Rafting Down the Zambezi - Victoria Falls

August 16, 2010
Rushing towards some of the most fierce rapids in the world in a small plastic boat seemed like an adventurous activity and interesting way to see the area, so the next morning I joined a white water rafting trip down the Zambezi River, starting a mile or two down the gorge from the falls. Fortunately the water was still fairly high, meaning that the truly dangerous rapids were still flooded over with the large amounts of water, leaving a nice mix of enjoyable, exciting rapids without the peril of one of the world's most dangerous stretches of river at the right time of year. After a brief introduction and breakfast, we boarded a few open trucks and were chilled to the bone by the cold morning air blowing unrelentingly on us in the backs of the open benches in the modified trucks. We then got our safety helmets and life jackets, along with our paddles and started a very steep, slightly precarious climb down the gorge, stepping on weak looking branches nailed together to form a sort of ladder down to the river. More than a few complaints and bloody feet later, we made it to the bottom after the 15 minute walk, and I was paired up with a Welsh couple, a South African couple, a young English guy and a young Kiwi for our trip down the river. Our friendly guide, Boyd, gave us a few last minute tips, emphasizing that we hold on to the end of our paddles at all times, furthering his point by mentioning that the huge bandage in the middle of his forehead was from an errant paddle a few days earlier.

We worked out our rhythm and a few simple commands with Boyd doing the steering and a few of us doing the work up front, though the river is mostly fast enough to take you downstream, so our task was mostly getting us in the right line coming in to some of the rapids. Within a few minutes, we were at our first set of rapids, each of them with separate, menacing names to scare those coming upon them. We were also warned to be careful, since anyone who happened to fall out of the boat would then have to go down the next few rapids in the water, since the string of rough water ahead didn't leave time for jumping back into the boat. We negotiated a few rapids successfully, getting drenched by the cold spray and waves that crashed over the boat, and then we hit our next set, intentionally trying to flip the raft, as that's apparently the thing for the adventurous groups to do in this area. Just as we were about to hit the huge wave, we all jumped into the middle of the raft, holding on tightly to the rope that encircled the raft, hoping we'd be able to come out of the flip easily enough. Right away, the powerful water picked up our raft, and, as if in slow motion, the boat rotated over on its side first to 90 degrees (standing straight up on its side in the water), and then dumping out all of the passengers just as it flipped upside down.

Being on the short side of the flip, I tried in vain to hold on to the rope and was immediately dropped into the water, flailing around as the boat and other passengers landed on top of me. Though it was probably only a few seconds, getting out from under the heavy raft was a scary event as water pounded my face, and I struggled for air as a few gulps of water went down my throat, and I tried to orient myself. I could feel that the raft was above me, so I pushed up on the raft, trying to free myself to one side or the other, though I didn't really know which direction I was going. I also felt the arms and legs of another rider, kicking and grabbing in an attempt to free himself. I did manage to catch a breath in the air bubble formed by the raft, and I finally made my way to the edge and under, popping back up outside of it, relieved to grab a huge breath of fresh air and see the sunlight above me. I was the last one out from our group, as the others had either landed on the side of the boat or made their way out before me. Looking around, I saw a bunch of red eyes and panicked looks, though these soon turned to smiles as we realized that we were safe. Our group was one short, though, since the South African woman sitting in the back of the raft had been thrown outside and away from the raft, and she was soon picked up by one of the accompanying kayakers with our trip, though she was certainly not happy about the experience, especially since her husband had to try hard to convince her to go on the trip in the first place. We also saw that our group was the only one who managed to flip their boat during the whole day, so I guess that's probably a good thing.

Finally calming down, we helped each other back in the boat and enjoyed a few more rapids. Bouncing up and down through the waves, we shouted and screamed, feeling the pressure of trying to fight against nature and then lulling back into enjoying the incredible scenery of the massive cliffs and dry trees and shrubs surrounding us. We even saw a small crocodile slide into the river, much to the consternation of the Welsh couple who soon jumped off the raft to begin the second part of their trip, boogie-boarding with flippers down the middle series of rapids. As our group got more comfortable with the waves, we were also instructed by Boyd to jump in the water, experiencing the next few rapids with just our life vests and helmets to protect us, flowing down the rushing currents of the river, bobbing up and down and through the huge waves. Floating down the rapids outside of the raft was amazing, though it wasn't always easy getting back into the boat, as the currents simply took your where they wanted. If the water was slow, you could swim back, but once the speed picked up, we tried in vain to fight the mighty waters before realizing that you just had to go where it wanted to take you. At one point, I got a long way away from the boat, finally slowing down and heading over to shore to stand on a few rocks in a more shallow part of the river before being warned by another boat about crocodiles again, so I went back out into the middle before finally rejoining our boat.

Feeling that we had got the hang of the rafting, our guide decided to change things up again, instructing us all to get as far back as possible in the boat. We all huddled together on the last bump/row of the raft, crushed against each other as we came upon another stretch of white water. With all of our weight back, we hit the churning waves and the front of the boat catapulted into the air, allowing us to sort of surf over the waves below. Though it wasn't really dangerous, kicking up the front of the raft like that certainly looked cool and added another element to the experience.

During one of our last rapids where we again jumped into the water to float down, I passed the rapids without too much of a problem, though seconds later, I was pulled down into a powerful whirlpool, struggling to get myself out. As the water pulled me under, I panicked, kicking and grasping for breath, swallowing another few gulps of water and trying to throw up my arms to hopefully reach the surface of the deep river and hope that someone would see that I was in trouble. Another few seconds passed as I tried to look around and swim free of the powerful grasp of the pool, but I was helpless against the forces before it finally spit me out, coughing up water and clearing my eyes to see my raft far upstream. Fortunately, that was our last big rapid of the day, so I was quite happy to finally jump back on the boat and head down the river peacefully. I was told that my guide did actually see me head into the whirlpool, and though he couldn't prevent it, he knew that it was a relatively small one, so it would spit me out within a few seconds, knowing that I likely wasn't in huge danger, so he just laughed off the event as he saw me get pulled under.

Finishing off our trip, we landed at a beautiful white sand beach along one of the slow bends of the river. We were also lucky to have a huge lift (sort of like a cable car) to pull us out of the canyon, as the walk back up the steep walls would have been quite tough after a few hours of physical exertion, fighting against the mighty river. Feeling enough excitement for one day, I went back to our campsite and was soon on one of our group activities, taking a leisurely cruise up the Zambezi, just above the falls, spotting a few crocodiles, hippos and other birdlife before seeing the red African sun drop over the lush horizon and heading back for the evening.

(A view of the gorge formed by the mighty Zambezi, just downstream from Victoria Falls, forming the border between Zambia in the foreground and Zimbabwe in the background.)

(At one of the first rapids, our guide convinced us it would be fun to intentionally flip the raft. Just before hitting the wave, we all jumped in the boat and grabbed on to the rope, hoping to make it through the flip.)

(The wave engulfed us, all caught with great camera work by a few of the kayakers who sped ahead at each set of rapids to record the action.)

(Being on the short side of the boat, I think that's my orange helmet that can just be seen going into the waves as the boat began to turn over.)

(Just before people began letting go, falling into the water and on top of each other, not to mention the entire raft falling on top of us.)

(After flipping, I was stuck under the raft for a little while, fighting for breath and trying to find a way out.)

(At this point, I was still under the boat, just about to finally emerge into the sunlight. Check out the guy on the left gasping for air as he just came out from the strong current.)

(After coughing up a bit of the Zambezi that I swallowed during the flip, we were back on the boat, enjoying the rapids. We even jumped out of the raft for a few of the runs, bobbing around through the water. That was quite a fun way to experience the waves until I got sucked into a whirlpool and under the water for a few scary seconds. It all worked out in the end, though, so it's not a problem.)

(Near the end, we all piled as far back as we could go on the raft, allowing it to surf up over the waves on one of the smaller rapids.)

(Happy to be through the mighty river, we took some time to play a little air guitar.)

(In the evening, my tour group and I enjoyed a nice peaceful sunset cruise up the Zambezi, just above the falls, spotting some wildlife and a huge, red sunset along the way. The sunset was much easier to spot than the animals.)