Dying to get some action and fun and adventure, we headed to Livingstone, the thrill-seekers capital of Zambia. We met some lovely American missionaries at the border who took us across the river Zambezi and drove us to our backpackers an hour away. Their 13 year old son was lovely, he was born and grew up in Africa and was just about to start high school in America. I immediately thought of Lindsey Lohans character in Mean Girls. I wonder if he will get corrupted. The missionaries dropped us off at Jollyboys backpackers; a hostel that has become an institution and has gained legendary status as a rite of passage for backpackers in Southern Africa.

I stayed there when I was 18 and in Zambia for a week en route to Venezuela from Ghana. It was the first real backpacker hangout I'd been to and I remember thinking that is was the best place I had ever stayed in. Most of the backpackers I met back then were all in their late 20s with stories to tell from all over the world, I remember feeling very inexperienced at 18 so it was funny to be back but this time with 5 years of adventures to share! A lot had changed in 5 years and Jollyboys had become a party hostel, every night random people hooked up and in the mornings you watch people saying their awkward goodbyes before escaping on a bus to Zim, Namibia or Malawi. Everyone passes through Livingstone and everyone was up for a party. Many of the clubs were 80% locals, 20% backpackers while some were the opposite. And for some reason, male Western travellers in Africa totally let their hair down in night clubs! I've seen it happen numerous times when would-be conservative white guys, cut lose and go wild on the dance floor, pulling obscenely ridiculous moves they would be too scared to do at home! We met an array of other interesting groups like 4 Essex girls, hair straighteners, make up and all who had travelled down from Tanzania. They were awesome and proved you can rough it AND still look good, even though they had just come off the Tazara train from Tanzania, a journey which takes anywhere from between 24-60 hours.

We were lucky to make it out of Livingstone alive. Imagine Disneyland made up of natural wonders without the harnesses and health and safety. Everything we did had a fairly high percentage of impending doom! White water rafting, walking with lions, a microlight flight which is like riding a lawnmower with wings above the Falls and swimming for our lives at the top of the Falls, 10 meters away from the 110 meter drop. Not to mention Sarah bungee jumping off a bridge above jagged rocks and watching Mom and Sarah strapped into a harness stepping off a 110 m high platform into the gorge. NOTHING was safe, every time we thought one trip may be nice and relaxing, we were confronted with danger. Several people drown each month rafting and each rapid we went down, I thought this was it. We did the rafting day with the Essex girls who encountered a near fatal experience. Their raft flipped over mid rapid, trapping the raft between the rocks, the girls were all trapped underneath for at least a minute, we found them clinging to the side of rocks further down the river crying, luckily our rafting guide, Super Steve, was competent enough to see us through without anyone getting hurt. I was petrified by every activity we did. Even up to the last morning we were meant to swim in a pool at the top of the falls, they didn't tell us we would have to swim through the massive current and if we didn't swim fast and hard enough we would be swept over Victoria Falls!