The next morning we left lake Malawi and headed to Chipata crossing the border into Zambia. We arrived to the camp in darkness as they had had a power cut - interesting going to the loo and showering by torch light (watch out for those geckos and spiders. After dinner we went straight to bed, another early start.
The next morning saw an early start as we had another long days drive ahead of us, heading for Lusaka. The mornings in the truck are normally spent sleeping as som mornings we are up at 4 or 5am and it's still pitch black when we set off. There is a table on the truck so we can play cards or scrabble. Although the game that seems to pass most of the time is charades - one side of the truck against the other, very entertaining. And of course eating is a good way to pass time, we are going to be HUGE by the end of this trip. We arrived late at the campsite in Lusaka, another late dinner and straight to bed for another early start. During dinner a handful of zebras wander through the campsite, quite amazing. Just goes to show how close we are to the local wildlife. The next morning we packed up early and drove south to Livingstone. We were originally suppose to stay in Zimbabwe but due to the political climate and our safety we stayed in Livingstone, which is in Zambia. However a few of the optional activities took place in Zimbabwe which was fine for us as we could go across for a day if we bought a single entry visa. However this proved to be a bit expensive for the English, something like US$400, thankfully we were traveling on our NZ passports. So it was a bit limiting for some people on the activities as they could only do them on the Zambia side. There was only one activity we wanted to do in Zimbabwe which was the Lion Encounter - we actually got to walk with lions and pat them. They were 14 months old, so still quite young but still big enough to cause harm if they wanted to, but they would only consider it playing. It was an amazing experience. We were picked up at 6:15am and driven across to the Zambia border. Once through immigration we were met and driven through no man's land to the Zimbabwe border, however our van broke down halfway (he ran out of gas, the problem is fuel is so expensive so people only put a small amount in their tanks because if they fill them up people tend to siphon it out). We got in a taxi one day and the driver stopped at the gas station and put in 2 litres, just enough to drop us off and back to pick up his next passenger. Once we all piled out we then walked to the border and were picked up on the Zimbabwe side. Driving through Zimbabwe you couldn't help but feel sad, it has so much to offer for tourists but because no one goes there anymore everything was shut or closed down (most of their tourism has now moved to Zambia). The lion encounter was amazing, after we were given a welcome coffee, shown a video on the work they are doing at the park with the lions, we then signed our life away and they gave us each a stick to protect us, which they showed us how to use. If the lions became too "playful" you were to hit the stick on the ground and say no with confidence - easy hey!! Naturally we were all nervous to begin with, but it didn't take long for us to become at ease with them, too much at ease in fact. It wasn't until one of them growled that we remembered that they were in fact wild animals who could turn at any moment and not domesticated cats. It truly was an awesome experience to get so close to such wild animals, walk with them and actually touch them.
On the way back camp after the tour ended we stopped off on the Victoria Falls bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia and watch people bungy jump off the bridge, exactly what Guy would be doing the next day - not sure if that was a good idea, it was a long way down and Guy sure did look nervous watching !! That afternoon Shannene did a micro light flight over Victoria Falls, one of the highlights of her trip. She came off the flight grinning from ear to ear. The pilot had even let her steer it. She wasn't allowed to take a camera up with her as it is open to the elements (you straddle the pilot, your feet are on pedals like a bike, and just a flimsy lap belt to keep you in place) and you could easily drop it or worse get caught in the propeller/fan which is right behind where she sat. However there was a camera attached to the wing which took some amazing photos. The next afternoon Guy was booked on to do 3 adrenalin jumps off Victoria Falls bridge - a slide (similar to a flying fox), a swing and a bungy jump. We didn't have any lunch, Guy was nervous he might bring it up mid jump and Shannene was just as nervous for him and wanted to be on top form for her filming (which did turn out to be a bit shaky!!). First up was the slide which was pretty tame, a warm up for the next two. Shannene was keen to do it if only she hadn't been wearing a skirt. Then came the bungy - 118 metres high, 108 kms in 4 seconds, you felt giddy just looking over the edge of the bridge. Guy enjoyed the free fall but dangling up side down, spinning around with the blood rushing to his head wasn't that great. Last but not least came the swing - 180 kms in 4 seconds. This time Guy ran off the platform and swung out across the river. Once again enjoyed the free fall, but was painful when the slack disappeared and then you actually start to swing. He had several bruises and grazes on his inner thighs and a suspected cracked rib to show for it - no pain no gain. All of the jumps were a real rush and he was adrenalined up all afternoon, he was heard saying "I'm never ever doing a bung jump again".But hey, never say never!! Shannene was really proud of Guy and still can't believe he threw himself off Victoria Falls bridge,not once but 3 times. It was great getting back to the campsite to share our stories over a few beers with our new tour friends, it was a great setting with the sun going down over the Zambezi river and in the distance an elephant was swimming across to the mainland.