Hi friends! So today was probably one of the craziest days of our trip to date. Before you read any further (parents), we all survived and had a great time! We signed up for a full day of adrenaline activities that take place in the Batoka gorge (that the Zambezi river runs through). The three main features of the day were: repelling/abseiling down a rock face into the gorge, the "flying fox", which is a zipline that spans the gorge, and (brace yourselves) the famous gorge swing. Before we go any further, you may be interested to know that after Nicole's traumatic rafting experience yesterday, she immediately returned to the hostel and cancelled her reservation for today and planned on coming to be Julia and Allison's personal photographer. This morning however, she woke up with a partial change of heart, and decided to commit to the abseiling and ziplining (the "easy stuff"). How she managed to end up doing ALL THREE activities still eludes her.
First up - repelling! This was a warm-up activity, but it was by no means for the faint of heart. We were each harnessed and had to repel ourselves backwards down a vertical rock face 150 metres into the gorge. Allison sailed down, as this is very similar to rock climbing, while Julia and Nicole spent a little more time dangling in the air. Nonetheless, we were all much better the second time around after lunch. Nicole hopped down the rock like a pro - she was even having fun!! And Julia and Allison tried abseiling, which is the same activity but you walk/bounce down the wall facing the ground (it looks as though you're actually walking straight down a vertical wall). Very cool!
Next was the flying fox - a definite crowd pleaser. Once again we were harnessed in, and given a 5 metre ramp to run down before diving off into the gorge (superman style). We zipped back and forth across the gorge a number of times, enjoying both the fantastic view and the sense of security a zipline provides. Nicole loved this activity so much that it gave her the boost she needed to do...
THE GORGE SWING. This is the main attraction of the gorge, and by far the scariest and most unique. It's essentially a feet-first bungee jump; rather than hanging by your ankles, you are in a full torso harness. Once you leap off the side of the gorge (yowza!), a 53 metre, 3.5 second free-fall awaits you (YOWZA!). After this, you swing back and forth through the gorge, realize you're still alive, and start to enjoy the view. There are a few different ways you can take the plunge, and we all started with the classic single person forward swing. This entailed standing on the platform and just stepping off on the count of three. This was definitely the scariest and hardest part! Nicole decided that if she didn't go first, she wouldn't go at all. After a few walks back and forth to the edge of the platform, and some soothing words from our Samuel L Jackson-esque jump instructor, she finally went for it!! Allison and Julia followed, with much less convincing, and we all congregated at the bottom of the gorge full of adrenaline and excitement.
The climb out of the gorge offered plenty of time for contemplation, during which Nicole decided that once was enough for her. Julia and Allison however were raring to go again - tandem style!! They were both harnessed individually, and then linked together at the hip (literally). Arms around each other, and legs tied together, Samuel L Jackson inched them backwards on the platform. On the count of three, they were instructed to 'roll back!' into the gorge (YOWZA!!). They both noticed a huge increase in the speed of the free fall (especially Julia), and loved the different view that falling backwards offered. They were even more pumped than after round one, so they decided to do it AGAIN! Had the hike out of the gorge been less strenuous, they could have gone all day. Lucky for the staff, 5 hikes out of the gorge in the blazing sun was enough for them.
All in all, we had an AMAZING day - and we're SO proud of Nicole for coming and doing everything!! We bought a video of our day, and can't wait to show you all when we get home. If you can't wait that long, youtube "the zambezi gorge swing" (parents beware - we've protected you from this for long enough). Our next two days will be a little more low-key, but we're still excited for the activities we have planned (don't worry, they're all safe!). Check for an update soon!
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