezi River is considered to be
the best one-day white water rafting trips in the world (http://www.zambezi.com/content/white_water_rafting_the_zambezi_river).I didn't know this at the time or else I never would have done it. But ignorance can be a great enabler.
Now most of the time when you go rafting the
guides tell you there is a chance you might end up in the water due to your
raft flipping or you falling out because of a large wave. A chance, let me
stress this, a chance that if your group can’t synchronize or you hit a rapid
wrong you might end up in some rough water. When we arrived at the office we
were told that we would definitely end up in the water. After being outfitted
with helmets and huge life vests we headed to Victoria Falls National Park to
begin our half day adventure.
Boiling Pot, just below Victoria Falls, was a churning,
raging mess of water. The rafting company was throwing us right into it from
the beginning as Boiling Pot is a class 4/5 rapid (classes range from 1 to 6 , 6
being un-runnable). Steeling myself for the worst, I climbed into my raft with the
guide, Enoch, Ryan, a family from San Francisco, and a couple from Australia.
Let the fun times begin.
With the first attempt at Boiling Pot, everyone
except Enoch, me, and the daughter of the SF couple, ended up in the river. The
next attempt found Ryan in the water with a dislocated knee (luckily it popped
back in by itself but that didn’t really mean it was completely pain-free and
hunky dory). At times, throughout the course of the next 8 rapids (we skipped
#9 as the water was to rough and high) all we could do was duck down in the
raft and hold on for dear life so as not to be thrown into the rapids. Our crew
made it through almost all of the rapids without any mishaps, even the one
where there was a 5-8 meter drop, until we hit rapid #7, Gulliver’s Travels.
Our entire raft flipped, tossing everyone into the river. There’s never been
any point in my life where I thought I was close to death but when I ended up
in the Zambezi on this rapid I truly thought I was going to drown. All I could
do was hold on to the rope that was attached to the raft and fight as best I
could from being dragged under the water. Sometimes I’d end up under the raft.
At other times I was being dragged like a ragdoll alongside of it. Even when the
raft threw me against some rocks I couldn’t do anything but hold on. Letting go
for me was unthinkable as I thought I would surely be a goner. When I finally
surfaced in slightly calmer water, I was hyperventilating (perhaps having a
panic attack?), trying to catch my breath. The guide must have realized I was
starting to panic because he dragged me onto the raft and told me to hold on
(nope, we weren’t done with Gulliver’s Travels yet). I thought I was scared
during my time in the water when we finally reached a calm patch, Ryan was not
in the raft. I couldn’t spot him anywhere. With no idea where he was or if he
was okay, I tried reining in my panic and questions and stop myself from
thinking I was going to see a body floating in the pool where things like
paddles were accumulating. After the next rapid our crew regrouped and Ryan was
re-united with our small watercraft.
For the last 2 rapids we stayed in the raft and
finished the trip with a sigh of relief, happy to be back on solid ground.
Although we had quite a trek out of the Batoka Gorge, it was good to be off of
the water. While this gave Ryan and I a good story to awe friends and relatives
with, we both agreed to never do such a thing again. At least we also signed up for the sunset cruise.
