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Flew from Nairobi down to Johannesburg to meet my parents for their first trip to Africa. We went to a shopping mall to do a bit of lastminute shopping and then caught up on sleep before heading back to the airport the next morning for our flight to Zambia. Livingstone is home to one side of the Victoria Falls, a spectacular waterfall spanning the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia, pouring millions of gallons of water every minute down the gorge, creating rapids beyond anything anyone would want to be floating through!
We checked into the Zambezi waterfront, as it sounds right on the river's edge with boats moored up for cruising up the river. We were staying in a permanent tent and my parents in a room with a verrandah the monkeys liked to frequent! Went to see the main attraction, the falls themselves. A path runs right along the edge of the gorge, you can feel the spray and hear the power of the water pummeling the rocks below. A huge arc rainbow fell between the gorge which was beautiful. We joined a 'booze cruise' with my parents who don't really partake in much alcohol drinking, so I was a little worried, but I think they enjoyed themselves. We found a relatively quiet spot at the front of the boat next to the barbecue, and watched the hippos wallowing in the water, deer running along the banks, and birds flying through the trees. There was probably far more wildlife we didn't see but we had plenty of time for that.
We had a bit of a nightmare interruption to the week after a trip to the doctor proved too worrying to ignore. Chris hadn't been feeling great since our Kilimanjaro ascent, and he was told he should go to see a cardiologist in Jo'burg before the clinic closed for Christmas. So, we hurriedly arranged a trip back and managed to re-arrange our Christmas present to each other - a stay in the luxury Royal Livingstone Hotel. The trip went as smoothly as we could've hoped and we arrived back very relieved and full of renewed vigour in Chris' case - ready to do everything possible! We booked up the white water rafting and for Chris a gorge swing, then went to reassure my parents that all was ok, before checking into the hotel.
My Dad had spent the morning flying through the gorge and over the falls in a helicopter, which he loved. We left them to their unusually relaxing holiday, and enjoyed all the hotel facilities. On arriving, we had driven past the resident giraffes munching on the trees. We were then driven to our room in a golf buggy, and got changed to dive straight in the pool and cool down! We could hear the hippos in the river and saw two elephants crossing as the sun went down, creating the brightest pink sky I've ever seen. Made the most of the big bath having been roughing it camping for most of the last few weeks, then had a lovely meal on the terrace, watching the spray from the falls.
We didn't realise until we drew our curtains the next morning, that there were also nine resident zebra roaming the hotel grounds. They were wild and just fed of their own accord on the lawns, but seemed pretty relaxed with guests walking along side them and taking photos nearby! While I was taking a shower, Chris opened the patio door and went to get his book from the bedside table. Before he knew it, all he could see was the tail of a cheeky monkey exiting the room, then scuttling up a tree and turning to face him, with a mouth full of what looked like cigarettes. The monkey had stolen all of the white sugar sachets from the tea tray and stuffed them in it's mouth altogether, and amazingly left all of the brown ones in the pot!
After an amazing buffet and a la carte breakfast, we went white water rafting that day, which was one of the scariest things I have ever done. It's quite hard to relax when your boat capsizes on the first rapid and you lose your oar then have to wait for twenty minutes to locate the rest of your crew, clinging on to the rocks on the side of the rapids in the meantime! The day was looking a little full on and it was only 9am! By lunch time I was about ready to give up, but was reassured the afternoon would be more gentle, and didn't fancy the hour hot walk out of the gorge much either! Chris had spent the morning body boarding down some of the deeper rapids. I seemed to spent most of it spinning through the water scrambling for air! The grade 5 rapids (the highest commercially ridden) were pretty full on with their swirling pools and large rocks creating deep pools and narrow gulleys. Not something I'm keen to repeat all too often!
The end of the day provided food for thought when lightning started and we were still in the water holding our metal oars! Sped to the rickety cable train up the steep slope out of the gorge, and headed past the local rural villages on the way back. Chris gave his favourite Levi's t-shirt away to a young boy and then was left shivering when we got a flat tyre and had to walk back to the hotel!
Chris did the gorge swing the next day, a bungyesque activity not for the feint hearted! My parents and I watched and laughed as he cried 'Merry Christmas' on his way down! After a hot walk out he was doing it again backwards 15 minutes later, so I think he enjoyed himself!
We had a very civilised afternoon High Tea back at the hotel with the most amazing array of mini cakes to chose from. Chose we did, and not that selectively, each being presented with our own three tier stand as well as finger sandwiches and condiments - yum yum! Anyone who believes Chris when he says he doesn't like cakes should think again! We moved our dinner reservation later after that feast and flopped on the loungers by the pool until the sun started to go down.
We were sad to leave but were looking forward to a family Christmas back in South Africa with Chris' brother Paul and his family.
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