Stepping off the Edge in Livingstone, Zambia
Probably about eight or nine years ago, a few colleagues of mine came back from a vacation to Africa. When they got back to the office, the stories of their adventures spread through the walls and I found myself listening. Of all the stories I heard, the one about the Devil’s Armchair seemed to stand out the most.
They showed this video of them in this little pool which sat beside the edge of a waterfall. You could literally move right to the very edge and hang yourself over the ledge of the waterfall without any fear of falling. I had never heard of such a place but I eventually found out that this ledge was located in Zambia, Africa as part of the world’s largest waterfall: Victoria Falls. I tucked it away in my head as a place that maybe someday I would get a chance to visit.
When my wife and I had the opportunity to go to Johannesburg, South Africa in the spring of 2014, Victoria Falls was on my list of places I thought about trying to get to. But given that we never expected to ever be back to Africa, we opted to spend a few nights at a tree house camp safari and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I kept the falls on my to do list but never really gave it much thought after that.
In November of 2017, my employer put another trip to Joburg on my calendar for January of 2018. This time though I actually deferred the trip to my colleague as he had never been to Africa and I didn’t want to be on the road for 4-5 weeks straight. When the new year rolled around, my calendar had changed and my colleague was not able to go because of visa issues, so I was asked to teach the class.
It was just after Christmas and money was tight so I was hesitant to spend anything on personal travel. But my wife said to me, “Will you regret not going if you don’t?” and she was right. I knew I had to take the chance. Within a few days I had booked some extra time to fly up to Livingstone, Zambia to see Victoria Falls.
Because of my work schedule, I only had a few days that I could spare for personal travel. My classes ran from Tuesday to Friday and I had a class the following week on Wednesday. I booked Monday and Tuesday off as vacation time, and when classes finished on Friday, I packed my luggage up, got up early the next morning, and caught my flight to Livingstone, Zambia.
If you’re not familiar with Victoria Falls, it’s the largest waterfall in the world. Not by height but by length and water flow. The falls themselves border between the African countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Like many other countries in Africa, both are known for their wildlife excursions, local food, and plenty of adventures to be had by anyone who wants to partake. For me, I had Saturday and Sunday to see whatever I could, and then had to head back to Joburg on Monday morning to start the long haul home.
Courtesy of WikiTravel, I found a little bed and breakfast called Zig Zag which offered airport pickup, as well as reservations for my excursions. I didn’t know when I would get to the motel, so I made all of my reservations for outings on Sunday. Saturday would be a day to just explore on my own.
I landed in Livingstone, Zambia early in the afternoon. I remember getting off the plane and being immediately hit by a wave of heat. I also found it interesting that the plane was parked a considerable distance from the actual gate, and everyone was led across the tarmac to a little door where we all entered and went through immigration.
In researching about visiting Zambia, there were a lot of online reports of people being thrown in jail or having to deal with the police over the possession of Benadryl, an allergy medication. It appeared that any drugs you brought in that were related to Benadryl, or any sleeping medication of any kind, was considered illegal. My wife had called the Zambian embassy in Toronto to confirm this and they said it was fine to bring the pills in. But for me, I was paranoid so I had dumped all my sleeping meds the night before. Turns out it was all for nothing as the immigration officer never even asked any questions. I requested a “Kaza” visa which allows you to have unlimited entry into both Zimbabwe and Zambia for 30 days. It’s not available for all countries and when they run out of stickers, you have to get a regular visa. Luck was on my side as she peeled one sticker off, and I paid her $50 USD and away I went.
I walked outside, found my driver, and off to Zig Zag I went. It was only about a 15 minute drive to the motel and most of the time it was “African bush” everywhere but by the time we hit the village, it looked like any other small town you’d encounter in most other countries. In fact, when you think of Africa in general, you don’t tend to think of people walking around with smartphones, driving cars, and being all modern. Although there were bits and pieces of the stereotypical African communities, it really was just a small town where the locals lived.
The motel was nothing spectacular. Very friendly staff and extremely accommodating but the room was just barely a room. Very small with a tiny little bathroom and drape covered bed. I’m someone who’s used to staying in Hilton hotels for work but for this trip, I was going cheap and I was fine with it. The room was clean, had hot water and a shower, and was all I needed for the few days I would be there.
I unpacked my stuff but then quickly went back to reception and asked about getting transportation to the park. Victoria Falls has an observation park on both the Zambia and Zimbabwe side. I wanted to make sure I got to see both sides on my spare day since all my touring was going to take place the next day. The receptionist called me a taxi and I paid 120 Kwacha for the driver to take me into town to get a sim card for my phone, and drive me over to the park.
He dropped me off and the first thing I spotted was a few baboons outside of the main gate area. I’d never seen them in the wild. I quickly went inside and paid the fee for entrance and started my walk towards the falls. A large family of baboons was inside playing and there was even one mother baboon with her baby hanging underneath of her while she walked. I snapped a pile of photos of them as I got closer to some of the buildings just before the main trail to the falls. This is where I first encountered some of the local merchants.
A man approached me and insisted that I take a look at his shop. I really didn’t want to buy anything but he asked me to come in so I did and he offered to give me a free poncho in exchange for me coming back to his hut after I had seen the falls. I was hesitant at first but knew I would eventually be buying something from the locals anyway so I agreed. I took his poncho and headed to the main gate. Of course as soon as the other locals saw me, they all tried to get me to see what they were selling as well.
This would become a theme for most of the locals. Anytime I saw any shop, or local merchant, they would immediately start haggling you about wanting to get you to buy something. It got old really quickly and I didn’t want to be rude but I was there to see the falls. I quickly made my way to the trail and started walking.
I walked by a statue of David Livingstone which was the first European explorer to find Victoria Falls and whom the town is named after. Shortly thereafter I peeked through a bush and could see the falls on the other side. But before I got anywhere near them, I could hear them.
Victoria Falls is known to the locals as Mosi-oa-Tunya which translates as “the smoke which thunders”. This is an apt description as you can hear the falls long before you ever get to them. I started weaving through the trail and as I began to get closer to the edge, the water started to come down. I had not even considered how much of the mist would be up in the air and coming down into the woods while I was walking. It was in no time flat that I was covered in water. I dug out the poncho the local had given me and used it for cover for the rest of my visit that day.
The trail poked out of the woods towards the right and there it was. You could clearly see this wall of water rushing down the other side of the gorge into what seemed like an endless abyss. The mist just floated in the air and never seemed to give up. For most of my excursion on the Zambian side it was pretty hard to see the bottom of the Zambezi River because of the mist.
I had brought my GPS with me to track where I was walking but also to find any geocaches that might be located in the park. I found a virtual geocache in one spot and had another tourist take a photo for me in the location of the cache.
I continued along the trail and it eventually popped out onto a bridge. There was a considerable lineup of tourists standing on my side of the bridge just staring. None of them were moving and I wondered if something had happened or if there was an issue with crossing it. Once I got close enough to the start, I spotted what all the commotion was about.
A very large, shall I say fat baboon had plunked itself down right in the middle of the bridge and none of the tourists wanted to cross or get in its way. Everyone sort of stood there waiting to see if the animal would move. Eventually a few locals crossed from the other side towards me and walked right by the baboon. He grunted and walked back towards the other side of the bridge and the tourists began moving again.
I got to the other side and eventually to the edge of the park where you could see the entire gorge itself as well as across to the Zimbabwe side of the falls. I snapped some more photos and made my way back through the trail, eventually coming back out onto the bridge, and back to the main entrance.
As promised, I went back to the local’s hut where we had a bit of a debate about me buying something from him. I eventually did buy a couple of wooden statues for my travel shelf back home and then headed back to the main road. It was my intention to go over to the Zimbabwe side to see the falls from there.
The Victoria Falls Bridge crosses the Zambezi River from the Zambia side to the Zimbabwe side. The walk itself is actually quite nice but as soon as you get close to the bridge, folks from Zimbabwe start hassling you about wanting you to buy something from them. Many of them wanted to show you their stuff, or tried to sell you trinkets they had on them. This was quite prominent and although I didn’t want to be rude or disrespectful, I did find myself having to say “No thank you I’m not interested” and just keep walking. Some of them would start off with innocent friendly conversation but it always steered towards trying to get you to buy something from them.
About halfway across the bridge, the rain came out. It poured and poured down hard. Thankfully most of the people who were on the bridge found shelter under a small canopy that held the folks who managed the bungee jumping outfit there. They offer tourists the chance to do a bungee jump off the bridge down towards the river. Back at the office in Moncton, I had watched one of my colleagues do that very same bungee jump and wondered if I would ever bother. I had signed up for a gorge swing the next day but a bungee jump wasn’t that interesting to me.
Eventually I made it across the bridge and to the border post where I had to fill out a form and get my passport stamped. Once I was on the other side, it was a quick 10 minute walk into the park. They charged a fee there as well and the trail system there was much longer. I started towards a geocache that was hidden in the woods but had no luck finding it. I opted to turn around and follow the main trail where I could snag a few other geocaches and get some great photos.
Views of the falls from the Zimbabwe side were very different. You still saw the same falls but the amount of mist and rain was far less so I didn’t get as wet and enjoyed the view a lot more. I got a couple of really amazing shots at the very edge of the falls on the opposite side of where I had just been in Zambia. I also managed to get a peek at the Angel’s Pool where I would be visiting the next day.
The park officially closed at 5:00pm and by the time I got back to the entrance, everything had closed up. I walked back to the Zambia side and enjoyed a surprise view of the Livingstone Express, a train that travels through Africa. As I got to the Zambian border post, I got chased by a couple of small baboons who spooked me then ran off. I got my passport stamped again, got in a cab, and went back to the motel.
For my first day in that part of Africa, I had already seen the world’s largest waterfall, and visited two countries, all in one day. What would tomorrow bring?
When I had finally decided I wanted to go to Livingstone to see Victoria Falls, I knew the Devil’s Armchair was going to be on my todo list. Unfortunately that pool was closed for the year because of the water levels. The tour guide however said the Angel’s Pool was open and was very similar to the Devil’s Pool. I signed up for the tour and Sunday was going to be the day to see it in action.
On my second day in Livingstone, my driver took me to the Royal Livingstone hotel where I would meet my guide for a tour of Livingstone Island. The island only allows 15 people at a time to be there so tours are limited. I met up with the tour organizer on the back lawn of the hotel. He explained that I would be traveling by boat over to the island, would do my tour of the pool, have breakfast, and then return.
I waited and eventually it was time to get on the boat. There were two other people that came on tour with me. They were a couple of young girls from Switzerland: Claire and Johanna. They were on vacation in Africa before going back to school and would be my only companions on this little tour of the island. I wasn’t going to complain about having two cute Swedish girls with me as dates as I visited the edge of the world’s largest waterfall.
The guide took us to a little hut where we changed into our swimwear and made our way towards the falls. I was told I couldn’t bring my regular camera but my phone and GoPro were fine.
As we got to one point, the guide insisted that we had to hold each other’s hands to keep our balance. I smiled to myself thinking that I hadn’t held another woman’s hands since 2003 when my wife and I got together. This wasn’t anything romantic but it still struck me as kind of funny. We walked through some very muddy grass as we could feel the spray from the falls hitting us from all over. Eventually the guide told the girls to stay in one spot as he brought me to the very edge of the falls. I stood there and took a look and the grandness of what I was experiencing began to hit me.
When people say that pictures don’t do something justice, this was the dictionary example of it. Never in my life have I ever seen something as incredible as what I saw standing there. My feet were perched no more than 12 inches from the very edge of the falls. I took my GoPro camera and started filming around me as the guide used my phone to get me to pose in a few positions with the falls behind me. Rainbows emerged from the side of the falls and curved around into the mist below.
The guide had me stand and sit in several different positions as he took a bunch of photos and video of me standing right there on the edge. Never in my life had I ever saw myself being able to stand so close to the edge of such a massive waterfall. The biggest surprise of standing there is how safe I felt. That particular area had no water running over it and although it was wet from the mist, it was mostly grassy and rocky and I never once felt like I was going to fall over. That feeling would come later.
Eventually the guide had me shift out of the way so he could take some photos for the girls. They had brought their own GoPro camera but left their phone at the hut before we came out. They had asked me if the guide could take pictures of them with my phone and I could send them to them later. I had no issues with the guide taking pictures of two gorgeous Swedish girls in bikinis frolicking in a waterfall with my phone. As they got their photos taken, I did a few more shots with the GoPro to sort of give a better perspective of where I was in comparison to the edge of the falls.
But then our guide stopped and asked us to follow him. At the moment, I thought that was it and we were going back to the hut. For a few moments I was feeling a bit disappointed but then he asked us to hold hands again and before I knew it, we came out to another area where a little ledge sat with water running over it. It turns out this was the second place we would visit, and this time we’d be sitting and lying in the water.
The guide got me to jump into this small little pool area and took a few photos there. He then got me to follow him and climb over this large log where a pretty fast rush of water was running. He kept instructing me to go “into” the rushing water. I worked my way into it and sure enough, I was waist deep in this little pool but the force of the current was far stronger than I had anticipated.
This was the only time during the entire excursion that I got a little uncomfortable. The force of the water was quite strong so I had used my legs underwater to brace myself against the rock and wood. I’m not a very strong guy but I was definitely ok at first. But then the guide decided to hop over to the other side of the pool I was in previously, and started taking a bunch of photos of the girls. At first I was very patient and just waited for him to return but he kept taking more and more time and I started to get a little uncomfortable.
The discomfort was coming from the fact that I could feel myself starting to get a bit weaker and I knew that if I stayed in that spot much longer, my legs were going to give and it felt like the water would push me forward and over the falls. From the position I was in sitting in, it was about 15-20 feet back from the edge of the falls but I was sitting there watching the same water that flew over top of me fly off the rocks and into the abyss. I got really anxious and started to wonder if I was going to go over the edge. I gave a quick call to the guide who then got me to step forward closer to the falls.
He actually got me to move forward on my stomach and wanted me to lie on my back and spread my arms wide open like you were opening them for a hug or something. I didn’t quite understand what he wanted at the time as the water was really loud and his instructions were not clear. I ended up lying sort of on my side with my arms out. I was only about 4-5 feet from the edge where the water was going over the cliffs.
He took some more video and photos and then it was time to head back to the hut for breakfast. The girls and I chatted as we ate and before we knew it, the staff was telling us we had to finish because another tour had arrived. I got an email address from Claire to send the photos to and we packed our stuff, got back to the boat, and the tour was over.
I put together a small video that shows what the tour of the island was like. You can see it here:
Although my day was only half over, that visit to the Angel’s Pool was the single best experience of being at Victoria Falls. Words cannot possibly describe what it was like to be so close to the edge and experiencing all the falls have to offer first hand. Plus, the added bonus of doing the tour with two pretty girls from Sweden didn’t hurt either.
When I got back to the mainland, I had about 30 minutes to kill before my next tour. I sat in the lobby, borrowed some Wi-Fi and posted a couple of photos and waited for my ride to show up.
Long before I had ever booked anything for Africa, or even knew I was coming back, I had seen an interview on Youtube with Kaley Cuoco from The Big Bang Theory where she talked about how she had done a canyon swing with her boyfriend in Australia. I had looked it up online and thought it looked like a riot and wondered if I would ever be in a place that had such a swing. In doing my research about Victoria Falls I learned they offered this same kind of attraction. With no hesitation what so ever, I booked the swing and a zip line.
My ride showed up, picked me up and drove me to a remote portion of the African bush where they do the gorge swing and zip line. They had me sign some paperwork and asked me if I wanted to pay for them to video me. I had brought my GoPro but opted to have them film me as they could see me from the observation deck. It turned out to be a blessing because most of my GoPro footage was of the ropes and not me simply because of where the GoPro was positioned.
I then got into a harness and they explained to me about how I would need to make sure that when I stepped off the edge that I took a big step and not a small one. Small steps apparently are dangerous and can cause someone to bump against the side of the cliff.
I walked over to the edge and they checked all the harnesses and made sure all was good. I was asked if I was ready and told them I needed a minute. One of the guys told me not to look down and I told them that didn’t bother me at all. The drop is about 316 meters and that part never bothered me. It was just a matter of taking a deep breath and being ready for the fall.
Just like the SkyJump in Vegas, I took a deep breath, told him I was ready and away I went. I did not experience any fear while falling but the rush was quite something. Watching the GoPro footage is actually good for that portion as it shows me directly falling towards the ground before the tether kicks in and I start swinging. After falling and then coming into the swing, you get a great view as you swing back and forth but very quickly you realize that you just want to get off the harness.
What I didn’t know about this particular tour was that I had to hike all the way back up to the top of the hill after being swung downward. That was more exhausting and tiring than anything else.
By the time I got to the top, I was beat so I took a few minutes and watched the guys play a game of Mancala. My ex-wife used to play it on the computer all the time so when the locals asked me if I had ever seen it before I actually knew what they were doing. It was really cool to see the game out in the wild being played by actual African people.
Shortly after their game finished, I went up and did the zip line. This one I had to run off the edge and then I just slide along the wire out into the open. It didn’t have the same thrill as the swing but was definitely cool to do. The best part of that particular activity was the fact that I got to go twice.
By the time that was done, I was exhausted. I got the driver to take me back to my hotel where I crashed for several hours, and never even left to do anything else. I could have gone for a tour of the town or perhaps even just wandered a bit, but for me, I had accomplished the biggest things I had wanted to do in Zambia.
The next morning I got up, had breakfast, paid my tab and made my way to the airport to make my long haul home. As it turned out, the trip home was perhaps one of the most brutal return trips of my travel career.
It started with the Livingstone airport itself. I couldn’t pay by credit card for my lunch so I ended up leaving my bag in the restaurant while I went back through security to use a bank machine. Made me nervous as hell leaving my luggage there but was assured it was safe and indeed I came back and it was still there without issue. It still made me uneasy. Then the flight to J’Burg was delayed but no one from the airline told anyone, or changed the signs, and everyone there was standing around wondering what was going on. Eventually I did get airborne and got to J’Burg. It was a 12hr overnight flight to London for my next connection.
All was fine until I was almost through to Halifax. I was supposed to connect in Halifax for a quick flight to Moncton, but due to a sudden massive snowstorm, the flight was diverted to Montreal. I was already so tired from having flown all that way, I just wanted to get home. Thankfully it was an easy re-book and I only had a short layover before hopping on a plane to Moncton. But it didn’t end there.
The flight got all the way to Moncton and then hovered above the airport for about 20 minutes before telling us they couldn’t land there either so they would have to go back to Montreal. We had flown all that way to literally turn around and come back. After having been traveling for 30+ hours, I was so tired I just needed it to be over. When we got back to Montreal, I called the Air Canada priority desk and had them rebook me for the following day. I then booked a room in the airport Marriott and messaged my wife to give her the bad news.
It was the first time in 12 years of traveling for work that I actually wanted to quit right there on the spot. I was so mad, and so tired, I had just had enough. My wife was awesome and let me vent and before I knew it, I was asleep, waking up, getting on a new plane, and landing in Moncton. I was never so glad to finally be home.
Now that I’ve had some time to really absorb what I saw, it all feels very unreal to me. When I go on these excursions to some of these faraway and almost mystical places, I almost always feel a sense of disbelief a few weeks later. I know I did these things and I have the photos, video, and memory to prove it, but it still somehow feels very much like a dream and not the real world.
The best thing I can tell you about visiting Victoria Falls is that no matter how scared you are, you need to see them through the eyes of the Devil’s or Angel’s pool. There is nothing in this world that will ever be able to describe just how insane that felt and how amazing the view really was. I have no regrets, and I cannot wait for the chance to bring my wife and kids there someday.
Traveler’s Tip: Travel to the falls between October and January. The water flow is not as high so the pools are accessible. Plus I was told that during the other months, the mist from the flow of water can be so intense that it actually blocks many parts of the view of the falls.
