When we arrived in camp it really hit us that we were at the half-way point of the trip. In a couple of days time we were going to be packing up our bags and tent and moving to a new truck. We'd be saying farewell to many of the people we had just become friends with and starting all over again with new tour leaders and a few new people. Sad in one respect and exciting in another. Having to live in such close quarters with everyone it is amazing how quickly you become a 'family' and develop routines.
First impressions of the camp at Livingstone - it is huge!! There are so many different tour companies here, some of which we recognised from the road, but even more that we have never heard of. The accommodation is quite varied, from the camping we are used to right through to luxury bungalow style cabins. It was a bit of a challenge to find a vacant space that was large enough for us and the truck and still be resonably close to any of the shower blocks.
As soon as we had the tents up we went to a briefing of the activities on offer. We had looked into this before we left England and budgeted for the extra cost. In the end we decided to do the Sunset Cruise as a group, White Water Rafting, and Elephant Riding. Claire was quite keen to see Victoria Falls from a Microlight (think lawnmower engine attached to a couple of seats with a wing above you) but since Steve wasn't keen we decided for a scenic flight on a proper plane later on in the trip.
The cruise was definitely a good time and included dinner and drinks, but mainly drinks. Sunset was amazing and we even saw some animals. Before we had even left the pier a crocodile was spotted and shortly after we started to see the heads of hippo's as they surfaced for air. During the cruise we also saw elephants, and giraffe. When we returned to the camp, there was a 'disco' but it seemed only our truck decided to attend. Oh well, we had a great night!
Our tour group and leader
Claire with Fiona - the aussie tour leader
Sunset down the Zambezi 
Elephants walking along the bank 
A few of the girls from the truck 
The next morning it was time for White Water Rafting along the Zambezi. 7 from our truck had deicided to take on the challenge of the full day experience and a couple turned up with sore heads. The safety briefing was short and sweet - Wear a helmet and life jacket, if you flip keep hold of the rope, and finally, if separated from the boat stay in the middle of the river and keep your feet in front of you (apparently that is beneficial if you hit one of the rock walls). The paddles float so no need to worry about those. The start point for the rafting was also the entrance to the Victoria Falls viewing platforms. It was this point that we realised that Zimbabwe was only a few metres away and our lifejackets had ZAMBIA printed on the back of them. The walk down into the gorge took forever and we were glad that we had kept our shoes with us.
Top of the gorge. Zambia on the left, Zimbabwe on the right. You can also see rapids 2 and 3.
Our boat with guide Scotty 
Eventually we found the boats and were told that we were doing a 'wet start'. This meant that we had to jump off the rocks into the water (about 5 metres) and be dragged into our boat. Any remaining sore heads from the night before were quickly cured as the water was freezing! The next few hours were action packed as we attempted 8 of the first 10 rapids before lunch. The ones we missed out were Rapid 1 which was deemed too difficult (thus the wet start) and so was the 6th, although it was amazing to stand on the bank and watch the safety kayaks go through.
Claire some how managed to find the water 3 times that morning. The first incident was in flat water between rapids when she lost concentration laughing at someone else's misfortune, and was rewarded with a quick dip and blood nose. The second dip was on the hardest rapid of the day when she managed to flip over the back, travel under the boat and pop up at the front, looking absolutely terrified. Luckily the boat had been pushed up against a rock and Steve and Mike in the front spots were able to pull her back in. Amazingly her paddle was still in her seat! The third incident was a deliberate flip by our guide Scotty. Claire found herself under the boat in an airpocket and was able to pop out on the side okay. Steve didn't manage to hold onto the rope whilst underneath the raft, and found himself floating down the river where the safety guys picked him up.
Claire fell out somewhere here...
and reappeared here...
finishing the rapid like this.
This was the next rapid. All survived!
A few rapids later - the boat starts to rise...
notice Scotty pulling on the rope...
remember the safety briefing - keep hold of the rope
looks like only one person was listening...
Steve definitely didn't hold on!
After lunch we tackled another 15 rapids which were slightly easier then the morning. Our guide told us he was going to flip us twice in the afternoon, but as some of the group hadn't handled the first flip very well, he decided to be nice. As we floated down the river we saw a small Crocodile and Claire was glad her nose was no longer bleeding! When we pulled in after rapid 25 we discovered that we had to take a cable car up the gorge to meet the truck. This was an interesting experience as we had to sign a waiver first, in the car the operator left the side doors open (as it was a bit windy) and told us we would probably get a decent bump when the car changed from the vertical cable to the horizontal cable. More then a few were a bit nervous of the height and very relieved to touch solid ground again.
After lunch we tackled another 15 rapids which were slightly easier then the morning. Our guide told us he was going to flip us twice in the afternoon, but as some of the group hadn't handled the first flip very well, he decided to be nice. As we floated down the river we saw a small Crocodile and Claire was glad her nose was no longer bleeding! When we pulled in after rapid 25 we discovered that we had to take a cable car up the gorge to meet the truck. This was an interesting experience as we had to sign a waiver first, in the car the operator left the side doors open (as it was a bit windy) and told us we would probably get a decent bump when the car changed from the vertical cable to the horizontal cable. More then a few were a bit nervous of the height and very relieved to touch solid ground again.
Solid and dry ground!!
In the truck and it was about 30min drive over very rough ground and through a couple of villages back to camp, where we were shown our photos and video of the day. All in all it was a great day, we finished with one blood nose, one twitsted knee, a maybe broken foot and 7 very sunburnt tourists. All of us were exhausted and were in bed at 8pm.
We tried to load the video directly onto here, but it was a little big. Our fellow traveller Dan has loaded it onto Youtube so follow this link:
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