The Leap of Death
So, I have finally come back from Livingstone, all in ONE piece!! Woohoo! So I'll break the trip down for you into events here...
(quick note on pictures - this post I'll show you pictures from my BUNGI JUMP! Next post will be of the safari, and the next I don't know...the falls I suppose.)
- Sunday we drove down, the drive being fairly uneventful. We stopped somewhere inbetween Lusaka and Livingstone at basically the most AMAZING washrooms I have ever seen. Sparkling clean and just...amazing! Its the only place you can stop to go pee in those 6 hours. I watched Sister Act on the way there, and kept the sound track of the trip along Dashboard Confessional lines (awessssssome music, go listen to it NOW).
- Sunday afternoon after we arrived and put our stuff in the room (the room has a thatched roof, 4 beds, and a bathroom) we went over to the falls to check out a bit of it. After we entered the park, we spotted a sign pointing to the "Boiling Point." Since we didn't have heaps of time until dinner, we decided to do that. Walking down, the entire thing looked straight out of Tarzan. It's amazing, you come from dry-dirt-dessert setting to vines, palm trees, huge lush forest. You see a river rushing through, and it's so stinking unbelievably gorgeous. Unfrotunately, it's a long steep hike, meaning we had to stop like five times on the way up, and the humidity didn't help.
- Monday morning was an early start with soar legs from the previous day's hike. It was about six when we hit the rise and shine button, because we were booked on a walking safari that picked us up at quarter to seven. I was exhausted because the new malaria pill I'm on basically gives me the whole insomnia deal, so I had lyed in bed awake for like three hours that night. We hopped onto the little safari vehicle they pick you up in, along with four other WHITE girls. During the drive over to the bush, we learned these girls were from Ontario, are over here in Zambia working with our friends Murray and Judy, and go to the same church they went to in Ontario (crazy coincidence!? I like to think the big man wanted to make sure we had a good day). We stopped into the bush, and they served us hot tea and home mad muffins. Our guide led us out into the bush (I forget his name...but it sounded similar to Chingy, so we'll stick with that). Since I don't remember things in order, I'll just list the animals: Zebras, Giraffes, Warthogs, lots of birds, A Parrot, White Rhinos, Banded Leg Spider, Kite Spider, Lion Ants, Hippos, and a Monetar lizard. Halfway through the safari (you walk for about 4 and a half hours) Chingy served us homemade lemonade, cookies, and banana bread. It was amazing, and I really enjoyed it.
- Back at the hotel, we took a quick break in the room, and had some lunch. We decided to hit up the Zimbabwean/Zambian markets, which sit just outside the Victoria Falls park area. All the guys wanted to trade with me (as in "oh madam, I very much like your yellow bracelet. You choose what you want on my table, and we switch.") Good times. At the falls this time we decided to take the bridge trail. The name is misleading, because there is no bridge on it, you can just see the bridge that links Zambia and Zimbabwe. Anyways we didnt reach the end, because baboons were blocking our path, and we made a group decision that it would be incredibly stupid to try and move the massive baboon with really sharp teeth and babies.
- We were hanging out on our deck (it looked out over the Zambezi river) and Sean was on the other side chasing monkeys and taking pictures. I was sent to go get him because we had to leave for a sunset cruise. So I wandered around to where he was, and alas, found him talking to four girls (Okay wait...my bday week, and HE gets four girls on a four and a half hour safari, and somehow runs into 4 other girls with 12 other friends!? Why don't I find men like this!). Turns out they were from a bible College in Ohio, and working in Lusaka! The big man was working in big ways. They were really nice, and there were about 12 other people with them (all girls, then 3 guys...one being 40, the other married, leaving me with ONE). Found out they were on our cruise, and on our flight back to London on the 23rd! I'm prayin I get a seat next to them. Anyway, we boarded the boat and it took us down the Zambezi for 3 and a half hours. They served us dinner and we saw lots of hippos, it was amazing. The ONE boy came over and introduced himself to Sean and I. So we had dinner with all of the people from Ohio, and hung out with them most the time. Joel (ONE) and I were hanging out watching the sunset, and it has to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. As he put it "This is definately in the top ten things of my life." After we all left the boat, Sean and I felt pretty famous. About 5 of the girls took pictures of Sean and I, and Joel had somebody take a picture of him with us. We were like the amazing brother-sister duo. We were told we were "ssoo cute!" haha. Yes, we have some mad cute skills.
- BIRTHDAY! Merci for all the Birthday messages! Tuesday I woke up, feeling so sweet sixteen (okay not really...). I jumped out of bed, and put on my bungee clothes, all ready to jump off a bridge. Breakfast consisted of a few pieces of fruit salad, I didn't really want to eat much before the big leap. I spent about half an hour smsing with people, then we drove over to customs. All you really do is get a paper with a stamp, and then cross the border into Zimbabwe. So we walked over to just before the bridge, walked up these big wooden stairs, and came to what looked like a mini camp site with log cabins. We sat down in the main hall, and one of the bungee guys put on the promo video for us. It looked insane, and mother was still trying to convince me to back out. Too bad we already paid the ninety bucks, come on, it was my bday present! After the video we walked into the office, I signed all the forms, and got wieghed. Once I claimed I wouldn't sue them, we walked down to the connecting bridge (random fact: its so sketchy only one car is allowed on at a time). They began strapping me in and telling me what to do. Cords atached and my heart RACING (Okay yes, I was shaking uncontrollably too) They led me to the edge. At this point I seriously contemplated turning around. Mom was still saying I should. So they began the countdown "5...4...3...2...1...BUNGEE!" Which is my cue to jump. I jumped off the bridge and SCREAMED MY LUNGS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That being an understatement. It was fabulous, what a rush, absolutely amazing! There's no way to know how it feels until you do it. Just flying through the air, 111 metres, CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a birfday. Then this guy lowered himself down after a few minutes and attached himself to me. We then got pulled up to the lower deck of the bridge, and after climbing a few ladders up, met my mothers shocked face. Haha. We bought the DVD and picture CD of my jump, so this was my parents present to me (the jump, and tech stuff is pricy at the tourist places).
- Once the jump was over we toured around the falls, the wet part. See, when you get close to the falls, there is SO much mist you get completely soaked. You might as well have stepped into a pool with all your clothes on (pictures to come in the next post!). It was amazing being so close to such a huge powerful thing. Makes you feel so insignificant. Once we walked all around and were sure our bones were drenched, we walked back. People just heading into the mist laughed at us, and looked scared. I wanted to laugh at them and say "HAH! Look who wore white pants! You're smart hey!?" But I didn't I had my bathing suit on underneath so I felt good. We walked around to the dry spot, and hung our by the river for a bit.
- Dry, fed, and in different clothes, we headed back to the market late in the afternoon. We wanted to catch the sunset at the falls, so we headed into the park. Sean and I, and around parents went seperate ways. Sibling bonding time consisted of almost falling to our death, chasing monkeys, reaching the end of the bridge trail, laughing, being biten, and taking pictures. We were trying to walk back when a friggin heard of baboons got in our way. There like 20, with babies and sharp teeth and gross bums. I attempted to walk forward when one opened its mouth and showed me the steak knives they call teeth. I backed up and stood next to Sean "So...we can't go down...or around...or up...or forward....I don't wanna die."
Just then a Zambian guy walked down the pat and laughed at us. We introduced ourselves, and explained the situation. He said you could just walk right past them. We followed, and were like less than a foot away from baboons, intense. After a while we reached the river side (after bumping into our cruise friends, gotta love em...lucky Sean...) and took some amazing sunset pictures.
- After dinner and dessert, we headed back to the room. Sean gave me some presents from the Canada people, and we looked at pictures from the day. It was definately a birthday to remember. And for those of you who think Sean didn't buy me a gift, it's because he's letting me choose something here when we go to the market tomorrow, rather than having to try and packing something over here.
Overall, it was an awesome trip, probably one of the best I have been on. Socializing with some teenagers again was well....beyond words, after five months of barely any of that, I just wanted to jump for joy. Haha, well I did jump. Anyway here are some pictures of that...
(quick note on pictures - this post I'll show you pictures from my BUNGI JUMP! Next post will be of the safari, and the next I don't know...the falls I suppose.)
- Sunday we drove down, the drive being fairly uneventful. We stopped somewhere inbetween Lusaka and Livingstone at basically the most AMAZING washrooms I have ever seen. Sparkling clean and just...amazing! Its the only place you can stop to go pee in those 6 hours. I watched Sister Act on the way there, and kept the sound track of the trip along Dashboard Confessional lines (awessssssome music, go listen to it NOW).
- Sunday afternoon after we arrived and put our stuff in the room (the room has a thatched roof, 4 beds, and a bathroom) we went over to the falls to check out a bit of it. After we entered the park, we spotted a sign pointing to the "Boiling Point." Since we didn't have heaps of time until dinner, we decided to do that. Walking down, the entire thing looked straight out of Tarzan. It's amazing, you come from dry-dirt-dessert setting to vines, palm trees, huge lush forest. You see a river rushing through, and it's so stinking unbelievably gorgeous. Unfrotunately, it's a long steep hike, meaning we had to stop like five times on the way up, and the humidity didn't help.
- Monday morning was an early start with soar legs from the previous day's hike. It was about six when we hit the rise and shine button, because we were booked on a walking safari that picked us up at quarter to seven. I was exhausted because the new malaria pill I'm on basically gives me the whole insomnia deal, so I had lyed in bed awake for like three hours that night. We hopped onto the little safari vehicle they pick you up in, along with four other WHITE girls. During the drive over to the bush, we learned these girls were from Ontario, are over here in Zambia working with our friends Murray and Judy, and go to the same church they went to in Ontario (crazy coincidence!? I like to think the big man wanted to make sure we had a good day). We stopped into the bush, and they served us hot tea and home mad muffins. Our guide led us out into the bush (I forget his name...but it sounded similar to Chingy, so we'll stick with that). Since I don't remember things in order, I'll just list the animals: Zebras, Giraffes, Warthogs, lots of birds, A Parrot, White Rhinos, Banded Leg Spider, Kite Spider, Lion Ants, Hippos, and a Monetar lizard. Halfway through the safari (you walk for about 4 and a half hours) Chingy served us homemade lemonade, cookies, and banana bread. It was amazing, and I really enjoyed it.
- Back at the hotel, we took a quick break in the room, and had some lunch. We decided to hit up the Zimbabwean/Zambian markets, which sit just outside the Victoria Falls park area. All the guys wanted to trade with me (as in "oh madam, I very much like your yellow bracelet. You choose what you want on my table, and we switch.") Good times. At the falls this time we decided to take the bridge trail. The name is misleading, because there is no bridge on it, you can just see the bridge that links Zambia and Zimbabwe. Anyways we didnt reach the end, because baboons were blocking our path, and we made a group decision that it would be incredibly stupid to try and move the massive baboon with really sharp teeth and babies.
- We were hanging out on our deck (it looked out over the Zambezi river) and Sean was on the other side chasing monkeys and taking pictures. I was sent to go get him because we had to leave for a sunset cruise. So I wandered around to where he was, and alas, found him talking to four girls (Okay wait...my bday week, and HE gets four girls on a four and a half hour safari, and somehow runs into 4 other girls with 12 other friends!? Why don't I find men like this!). Turns out they were from a bible College in Ohio, and working in Lusaka! The big man was working in big ways. They were really nice, and there were about 12 other people with them (all girls, then 3 guys...one being 40, the other married, leaving me with ONE). Found out they were on our cruise, and on our flight back to London on the 23rd! I'm prayin I get a seat next to them. Anyway, we boarded the boat and it took us down the Zambezi for 3 and a half hours. They served us dinner and we saw lots of hippos, it was amazing. The ONE boy came over and introduced himself to Sean and I. So we had dinner with all of the people from Ohio, and hung out with them most the time. Joel (ONE) and I were hanging out watching the sunset, and it has to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. As he put it "This is definately in the top ten things of my life." After we all left the boat, Sean and I felt pretty famous. About 5 of the girls took pictures of Sean and I, and Joel had somebody take a picture of him with us. We were like the amazing brother-sister duo. We were told we were "ssoo cute!" haha. Yes, we have some mad cute skills.
- BIRTHDAY! Merci for all the Birthday messages! Tuesday I woke up, feeling so sweet sixteen (okay not really...). I jumped out of bed, and put on my bungee clothes, all ready to jump off a bridge. Breakfast consisted of a few pieces of fruit salad, I didn't really want to eat much before the big leap. I spent about half an hour smsing with people, then we drove over to customs. All you really do is get a paper with a stamp, and then cross the border into Zimbabwe. So we walked over to just before the bridge, walked up these big wooden stairs, and came to what looked like a mini camp site with log cabins. We sat down in the main hall, and one of the bungee guys put on the promo video for us. It looked insane, and mother was still trying to convince me to back out. Too bad we already paid the ninety bucks, come on, it was my bday present! After the video we walked into the office, I signed all the forms, and got wieghed. Once I claimed I wouldn't sue them, we walked down to the connecting bridge (random fact: its so sketchy only one car is allowed on at a time). They began strapping me in and telling me what to do. Cords atached and my heart RACING (Okay yes, I was shaking uncontrollably too) They led me to the edge. At this point I seriously contemplated turning around. Mom was still saying I should. So they began the countdown "5...4...3...2...1...BUNGEE!" Which is my cue to jump. I jumped off the bridge and SCREAMED MY LUNGS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That being an understatement. It was fabulous, what a rush, absolutely amazing! There's no way to know how it feels until you do it. Just flying through the air, 111 metres, CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a birfday. Then this guy lowered himself down after a few minutes and attached himself to me. We then got pulled up to the lower deck of the bridge, and after climbing a few ladders up, met my mothers shocked face. Haha. We bought the DVD and picture CD of my jump, so this was my parents present to me (the jump, and tech stuff is pricy at the tourist places).
- Once the jump was over we toured around the falls, the wet part. See, when you get close to the falls, there is SO much mist you get completely soaked. You might as well have stepped into a pool with all your clothes on (pictures to come in the next post!). It was amazing being so close to such a huge powerful thing. Makes you feel so insignificant. Once we walked all around and were sure our bones were drenched, we walked back. People just heading into the mist laughed at us, and looked scared. I wanted to laugh at them and say "HAH! Look who wore white pants! You're smart hey!?" But I didn't I had my bathing suit on underneath so I felt good. We walked around to the dry spot, and hung our by the river for a bit.
- Dry, fed, and in different clothes, we headed back to the market late in the afternoon. We wanted to catch the sunset at the falls, so we headed into the park. Sean and I, and around parents went seperate ways. Sibling bonding time consisted of almost falling to our death, chasing monkeys, reaching the end of the bridge trail, laughing, being biten, and taking pictures. We were trying to walk back when a friggin heard of baboons got in our way. There like 20, with babies and sharp teeth and gross bums. I attempted to walk forward when one opened its mouth and showed me the steak knives they call teeth. I backed up and stood next to Sean "So...we can't go down...or around...or up...or forward....I don't wanna die."
Just then a Zambian guy walked down the pat and laughed at us. We introduced ourselves, and explained the situation. He said you could just walk right past them. We followed, and were like less than a foot away from baboons, intense. After a while we reached the river side (after bumping into our cruise friends, gotta love em...lucky Sean...) and took some amazing sunset pictures.
- After dinner and dessert, we headed back to the room. Sean gave me some presents from the Canada people, and we looked at pictures from the day. It was definately a birthday to remember. And for those of you who think Sean didn't buy me a gift, it's because he's letting me choose something here when we go to the market tomorrow, rather than having to try and packing something over here.
Overall, it was an awesome trip, probably one of the best I have been on. Socializing with some teenagers again was well....beyond words, after five months of barely any of that, I just wanted to jump for joy. Haha, well I did jump. Anyway here are some pictures of that...
Welcome to how far down I jumped.
This doesn't really do it justice though.
Watch your hands...
Ah yes...it was a good life...
There's the money baby!!!!!!
posted by Lauren at 8:23 AM
5 Comments:
What an AWESOME birthday. I bet you wouldn't have had the same kind if you were in Canada. Those are some pretty sweet pictures too. I wish I had been there. The part when you said you found Sean chasing monkeys I laughed really hard. I just got a really funny picture in my mind of him acting like a monkey, as though he was trying to fit in with them and then they just ran away from him. haha. I'm so glad you had an awesome 16th birthday! Can't wait to see more pictures.
haha Michelle I love the mental image, I'm kind of getting it right now, and laughing really hard. I can't wait to see you this summer, you must give me a call and we'll party it up.
hey babe! i love the pictures, you look amazing....i can see the fear in your eyes, hahha i absolutely CAN'T WAIT to see you. sounds like your sweet sixteen was the best, glad you had fun. love you!
Hey Lauren, Happy be-lated Birthday! Sounds like you had an amazing time! I'm jealous.(ive always wanted to go on an African safari!)
Brave girl you are to take that leap, I would have chicken-ed out for sure and turned back!
Looked awesome though!! :)
WOAH that looks so scary, aahhh i could never do that. you brave, brave woman. sounds like quite the exhilarating birthday. glad your champagne birthday was memorable. peace out homie
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