A Peace Corps Journey: Two Years in South Africa: Rafting the Zambezi

A couple years ago, I went "white water rafting" in Utah. We were expecting an intense, thrilling day, but the trip turned out to be little more than a leisurly float down a calm river. Last week, I had an experience that a little different from that trip in Utah. We spent the whole day rafting down the Zambezi at Victoria Falls. Apparently, this is the largest commercially raftable river in the world, with some of the biggest rapids everywhere. I believe it. The whole day was full of big waves, amazingly gorgeous scenery, and lots of fun. It was also extremely scary at time, especially knowing that someone had died in that river a couple of months before! But don't worry, the company we went with was very good and we felt safe the whole time. There were four rafts full of people, each with an experienced guide on board, and about 8 "safety kayakers" that stayed with us and helped to pull us back to safety when we got thrown off the raft.

During the day, we went through 23 rapids, about 4 of which were grade 5 rapids (the largest that people usually raft). We managed to stay upright on all but one rapid, #8. This was one of the most intense of the day, and we went right through the middle of it. About halfway through, our guide yelled "GET DOWN!" signaling for us to drop to the bottom of the raft and hold on to the safety rope for dear life. While we were clinging to the side, a huge wave came under the raft and flipped us right over. I tried to hang onto the rope, but the current was too strong and I got swept under for a few seconds, unable to do anything but hope I would resurface soon! Not long after, i felt the bottom of the boat and realized that I was directly underneath the overturned raft, still in the rapid. I took a quick breath, then pulled myself the the outside and saw our guide on top of the raft. He pulled my up first, and I clung to the raft as we continued through the rapid and the guide continued to pull us one-by-one onto the boat. One woman was stuck under the boat for about a minute, unable to pull herself out (but she could breath the whole time). And another girl in our group got swept into the current away from the boat. She was pulled in by one of the kayakers. This was the most intense part of the day--losing total control and being pulled under by the rapids. But it was also the most exciting!

We saw crocodiles in the river towards the end (but not where we jumped in...crocs apparently only like the calm water and stay far away from the rapids!). We passed right under the victoria falls bridge and watched people bungi jump directly above us. And the views from the bottom of the gorge were breathtakingly beautiful. I had to leave my glasses behind for the day, so I was squinting to see everything, but that did not take away from the beauty of our surroundings.