For our October holiday this year,we traveled up to Victoria Falls, one of the largest waterfalls in the world. The vacation was filled with good family outings combined with some extreme adventure. We started the trip with a flight to Zambia and a short drive up to the border of Zimbabwe where we spent most of our time. After purchasing visas, we made our way to the Victoria Falls Restcamp and began to book all of our excursions.
The first full day was spent on a safari in Botswana at the Chobe National Park. We started in a boat on the Chobe River - an experience that we have never had during a safari yet. It was amazing to see the animals from this perspective. We saw lots of hippos (in and out of the water) and crocodiles. The girls especially liked the crocodiles. We also saw many water buffaloes and more elephants in one place that we have ever witnessed before. Hundreds and hundreds of elephants were packed together at the river. We even saw a large group of them cross the river to the other side. As they stepped in to the river, the elephants held on to one another, trunk to tail. When the baby elephants did this, they completely emerged under water and could not be seen again until they made it to the other side. After about three hours on the river, we went back to land for lunch followed by a game drive alongside the river. Here we saw many of the same animals but from the land perspective.
During the next day, the girls stayed back with a baby-sitter at the Restcamp while Justin and I went white water rafting. This was an experience that we will never forget. We first had to hike down a very rocky path to the bottom of the falls where we awaited our fate on the Zambezi River. There were a total of 19 rapids to overcome, and as long as our boat worked together as a team to paddle and listen to the guide, all 19 should go smoothly. Unfortunately, we ended up in boat with no one else that had rafted before. We're not even sure they knew what they were signing up for because very few people in our boat even wanted to paddle at all. This was bad news for any of us that planned on working hard to stay in the boat. Needless to say, when we entered our first class 5 rapid, there was no hope at all. We immediately were tossed out of the boat, and this was the scariest experience I have ever had. I was pushed under rapid after rapid without a chance to come up for air. Any time I reached the surface, I was pushed straight back down without the chance to take a deep breath. I thought for sure I was going to drown, when I finally reached the surface and stayed there. A kayaker picked me up and brought me back to another boat while we all waited for someone to fetch our capsized boat and bring it back to us. Justin was picked up by another boat during this time and came out without any physical or emotional damages. When everyone from our boat finally sat back in to our original boat, someone mentioned how she saw a crocodile in the river during our fall!
The next class 5 rapid did not get much better. One of the leaders in the boat actually started paddling backwards going in to the rapid when the guide was screaming "hard forward!" Once again, we were hopeless as a boat and ended up in the water again. The fall was not nearly as bad this time, but morale was very low in our boat. We needed to survive a rapid, so Justin took the lead along with another guy that was not a huge athlete nor had any rafting experience, but he was willing to work hard and lead. This defintely improved our rafting abilities, and we did make it through most of the rapids that were left, but there was nothing we could do about the people that did not want to paddle. There were times where Justin, I, and this other guy were the only three of the eight people in the boat that were paddling at all. It was so frustrating.
Just when we thought we were going to reach the end, rapid #18 was another class 5. We went in to the rapid determined not to fall, but again, it was not our fate. Our boat practically bent in half and the top side flipped backwards. This was Justin's worse fall. As one of the leaders, he fell backward and over everyone else in the boat. His knee ended up hitting something hard (perhaps another person's tooth), and his is still concerned that it might be injured. It also did not help that once we finished the rafting, we had to hike up to the top of the ravine, but we both made it and survived the 19 rapids and 4 capsizes.
The next day of our trip was a lot more low-key as our family took a little hike and visited the waterfalls. They were enormous and beautiful, and the girls were really excited to finally see the Vic Falls that we have been talking about for a while now. Taelyn learned all about how some things are for kids and some things are not as she realized that she can't get too close to the edge or raft the river at the bottom. Kaelia discovered that she loves some waterfalls but not the ones that get her wet. She did not like getting in close to the parts that were spraying water every where and would not stop talking about it. Even when we reached the end where everything was dry, she pointed over to the rainy area and said "other waterfalls get me wet!" The hike was also a good experience for the girls. Taelyn held the guides hand through some of the paths until she had to make a stop to swing on the "Tarzan" vines.
We had a pretty down day next in our trip while we walked around town and spent a while at the pool. But we ended the day with a train ride to a bridge that connects Zimbabwe to Zambia, going across the Zambezi River. The girls had been talking about the train all week and could not wait to ride it. They were also equally as excited to get to the bridge because we called it the Tangled bridge from the Disney movie, and Tangled is Kaelia's absolute favorite Disney movie. (She did understand this time, though, that Maximus the horse would not be on the bridge!) The train ride was fantastic and came with happy hour drinks and snacks on the train and champagne once we reached the bridge. During the ride we saw some impala and warthogs as well.
For our final day, we headed back to Zambia to catch a plane back to South Africa. But before we went to the airport, we made one last stop to Devil's Pool. Justin and I took turns while one of us stayed back with the kids and the other zoomed off in a small boat to the top of the waterfalls. Here lies a small pool with a rock wall directly at the edge of the waterfall. So we jumped on in to the pool and climbed over to the rock wall. The guide even held our feet while we lay down as if diving in to the falls. Our photos from the experience look like we Photoshopped ourselves in to a picture of the waterfalls, but it was actually us there! To end the experience, breakfast was waiting for us behind the pool.
Our trip to Victoria Falls was absolutely amazing! Check out our photos below. For the rafting video, I am in the yellow helmet, and Justin is in the front (most of the time to the right except for the second crash).
The first full day was spent on a safari in Botswana at the Chobe National Park. We started in a boat on the Chobe River - an experience that we have never had during a safari yet. It was amazing to see the animals from this perspective. We saw lots of hippos (in and out of the water) and crocodiles. The girls especially liked the crocodiles. We also saw many water buffaloes and more elephants in one place that we have ever witnessed before. Hundreds and hundreds of elephants were packed together at the river. We even saw a large group of them cross the river to the other side. As they stepped in to the river, the elephants held on to one another, trunk to tail. When the baby elephants did this, they completely emerged under water and could not be seen again until they made it to the other side. After about three hours on the river, we went back to land for lunch followed by a game drive alongside the river. Here we saw many of the same animals but from the land perspective.
During the next day, the girls stayed back with a baby-sitter at the Restcamp while Justin and I went white water rafting. This was an experience that we will never forget. We first had to hike down a very rocky path to the bottom of the falls where we awaited our fate on the Zambezi River. There were a total of 19 rapids to overcome, and as long as our boat worked together as a team to paddle and listen to the guide, all 19 should go smoothly. Unfortunately, we ended up in boat with no one else that had rafted before. We're not even sure they knew what they were signing up for because very few people in our boat even wanted to paddle at all. This was bad news for any of us that planned on working hard to stay in the boat. Needless to say, when we entered our first class 5 rapid, there was no hope at all. We immediately were tossed out of the boat, and this was the scariest experience I have ever had. I was pushed under rapid after rapid without a chance to come up for air. Any time I reached the surface, I was pushed straight back down without the chance to take a deep breath. I thought for sure I was going to drown, when I finally reached the surface and stayed there. A kayaker picked me up and brought me back to another boat while we all waited for someone to fetch our capsized boat and bring it back to us. Justin was picked up by another boat during this time and came out without any physical or emotional damages. When everyone from our boat finally sat back in to our original boat, someone mentioned how she saw a crocodile in the river during our fall!
The next class 5 rapid did not get much better. One of the leaders in the boat actually started paddling backwards going in to the rapid when the guide was screaming "hard forward!" Once again, we were hopeless as a boat and ended up in the water again. The fall was not nearly as bad this time, but morale was very low in our boat. We needed to survive a rapid, so Justin took the lead along with another guy that was not a huge athlete nor had any rafting experience, but he was willing to work hard and lead. This defintely improved our rafting abilities, and we did make it through most of the rapids that were left, but there was nothing we could do about the people that did not want to paddle. There were times where Justin, I, and this other guy were the only three of the eight people in the boat that were paddling at all. It was so frustrating.
Just when we thought we were going to reach the end, rapid #18 was another class 5. We went in to the rapid determined not to fall, but again, it was not our fate. Our boat practically bent in half and the top side flipped backwards. This was Justin's worse fall. As one of the leaders, he fell backward and over everyone else in the boat. His knee ended up hitting something hard (perhaps another person's tooth), and his is still concerned that it might be injured. It also did not help that once we finished the rafting, we had to hike up to the top of the ravine, but we both made it and survived the 19 rapids and 4 capsizes.
The next day of our trip was a lot more low-key as our family took a little hike and visited the waterfalls. They were enormous and beautiful, and the girls were really excited to finally see the Vic Falls that we have been talking about for a while now. Taelyn learned all about how some things are for kids and some things are not as she realized that she can't get too close to the edge or raft the river at the bottom. Kaelia discovered that she loves some waterfalls but not the ones that get her wet. She did not like getting in close to the parts that were spraying water every where and would not stop talking about it. Even when we reached the end where everything was dry, she pointed over to the rainy area and said "other waterfalls get me wet!" The hike was also a good experience for the girls. Taelyn held the guides hand through some of the paths until she had to make a stop to swing on the "Tarzan" vines.
We had a pretty down day next in our trip while we walked around town and spent a while at the pool. But we ended the day with a train ride to a bridge that connects Zimbabwe to Zambia, going across the Zambezi River. The girls had been talking about the train all week and could not wait to ride it. They were also equally as excited to get to the bridge because we called it the Tangled bridge from the Disney movie, and Tangled is Kaelia's absolute favorite Disney movie. (She did understand this time, though, that Maximus the horse would not be on the bridge!) The train ride was fantastic and came with happy hour drinks and snacks on the train and champagne once we reached the bridge. During the ride we saw some impala and warthogs as well.
For our final day, we headed back to Zambia to catch a plane back to South Africa. But before we went to the airport, we made one last stop to Devil's Pool. Justin and I took turns while one of us stayed back with the kids and the other zoomed off in a small boat to the top of the waterfalls. Here lies a small pool with a rock wall directly at the edge of the waterfall. So we jumped on in to the pool and climbed over to the rock wall. The guide even held our feet while we lay down as if diving in to the falls. Our photos from the experience look like we Photoshopped ourselves in to a picture of the waterfalls, but it was actually us there! To end the experience, breakfast was waiting for us behind the pool.
Our trip to Victoria Falls was absolutely amazing! Check out our photos below. For the rafting video, I am in the yellow helmet, and Justin is in the front (most of the time to the right except for the second crash).
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