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I think I'm in love! With a blonde, six foot, white water rafting guide called Sven... Or maybe it's just his job I'm in love with, I'm not sure, it's hard to separate the two. His job means he gets to surf down the Zambezi in the African sunshine every single day. He personally has a lot of facial hair and is the wrong side of thirty (and he's called Sven)... I think maybe I'll go with the job!
I probably should begin where I left off last time but I'm finding it hard to get the past couple of days out of my head (my currently burning legs are serving as a continuing reminder of this morning's rafting adventures!), so I think I might just start here and work backwards. So basically, white water rafting was AMAZING! There were eight of us from our tour group that wanted to do it in the end and Sven kindly said we could all go in the same boat (seven is normally the max). We set off at eight this morning after a full fried breakfast (couldn't say no - it's included in the price!) with all our gear in tow and massive grins on our faces. Our first challenge of the day was getting down to the river, something that involved hiking boots (i'm so glad they've got their first proper use!) and climbing backwards down ladders made of sticks, wedged into the side of the mountain! By the time we all made it to the bottom we were all ready for a good dunking in the Zambezi, which is just as well... I think Sven may have had some reservations about commandeering a boat of eight inexperienced twenty-something girls before we started, and they were all justified within the first ten minutes of us leaving the shore as we all squealed our way through the first rapid, completely forgetting to paddle and largely ending up sitting on the floor of the raft rather than on the edge! Our boat flipped on about the fifth rapid down and we all immediately forgot everything we'd been taught about holding onto the rope and staying calm and were flung in all directions screaming our heads of and swallowing large amounts of Zambezi in the process! I managed to cling onto my paddle and surfaced underneath the boat before coming out on the other side just in time to see kirsty floating away up river and Sven standing on our upturned raft and holding Bev by the shoulders going 'madam you're fine, madam you CAN breathe, madam look at me!'. It wasn't really the time to laugh but it was still so, so funny watching everyone scramble to get back to the boat, paddle-less and choking on brown water! Needless to say we were all fine, Sven managed to flip the boat back over and we managed to reclaim all of our eight of our crew members before we hit the next rapid (where we surpassed ourselves by managing to stay upright while both of the other boats in our group upturned once more). We were on the water for about two and a half hours in total but it felt like less than half that. I would gladly have walked all the way back up the side of the river and done it all again right there and then! As it was, we got a cable car back up to the top, grabbed a couple of cold beers and were driven back to our campsite where we watched a slideshow of photos that one of the guides had taken and a video of the entire trip (which the majority of us then bought so I'm sure you'll all end up seeing it at some stage!). It really was a phenomenal experience, and I haven't even mentioned the amazing scenery we saw on the way down, as we casually floated along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, and the six metre rock jump we did (despite Sven's warnings about girls jumping from that height!).
We've been in Livingstone, Zambia, for a couple of days now, just chilling at our campsite and making the most of being in one place longer than 24 hours so we can do some washing and actually have time to dry it. The first thing we did when we got here was go and see Victoria Falls, or 'The Mosi-oa-Tunya', which translates as 'the smoke that thunders' - the perfect description for one of the seven natural wonders of the world. It's not the tallest waterfall in the world, or the widest, but when you combine those two things it does become the largest, and it looks MASSIVE! We got drenched walking across the bridge in front of it, and then dipped our hands and feet in the pools that gather immediately behind it, before it plunges over the edge. Needless to say I took about twenty thousand photos of it... We actually then went back to the falls again last night because it was a full moon and a clear sky so we had a good chance of seeing a lunar rainbow. It was so strange seeing such a vibrant rainbow at night, the colours cutting through the stars in a pitch black sky. It was difficult getting a decent photo of it but I think I've got a couple that show pretty much what it was all about. I'd go back and see it again in a heartbeat...
Before we crossed the border into Zambia we were in Malawi, making our way slowly round Lake Malawi and staying at various campsites with various other tour buses and trucks of varying nationalities and degrees of mental sanity...! The Swedish 'pink caravaners' definitely stole the show, with their huge pink bus where they all slept on the roof in some kind of tarpaulin/mosquito net contraption (it would never be legal in England), and their strange fondness for walking around completely naked... It was a good few days, the main highlight being our fancy dress night, where we all pulled a name out of a hat and then spent 500 kwacha (about 3US$) at the local clothes market buying outrageous outfits for the person we'd picked out. Lucky Olly (who I got) ended up in a shiny gold skirt, leopard print top and a bridal veil! I think I got off fairly lightly with a pink polka dot dress and a sparkly headscarf...
Before Malawi, and this seems like forever ago now, we were still in Tanzania, driving down after our few days of paradise on Zanzibar. I think Zanzibar is proibably the most beautiful place I've ever been, with its white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue sea. The main highlight for me was a booze cruise (obviously it would involve alcohol!) where we paid $15 each for about three hours of sailing round the northern tip of the island on a wooden boat full to the brim with all-inclusive beers and spirits. After a couple of hours the guides dropped the anchor and let us jump and dive off the upper deck as the sun sank into the horizon behind us... That really has to be the definition of paradise for me!
I'm afraid I can't get any photos up at the moment, the internet connection here just isn't strong enough to upload anything of any decent size. I think I'm more likely to find somewhere where it won't take three hours to upload two photos when we get to New Zealand. (Mads, I'll spare you the thousand or so animals pics I've got!).
Thank you for all your messages - Mares, I'm sorry it turned into a bit of a maths test for you! I had no idea it did that... Grandma I'm loving the fact you've braved the internet to message me! I hope mum and dad are keeping you informed of my adventures... You should have another card in the post before too long! Really good to hear from the rest of you - I hope you're enjoying the snow back home, there's a TV in the bar here so we've all been catching up on the news (since when was Jeremy Clarkson calling Gordon Brown a 'one-eyed Scottish idiot' headline news?!).
Miss you and love you all lots!
A very sunburnt and adrenaline filled Heather :) xxx
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