scouting ghost rider

now, here is where pictures completely fail to represent the situation in any way shape or form. ghost rider is a tight canyon, pinching the mighty Zambezi into the biggest wave train I have ever seen. right off the top there are three monster waves. the set up into the rapid is river right over the right shoulder of the first giant, smack the second one head on, and hang on and pray to hit the third one as straight as possible. sometimes scouting is almost worse when you know what is coming. the only redeeming going about this rapid is it is just huge water... and a flip would likely flush pretty nicely. not that it wouldn't be a nasty swim drinking a bunch of river... but few bad rocks.

I was super nervous going in (sitting in the front left corner of the boat!).. but our paddle crew was so together, and Laurence nailed it! we all made it through upright, having had the white water ride of a lifetime! :)

vic falls from above

it was so breathtaking, it literally brought tears to my eyes to look down on such an amazing wonder!

I can't believe what a fortunate girl I am to have thus once in a lifetime experience!

from the heli pad, we returned to the bush "camp". we are cleaning up, this afternoon, resting, blogging (ha!), and packing up again. tonight we go into town for a dinner and celebration with our guides... and maybe our on the tow a bit. tomorrow morning, we leave for three days in a nearby game reserve.

life is good.

zigzag of the river canyon

we followed the zig zag of the river canyon all the way up to the falls, where the pilot looped us around a few times!

post high flight!

after the high of ghost rider, and four amazing days rafting the Zambezi, we were picked up on the edge of the cliffs above the rapid by helicopter for a scenic flight up the river canyon back to vic falls! I have never been in a helicopter before... and it was soooooooo exciting! I was a giddy little girl jumping into the chopper :)

day 4, portage #3

shortly below camp on day 4, we unloaded the gear boats at the spot where they were taking it all the gear out of the canyon, and we continued down in 2 light paddle boats, and portaged another waterfall... all on our way to the last rapid of the day... ghost rider! also the biggest raftable rapid in this stretch of the Zambezi. nervous!

campsite with a view

our river campsite on the third night was a lovely natural ampitheater in a little nook of the river just below lower moemba falls. we had a lovely sandy beach, with a croc free swimming area, an upper ledge for camping, and a short walk over the ledge for views of the falls (previous pics).

after a lazy afternoon floating in the river, and sone relaxing time to chat with the Zimbabwean guides... we had a delicious dinner... and talent show around a big fire. I have no talent (threw our a few pirate jokes... although totally couldn't remember the good ones), but the guides sang a bunch of songs for the group. it is really a culture of song and dance and group celebration. the results are infectious!

the local brew!

no river trip would be complete without a cooler full of cold beers... and this trip has left us wanting for nothing!

cheer from afar y'all! :)

looking back on the falls from our camp night 3

our fantastic guides!

piero and Laurence!

loading up again in the boats

looking back at the falls we portaged, and the cliff they just dropped the boats off!

the drop

dropping the boat off the cliff! insane.

portage #2... lower moemba falls

at the end of day two... we had to portage the all the heavy gear and paddle boats around a big nasty set of wAter falls... again, the guts did the work (and it was prolly best we stayed out of the way standing in the cliffs edge). the heaved the fully loaded boats up onto the rock ledge, and then dropped (on ropes) them over a 30' cliff into a small pool of water below. it was awesome to watch... these guys were pros!

Zimbabwean oars

girl rowing time!

in the third day, stern frames were added to both paddle boats to get us through the flatwater... and Laurence, Lori and I rotated on the oars to keep us moving. the oars were literally carved tree trunks, and the left was definitely heavier than the right. took a bit to get used to it, and I was slow for sure... but it was awesome to row a bit!! :)

rockstar erica!

the porters brought a kayak down into the canyon on day two for erica, and she ran about half the rapids in 1-21. such a rockstar! it us big scary water fo sho! :)

portage at rapid 9 on day two

same portage as day one, but much better pic of the gnarley water!!

hike back into the canyon

we repeated the first section of the rivet on the first two days. the hike into the canyon was straight down metal stows that often times were closer to ladders! didn't feel too bad, but my legs were shaking in the heat by the time wee reached the bottom!

porters carrying all the gear...

it is really really really weird for me to be so detached from the work if being on a river trip... but there is a crew if awesome Zimbabwean guides, and a small army if porters who take care of all the gear, meals, tents etc on the trip. all the gear is carried in and out of the canyon, boats and cold beers included. it was about a 30 minute hike for us, carrying only our water bottles. can't imagine carrying 140lb boats, oar frames, coolers etc up that hill! very grateful to all who help us on the trip!

dance party at rapid 21

welcome to camp!

on our first night in the canyon, we were greeted by a group of Zulu dancers who treated us to a dance party and show of modern and traditional song and dance that lasted at least 30-45 min! so unexpected, and awesome!

portage at rapid #9

pictures never do whitewater justice... but this rapid is huge and ugly! it was the easiest of our three portages. passengers all jumped out, the boat was pushed over the rocks to miss the nasty, and then a guide took it the rest of the way solo, and we jumped back in at the bottom.

at home a world away from home

hanging out in camp, night 2 on the Zambezi river. i am a world away from home here in africa, but feel so at home sitting in this river canyon.

we rafted rapids #1-21 on day 1, hiked out of the canyon, and repeated the same section on day two. oh my what amazing water! it's huge! and fun! Laurence had Lori in the front of the boat to be the paddle leads, and we took each and every wave in the face! i am so out of my element at the front of the boat, but it was out of this world. day one scared the crap out of me at enormity of it all... but the Zambezi is surprisingly forgiving. the rapids are all water, no rocks. only a few technical moves, and the rest us slapping the waves. there we're a lot of swimmers in the 2 days (the other boat flipped twice, and dump-trucked today!), but the recovery was not too bad. granted, I stayed in the boat claws to the tubes like a scared cat! I'm good at that. as my boat mates have observed, the boat is going to have to go over for me to swim (knock on wood).

for the next two days, we float down from here. fair amount of flatwater from what I understand, so we are putting stern frames on the boats. I have my fingers crossed to get some time on the oars!

oh, I love rivers. :)

standing on the edge

on our first morning of whitwater rafting, we started the day with a 30 minute hike down into the river canyon (think steep metal stairs that often resembled a ladder) just below the bridge crossing from Zimbabwe to Zambia that we had walked across a few days previous. it was already hot, and I was full of a lot of nervous anticipation! it was quite overwhelming just to be there... in the area called the boiling pot. the bottom of Victoria falls was just around the corner to the left. yup. THAT close.

the boats were waiting for us at the put in (carried down the same steep canyon by local porters). still a little weirded out by all the work on the trip being done by others!

vic falls from below!

paddling the boat through the boiling pot, we were able to look back up into the canyon and see the falls from below!