Just the Beginning

(Sunset on the Booze Cruise)

Where do I begin? That has been the question running in and out of my head for the past few days. How do I begin to explain the countless activities we did, people we met, animals we saw, living conditions in a form that I was unaware existed. The most troubling aspect of it all is that I still cannot really begin to understand it myself. I am going to try and keep the next few blog entries concise and to the point, but please bare with me if they get lengthy.

Anna, Julie, Talya and I flew into Zambia, Livingstone on a Friday the 19th with minimal problems and checked into the Jolly Boys Hostel located in the heart of Livingstone. We immediately signed ourselves up for a booze cruise on the Zambezi River for that night. The drinks were tasty, the people interesting, and most importantly the sunset was breathtaking. Woke up very early Saturday morning to embark on a 50 minute drive on the back of a jeep through a local village that brought us to a starting point on the Zambezi. There we were taken down in a cable car and spent 30 minutes on a “Jet Extreme” boat. Cool but not worth the money. That afternoon we walked with lions, which definitely deserves it’s own post, so look out for that.














(Out on the Jet Extreme Boat, Zambezi River)

Sunday morning we had another early wake up and were greeted by our new best friend for the day, Potatoe. Yes, that is his actual name. And yes, he claims his sister is Sweet Potatoe. Anyways, Potatoe jeeped us along with three inflatable “canoes” (they seemed more like kayaaks to me but who knows) to the Upper Zambezi River. We set out for a full day canoeing trip, and spent a lot of downtime floating with the current, bathing in the broiling sun, and screaming through the occasional rapid. Also spent most of our time in immense fear due to the fact that Potatoe continued to steer us through “hippo territory.” Being that hippos kill the most humans of any animals in Africa (mosquitoes being second, malaria), I was not so thrilled. Every several minutes Potatoe would take his oar and smack it on the water to “wake the hippos up” in case they were too close so we could scramble out of that area. At first I thought that, like the name Potatoe, the reality of hippos was a funny joke, but quickly learned otherwise. All in all, the day was a success and no one was eaten by hippos or crocs. We also ended our adventure virtually at the top of Victoria Falls- stunning view. When we returned back to Jolly Boys that afternoon we had Ariel waiting for us which was (obviously) magical and that is when our adventures really began...







The above is only brief details about the first weekend of our trip-a lot more to come-hopefully in the near future.

thandi from africa
emma