Livingstone, Zambia

I spend five days in Livingstone, Zambia near Victoria falls.

I was inspired by the tale from a fabulous African History lecture series From Lucy to Mandela, in which Kenneth P. Vickery recants a tale of his life-changing flight over Victoria Falls in a Microlight. The pilot of the Microlight let me fly, and even let me attempt a landing - which I botched and he safely brought us to the ground. The view of the falls, canyon, river, and landscape were striking. Later that night, I went dancing at a night club with 20 pretty white girls who were staying at the hostel with me. I was concerned I would have to baby-sit them and look out for their safety, but the local men were much more interested in dancing with me; they paid the girls little attention. The girls often had to rescue me from overly enthusiastic dance partners who would crawl through my legs, or hold my hands or hips while staring longingly into my eyes. They thought it was very strange that men don't dance with each other like this in Canada. Eventually I took some dance lessons from a local woman who turned out to be prostitutes.

I woke up early the second day to hang out in Zambezi National Park for sunrise. I hopped on a boat headed for Livingstone Island with a friend from the hostel and we dangled our feet over the edge of the falls and went for a swim. I hiked along the falls for most of the day - my favourite part was reaching the bottom of the canyon where you can see the big whirlpools under the falls and swim in the Zambezi. I stayed well past dark to see the Runa - a rainbow in the mist of the falls in the moonlight. An Irish photographer taught me the setup he used to photograph the falls and the night rainbow. When it was obvious the clouds were too thick, we were removed from the park and I caught a ride home with some Japanese businessmen.

I spent the third day at an orphanage in Livingstone. I had expected the orphans to be younger than 8 years old and therefore incapable of being good at soccer. It turns out that there are old orphans too and soccer is all that boys do in an orphanage. The younger orphans fought over the use of my monocular and somehow an art contest was started where the kids drew pictures of me. You could not take pictures at the orphanage because it makes the children jealous of each other. In the evening, I saw the Runa. Very faint. But it's cool to see colours in the clouds at night.

[Rafting] I spent the fourth day rafting the Zambezi with some Norwegians. We could do only the lower rapids (10 to 25) as the high water flattens the features of the upper rapids and floods the rescue helicopter's landing pads. In the first minute of paddling on flat water, one of the Norwegians lost his balance and fell out of the raft. He was promptly sucked into a big whirlpool and was submerged for about 12 seconds before he popping out wide-eyed. This made a horrible impression for all the first-time rafters and it took them a long time to loosen up and enjoy the bigger water. We flipped on one of the class 5s and jumped out many times to swim through the 'smaller' rapids. It was cool to raft in such deep water where risks from rocks are minor.

It has been awesome settling into one place for a while. The hostel I'm at is home to a bunch of nurses, doctors, and social workers who are volunteering locally. It's been very interesting to talk with the doctors and hear about the second-best health facilities in Zambia where even the most basic medical supplies are lacking. The social workers are conducting a study on gender equality in Zambia, a culture where prostitution and polygamy are the norm. It's been a great week of exploration, adrenaline, and conversation.