Victoria Falls: Round 2

Last year, I wanted to go to Victoria Falls because I was worried that I'd never get the chance to see it again. A couple weeks ago, I just saw it for the second time. Even so, it was an entirely different experience. Last year, it had been the end of rainy season, so everything in Livingstone had been green (more or less), and the water thundering off the falls had been overwhelmingly powerful. It was difficult to even see the falls, and I got soaked from the mist just from walking on the trails.

Dry season seems to have hit Zambia even harder than it hit Malawi, and everything was brown brown brown. The water going off the falls was still powerful, but the mist was so diminished that it was possible to see the falls all the way down the gorge. It was beautiful in an entirely different way. We hit the Falls up the first full day that we were in Livingstone. 

We started the day off by going to Victoria Fall Bridge, where we stepped into Zimbabwe, watched people bungee jump, and took tons of pictures of Adam taking that step off the platform to both bungee and do the swing (brave man!). I decided not to do it again, since I'd barely done it the year prior. I definitely empathized with all the nervous bungee jumpers though!

Bungee jumper getting pulled up.

Adam, post bungee jump. Almost to the platform.

Adam on the swing. 

After Adam had bungee jumped and we'd congratulated him and all that jazz, we walked from the Victoria Falls Bridge to the Victoria Falls National Heritage Site. We paid all our fees and saw the falls! It was lovely and we all had a great time taking photos (we decided to have this photo competition), even though I over (and under) exposed way too many of my photos because I forgot to look at the light meter. In some ways, shooting pictures with a DSLR is the most frustrating thing because your pictures have so much potential to be so good but often turn out so awful, mostly due to incompetence. Here's a bunch of pictures I took anyways!

The group of us at Victoria Falls!
Adam, Renee, Whitney, and me!

The beautiful Whitney Anderson.

Vic Falls.

The top of the Falls.
We just chilled out here for a while, with our feet in the water.

Adam washing his face in pure Zambezi.

Renee and I at the top of the falls.

Whitney and I exploring on the rocks that had become exposed at the top of the falls due to falling water levels.

A fisherman. This man had no fear. He walked right up to the edge of the falls. Crazy, I'm telling you, crazy.

So beautiful. 

tree roots and a mini-falls.

double rainbow.

tree in the midst of the mist.

the falls, once again.

While we were just relaxing at the top of the Falls, Renee, Whitney, and I were suddenly surrounded by tons of children on a school trip. We decided to get out of the way so that the kids could have more space and better enjoy Victoria Falls. But the teacher tapped us on the shoulder and asked if we would please be in a photo with them.  We were slightly flattered and said, "Of course," in so many words. Then she said "Quick, children, gather around the tourists!"

We wholeheartedly adopted our role as "the tourists" for the picture and smiled cheesily for the camera while the kids crowded around us and oohed and aahed over our hair. It was a funny moment. Kind of a reverse of the whole tourist trying to take pictures of "the natives."

We went back to Jolly Boys for a bit after Victoria Falls, and then got dinner at Olga's! Olga's is this entire non-profit Italian restaurant that I had eaten at last year while I was in Zambia. I was so excited to eat there again, and of course, I got the lasagna.

Later that night, we chilled in our dorm at Jolly Boys and met our dorm mates. One of them was this super cool guy from South Africa. Apparently, his family has a farming business, but before he inherits the business, his dad told him to go and see the world. So he's worked as a safari guide at a private game reserve (he showed us some of his videos. so sick), on a potato farm in Texas, and now he's a fishing guard at an island in the Seychelles. We also met this super funny guy from Ireland named Neil who now lives in Germany, and his girlfriend, Sarah. We actually went white water rafting with Neil and Sarah the next day. But that's for the next post!