Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/icp9nJ7n1Qvb9tAd7
So after Namibia, I made my way over to Livingstone, Zambia for the Zambian side of Victoria Falls. The main reason I wanted to visit was to swim in Devil’s Pool, which is a pool that is literally on the edge of the waterfall. I flew into Livingstone on January 5th, and did a Devil’s Pool tour on the 6th. In what was the first good sign of a very lucky week for me, Devil’s Pool officially shut down for the season at the end of the day due to the current of the river, so I literally made it just in time.
The currents for the pool were super strong – we were linking arms and walking through parts of the Zambezi river, and for the swimming sections, I literally had to aim like 20 feet to the right of my target and then swim straight and hard, letting the current carry me to the spot I needed to get to. In hindsight, the pool probably should have been closed the day I went because one of the girls in my group (who is also a diver and a decent swimmer!) had to be carried by the guides as she couldn’t make the swim…the currents kept carrying her too far.
Devil’s Pool itself was very cool but definitely a bit too “made for Instagram”. The whole thing was just each of us going in one by one (only 3 of us in total) and then hanging out for like 15 minutes each while they took photos of us. Though for safety purposes we couldn’t do more than 1 at a time…when I was lying over the edge of the falls, there were guides holding on to each of my ankles as otherwise I would have flown off the edge. It was honestly pretty exhilarating to lie on the edge of one of the world’s largest waterfalls and look down as the water forcefully rushed by me to drop. Was definitely worth coming to Zambia alone just for that, though I think Victoria Falls definitely falls in the category of “see it if you are in the area” as opposed to “fly across the world JUST to see it”, like Namibia was for me. It was also pretty nice to take a motorboat ride on the scenic Zambezi river at the top of the falls to get to the dropoff point where you had to walk and swim to Devil’s Pool. We got to have a fancy brunch after the pool on Livingstone Island (an island near the edge of the falls), and the best part about that was having this maize-based drink (non-alcoholic) called Maheu, which especially after the pool tasted delicious.
The other big activity I did in Livingstone was white water rafting. This was at the base of the falls, so before and after the rafting we had to go down and then up like a 200 meter canyon, and this was really the first time I’ve ever done a moderately strenuous hike in scorching heat AND humidity. I was sweating bullets like I haven’t in a loooong time after both of those hikes. The rafting itself was really fun – it was me and two others from the hostel. One was a girl I met in Windhoek who went to Zambia because we spoke about Devil’s Pool in Windhoek, and the other (and this still blows my mind) was a guy who I met in Hurghada the day before I left back in Oct/Nov, who I then ran into in the middle of central/southern Africa. The world really is a small place. He was this Chinese dude named Xu who is also a long term traveller – quit his job in 2018 and has been travelling on his savings since then. The most incredible thing is that he hasn’t gone home to reset yet, and in his 2+ years of travel, in his limited capacity of backpacking baggage space, he has been carrying a bongo drum and a DJ set the whole time.
The drive to the rafting spot was about an hour and pretty cool – just going through the lush scenery with small traditional villages scattered about. To be honest, the Livingstone area in particular reminded me a ton of parts of Tamil Nadu, with the lush greenery, mango trees, and rustic villages everywhere.
Because it was just the 3 of us, the other 4 people on the raft (to fill it up) were company employees, which definitely made the rafting easier than it would have been. There are something like 30+ rapids that are available, but we were not able to do the first 10 because they were too close to the falls and it’s now high water season due to the rains. Speaking of my good luck earlier…this is supposed to be peak rainy season but it never rained the days I did activities, so it was a gorgeous day for rafting. Of the rapids we did do, we got two class V rapids, a bunch of class III and IV rapids, and a handful of class I and II rapids…for the class I rapids, we were allowed to jump out of the boat and let the river carry us through them, which was honestly one of the best parts of the trip. I got to sit in the front of the boat which is definitely the optimal spot, since that’s where you feel the most damage as the boat churns through the rapids. While our boat never flipped, the highlight of rafting was almost getting thrown off on two separate occasions. To be honest I never once felt in danger since they gave a pretty comprehensive safety overview in the beginning, and there were kayakers in front and behind who were there to scoop us up if we fell.
Speaking of kayakers, my hostel in Livingstone was primarily filled with American, British, and Canadian professional kayakers who come to Zambia every year as a holiday to kayak down the Zambezi (they had access to the first 10 rapids that were closed for rafting) as it’s apparently one of the best spots in the world for kayaking and rafting. These guys were legit professionals with Red Bull gear, etc., and were apparently some of the top ranked kayakers in the world, so I guess I got a pretty good rafting experience if they kayak down those same rapids for fun every single year.
The other main thing I did in Livingstone was obviously to see the falls themselves from the vantage point. This was actually surprisingly cool…I thought I would think they were “just waterfalls” but the scale of it is massive. It’s like between a 150m-200m drop, and the pure force of the falls still creates so much mist that it’s basically raining from the splash. We spent like close to 3 hours just walking along the viewpoint area.
There were a few other cool activities available like bungee jumping and a microflight, but literally every single cool thing in Livingstone cost over 150 USD – Devil’s Pool was actually one of the cheapest ones at “only” 110 USD – so I sort of picked and choosed and went with Devil’s Pool and rafting as my two main things to do there.
One minor highlight of Livingstone was going to this shockingly competent Indian restaurant called The Golden Leaf (wouldn’t expect to get good Indian food in Zambia but that somehow happened). It was probably the spiciest food I had since Durban so it was nice to have that. Speaking of India, I wish the Brits did even 10% the job they did with Indian Railways in their southern African colonies. The Indian train system is arguably the best in the world (after east Asia) in terms of connectivity and convenience, while there are pretty much no rail connections between countries in Southern Africa so I have to fly everywhere.
The hostel in Livingstone, Jollyboys Backpackers, was surprisingly pretty good…probably just as good as my Windhoek one, Chameleon Backpackers. There was a group of older Afrikaans guys who would hang out at the bar every day, so I spent some time just hanging with them as well and getting to learn more about Southern Africa. And Livingstone was a surprisingly enjoyable town in its’ own right, if not unremarkable. Certainly miles better than Windhoek was.
After my 1 week Livingstone trip, I flew back to Cape Town for a day. Got dinner with a few friends, and then flew to Joburg. Cape Town was no longer offering COVID tests for travellers due to an uptick in cases, so I needed to fly to Joburg to get tested before heading to Maputo. Landed in the airport, got a test at the airport facility, and then one of my Cape Town friends who was from Joburg picked me up. We actually went to another Cape Town friend’s place and spent the night there…we did another Braai party there, and because of the 9pm curfew in SA, we had to stay overnight. But she had a super nice house and let us crash in her parents’ private theater, so we got a good nights sleep. I then had another full day in the area, so we went back to my friend who picked me up, Henro’s place. He actually recently quit his job as an engineer and then got his yacht certificate in Cape Town (where I met him), and is leaving for Croatia soon for his first gig, which is to deliver a yacht from Croatia to Miami for some rich buyer. Did a little local sightseeing in Pretoria and otherwise just hung out at his place and went to his friends place for my last supper in SA, which was appropriately take out Nando’s, and then the following day I flew out to Maputo.