Africa Travel Experience - Article first published in the Times of Malta

Where we fell, the Zambezi River is over sixty feet deep. I was immediately sucked down into a whirlpool, and I could swear I saw the bottom. Luckily, I had a lifejacket, strapped on tight (you cannot breath underwater, I was told). I floated up to the surface, stayed there for a couple of seconds, and was sucked down again. I spent what seemed like a long time underwater, being whirled around by the swirling waters. Dark thoughts entered my head, and my life flashed before my eyes. After what seemed like a long time, I found myself at the surface again, where the rescue kayaker was picking us up one by one.

We had gone for a day's rafting on the Zambezi River downstream of Victoria Falls. Here, the Zambezi forms the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We were staying at Livingstone, a town on the Zambian side of the falls. A few agencies in Livingstone organise white water rafting on the Zambezi. According to rafting literature, the Zambezi is "classified as a high volume pool drop grade five river, extremely difficult, long violent rapids, steep gradients, big drops and pressure areas". For the uninitiated, rapids are classified from grade one to grade six. Grade five is the most furious rapid that can be "safely" navigated. Grade six is a waterfall, so you can forget about it. This part of the Zambezi River has a number of grade five rapids, with names like Devil's Toilet Bowl, Gnashing Jaws of Death, the Washing Machine and the Terminator.

The rafting agency we used, Bundu Adventures, is owned by Daniel, a Frenchman born in Bangui, in the Central African Republic. He said he had been organising rafting on the Zambezi for the last five years, and his operation appeared to be fairly well organised. David himself took us to the drop-off area, a few kilometres from Livingstone, at the top of the Zambezi gorge. The river itself was 1000 feet below us. We were a group of eighteen people, enough for three rafts. We were handed lifejackets and helmets, given some basic safety instructions and told how to use the oars. Before setting off, we were asked to sign an indemnity form, a common thing nowadays in this type of activity, holding Bundu Adventures harmless for what might happen to life, body and limb throughout the day. When I asked about the accident rate, I was told not to worry, nobody had ever died yet on one of their trips!

First, we had to walk down the steep side of the gorge to the river. This was probably the most dangerous part of the adventure, and it's specifically mentioned in the indemnity form! Having got down to the riverside safely, we found the rafting team pumping up our three inflatable dinghies. The descent path is too narrow for inflated dinghies. This did not take long, and we took our places for the start of an unforgettable experience. Our steersman was Timba, a 27-year old Zambian with bulging muscles. Three of us crouched on each side of the raft, while Timba sat at the back, using a long oar as a rudder. Along with us in the river were four kayaks, single-man canoes where the canoeist almost forms part of the canoe. They are practically unsinkable if they do not hit a solid hard object. It flips over, but the experienced canoeist always manages to right it almost immediately. Very soon, we found the reason for these kayaks!

The author with Timba

We pulled out into a grade five rapid in the main part of the river, the appropriately-named Gnashing Jaws of Death! On hitting the rapid, we immediately flipped over! This was my first introduction to white-water rafting! After some time, one of the canoeists picked me up and took me back to our raft, now the right side up. Most of the team was already there.

Once we got ourselves together, we attempted the rapid again, and this time passed through without overturning. We proceeded down the river and through the next few rapids, safely and upright. The problem with our raft was the crew, not the steersman! In order to go through the rapids safely, you need to "shoot" the rapids. This calls for strong efforts by the oarsmen, and everyone has to pull their weight. Apart from my friend and I, there were two French couples. The girls did not look very strong, and one of the French men looked scared out of his wits. He said that he had not expected to end up in the river, and he almost expected the organisers to guarantee that we would not have another mishap!

At Rapid 16, the Terminator, we did it again. This time we had more experience, at least with flipping, so we managed to hold on to the upside-down raft using the ropes at the side. After this flip-over, we managed to make it through to the end with an upright raft! A total of about 25km down the Zambezi rapids on an inflatable dinghy. Would I do it again? Definitely! Now I have more experience, having started my white-water rafting with grade five rapids.

The rafting team

Obviously this trip did not just consist of the Zambezi rafting. Victoria Falls is worth a visit in its own right. It is called "Mosi-oa-Tunya" in Swahili, which means "the Smoke that Thunders", and you can see and hear why while still several kilometres away from it! A white cloud of spray hangs over the falls, and there is a continuous roar that becomes overpowering once at the falls themselves. The falls are about one km wide, less than Iguazu Falls on the Brazil/Argentina border, but much higher, some 250 metres in some places. And with the mist that forms over it, there are plenty of rainbows. It's a sight that needs to be experienced, and not read about. You can view the falls from both the Zambian and the Zimbabwe side, crossing the border to get to the other side. One advantage for us Maltese is that we do not need a visa for either Zambia or Zimbabwe, which makes crossing over each time relatively easy and cheap.

Lusaka crowd

Scaramanga Universal Services

After Zambia, we headed to Zanzibar, off the eastern coast of Tanzania. Zanzibar is famous for its Stone Town (a UNESCO world heritage place), its spice and its blend of African and Arab culture, having been settled by Omani traders, who used to deal in spice and slaves. Apart from that, there are a number of unspoilt beaches in the north, in the Nungwi area, where one can live very cheaply and laze around on the beaches if so inclined.

Sunset in Zanzibar

Going to Tanzania one should not miss going on a safari to the famous Serengeti, Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro crater. Over a few days, you should be able to see or at least catch a glimpse of the "big five" - lion, rhino, leopard, elephant and buffalo. We saw all five. This is apart from other common animals, such as wildebeest, gazelles (thousands of them), hyenas, vultures, large fantastically coloured lizards, monkeys, baboons, hippos, wild pigs, etc., etc.

Zebra crossing

On a safari, one can choose between accommodation in tents or in "lodges". The lodges are basically small hotels in the park itself, with an electricity generator (usually switched off at night) and the usual hotel amenities. Obviously these are more expensive than the tents. We tried both. The lodges are more comfortable, but the tents provide a more authentic experience, as they are situated in the park itself and are not fenced off. Intrusive animals such as baboons are continuously wondering around during the day looking for something to steal. And zebras and wild pigs come into the tent area at night. Apparently the wild pigs can be dangerous and have been known to knock down a tent if the smell something they fancy! So we were told to lock up food and our boots in the Toyota Landcruiser during the night. This bit about the boots gave a German travelling with us a bit of a problem. He wanted to be able to put on his boots in the night, in case he needed to go out for a call of nature! So, in his opinion, the tent area should be fenced.

The lodges can sometimes provide an experience on their own. One lodge we stayed at was close to a hippo pool. The pool is a place where a group of hippos stay during the day, as their skin cannot bear the heat of the sun. But they will come out at night and wonder the area around the pool. The hippopotamus is the most dangerous animal in Africa, judging by the number of human deaths it causes. This is not because it is carnivorous, but simply because of its huge size, and because it will charge for no apparent reason.

During the night at this lodge, a hippo came right up to our room window. We were a bit wary of taking photos with a flash, having heard of the hippo’s reputation, and considering there was only a large piece of glass between us and the animal. So we thought it best to leave him in peace! After a while, he turned around and left, presumably to go back to his pool. And we were left in peace to continue on our journey back to Malta.