Day 90, Whims are a funny thing. It is amazing what a man can be tempted into doing on a whim. I’ve never really been very “whimmy” but it seems there is something about my year here that is changing the boundaries I normally would have set myself. In some ways the very idea of a year abroad in bush land is a far from rational idea but alas here I find myself.
Perhaps inspired or rather coaxed by the futility of what I see around me I have subconsciously adapted a lifestyle whereby I act on impulses that I would normally have tempered. Last weekend was a good example of this. On Saturday morning I managed to launch myself from a 180ft gorge three times.
How I ended up at the gorge was again thanks to a whim, though not exclusively mine. It was my friend’s 30th birthday and three of us had decided that Victoria Falls would be the ideal venue for celebration. So we packed up early for the weekend and headed to the Zimbabwean town of the same name. Despite our flight being horribly delayed our spirits weren’t dampened. By losing a precious half day our resolve was strengthened and we endeavoured to maximise our short time such a distance away.
So it came to pass that as a culmination of the last few weeks’ adrenaline activities the only way to top it would be to have multiple attempts at walking off the gorge. First up was the cutesy named flying fox which entailed a running jump on a wire suspension that dangles you like a rag doll over the middle over the gorge, nothing but sheer rocks and rapid waters flowing beneath. Next was a zip line across the gorge where gravity propels you at speeds of 120km/hr.
These were almost pleasant little saunters across the gorge compared to the final dare, the gorge swing. Logic was definitely out and whim was in total control as I leapt off a platform free falling through the air. I peddled in vain, desperately trying to feel my feet on anything whilst the rocks and water hurtled towards me, ready to obliterate my bones on impact. Just as my scream ran out of breath I felt the tension on the harness as I began to oscillate just above the surface. It felt like minutes but the video evidence lasts for only seconds.
I’m still unable to explain why I have had these recent urges to see something amazing that instinct dictates I should be cautious around, and then decide to jump off it with only a rope tied to me. Must be something in the water seeing as it isn’t only me who seems to be suffering with this.
With the adrenaline flowing we then wondered through the main national park which had the falls itself. It’s hard to describe the falls; the deep rumble of its immense power, the cool spray which soaks you and the sense of how small I was in comparison is a visceral sensation that is hard to recreate. The falls were at their low tide and even now the awesome sight in front of me was sobering. It is difficult to imagine how Livingstone would have felt as he wandered up to the falls a hundred fifty years ago.
The following day we took the chance to the view the falls from a helicopter. The magnitude of Victoria Falls was not lost from the air. The gush of water, the spray at the bottom and bright sunshine meant as you hit the right angle the falls were engulfed is a giant rainbow. Simply magnificent.
The third weekend in a series of increasingly whim inspired weekends will be hard to top. But something tells me, with my partners in crime, we will probably have an adrenaline pumping way of trying to find a way to do it.
Eagle!!!!
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