The time I was pushed off a cliff

(Part two of four)

I’m not exactly what one would call a dare devil, but I’m not a scaredy cat either. I’d say I’m somewhere in between. I’ve been sky diving but tandem. Right in the middle (or maybe some would say jumping out of a plane, even while attached to another person, is more on the dare devil side than the scaredy cat side?). Either way, I’ve always wanted to try more daring things but never seem to. It’s like I had the fantasy of it but never made it into a reality. Part of why I chose the volunteer program at Victoria Falls was because of all the fun adventure activities. I thought this was my chance to finally push myself to do the things I’ve been craving. Even though as I write this, I get the feeling that my mom and some friends might say I’ve always pushed things to the limit, though I wouldn’t say I have.

Following my beautiful & peaceful Chobe National Park day in Botswana on the Saturday of my first weekend at Nakavango, the Sunday I made into adventure day. I planned the day with a fellow volunteer, a 19 year old girl from Australia named Ellie. We decided to do the full gorge “tour”: tree top canopy tour, flying fox, zip line and gorge swing. We really had no idea what the flying fox was, but it was part of the package so we didn’t ask too many questions.

The Stanley & Livingstone Private Game Reserve is about 20 minutes outside of the town of Victoria Falls. On weekends we are on our own with transportation. Thankfully there is a lovely young Zimbabwean named Owen who seems to be the town taxi driver assigned to transport all the Nakavango volunteers to and fro. He picked us up early Sunday morning and drove us to the Wild Horizons high wire facility which is a thatched platform on the edge of the gorge overlooking the Zambezi River. That’s where adventure seekers check in and the not so adventurous can sit, have drinks and a yummy lunch at The Lookout Cafe (what they call the facility) while watching others zip around in the air.

I don’t know why but everywhere I went in Africa I was always pleasantly surprised that things were at a higher standard than I imagined they would be. The part I don’t understand is why I had such low standards for Africa? How did that continent get such an unjust opinion from such an uninformed person as myself? Maybe therein lies the problem: when we form opinions and make ideas based on hearsay and not actual knowledge and experience (I’m really bad about that, I must admit. I am aware of my flaws but it’s hard to change, is it not?). Now that I have fallen so deeply in love with Africa I just get mad at myself thinking about my idiocy.

Anyhow, back to The Lookout Cafe… it was so lovely! (to my surprise, of course). It looked pretty brand new (turns out it was very, very new) and open. The main area only had half height walls, so the breeze flowed in and out of the place. And of course it had a great view of the gorge and the Zambezi River deep, deep down below.

When Ellie and I checked in, we got the whole spiel about safety, the risks and also how we could pay to get the whole experience filmed and photographed for a huge variety of different prices that I couldn’t understand. Would it cost me $30 or $247? There’s no telling. Ellie and I signed our waivers and opted out of the filming bonanza. There was an Asian couple also checking in with us. He was going to do the canopy tour, she was not. They had about 10 cameras between them hanging over their necks, arms and sticking out of their bags. Ironically, they did decide to pay the man to film and photograph him (I’m sorry if this offends anyone, I’m not making stereotypes. I’m just saying what I saw).

Next we were sent to the guys who would be fitting us into the harnesses and helmets. Thankfully most of their helmets are equipped with the attachment for a GoPro, so we were all set. They got us in our harnesses and let me tell you they strapped us in TIGHT. I’m talking could not breath, could not bend down to actually get my GoPro to attach it to my helmet, walking like a 41 week pregnant lady (no offense to pregnant ladies out there, but if you are that past your due date, you know you are walking around like a penguin).

We waddled to our first adventure: the tree top canopy tour. It was a series of nine short zip lines that zig zagged between the trees. I had never been so Iwas a little nervous as they hooked me to the first line. They tell you to lean back and keep your legs forward so you zip straight ahead….yeah that didn’t happen. I completely turned around and had no idea when I was supposed to start breaking so out of fear I broke way too early, pretty much just barely half way down the first zip line. So I had to pull myself, hand over hand, to the end of the first line. It also didn’t help that the GoPro added about 4 inches to the top of my helmet and kept bumping into the line and tree branches!

By about the seventh line I finally got the hang of it. Sometimes I’m a fast learner, sometimes it takes me a minute… this was one of those days. All in all, it was fun and not at all scary. Especially thinking back on it now knowing what was coming in the end…

Next was the flying fox. Our guides made us step out of our harnesses, then put them on backwards so the safety wires were attached to our backs so when we jumped off the platform we could “fly” superman style. Or like a fox? If we thought it was hard walking in the harness before, we knew nothing. Wearing the harness backwards made it completely impossible to move from the waist down. I felt like a fat cow as I had to have one guy hoist me up to the platform while another one pulled me up. There is no grace or sexiness in wearing a harness and helmet. I dare even Gisele to look good doing all of this. (Oh damn it, we all know she would look amazing).

Any time you are looking down into a precipice to raging waters knowing you are about to jump off is rather scary, however it was really only scary for a half a second until I could feel the safety wire catch my weight. After that it was just a nice zip down the line flying like… a fox? Really I felt more like a flying squirrel not a fox but maybe they have flying fox in Africa that I don’t know about.

After that we decided to take a lunch break before heading off to do the zip line and gorge swing. We had a yummy and maybe too filling lunch at The Lookout Cafe with a cider each for liquid courage for our next gravity defying plans. As soon as we were done with the meal we thought maybe it was a bad idea to jump off a cliff on a full belly… who knows where lunch may end up…But we were committed so on we went.

We were strapped back into the harnesses and this time decided to do the zip line tandem. The more weight, the faster you go. There were a few locals hanging around at the base of the zip line and gorge swing waiting for their turns after us. I got this sneaking suspicion that they were really there to just laugh at us which is what they did with no shame the entire time. Clearly it’s their Sunday afternoon amusement.

Ellie got on the platform first and was strapped in, then it was my turn. We each looped one arm behind each other’s backs and held on to the other’s harness with the other arm holding the strap. Then we were told to step down off the platform but we were very nervous and extremely confused. Someone moved the wire so we jolted forward and fell off the first platform and landed sitting on another platform just beneath which we had not seen. As we sat there nervously giggling because for a second we thought we were actually going, the man in charge says “Ready?” and before we really have a chance to answer we are suddenly off the platform flying at top speed across the full length of the gorge. Ellie had sworn she wasn’t going to scream. She’s from Australia and tough and swims with sharks. She took turns screaming with me like a scared little girl.

We went all the way across the gorge, screaming the entire way, and then what we hadn’t anticipated is that we had to go back. So we went back towards the base backwards screaming the entire way. But it didn’t stop there. Our momentum took us forward again, and back again, swinging like a pendulum until we finally stopped in the middle. At that point we were like “Um, now what do we do?” And finally we see one of the guides making his way towards us on a type of upright sitting chair harness. He hooked yet another rope to us and told us to turn around which we had a REALLY hard time understanding since we were A) dangling in the sky and B) attached to each other. We finally remembered we weren’t actually attached to each other except for the fact that we were gripping each other’s harnesses for dear life – which clearly we were very reluctant to let go of. I guess I thought if I let go of Ellie either she or I would surely go plummeting to the water. Finally, we managed to turn ourselves around (me not gracefully at all) and we were hauled back up to the base.

Our audience was in stitches laughing at us but they gave us high fives and told us well done anyway. Like I’ve said, the people in Africa are so friendly! Now all that was left was the gorge swing. I was seriously starting to have second thoughts so Ellie volunteered to go first. I was shaking with leftover excitement from the zip line and nerves as I watched her being connected and strapped into what seemed like a gazillion different ropes and wires. They certainly don’t skimp on the safety here. While I was shaking she seemed cool as a cucumber from where I was standing, and before I knew it she was off jumping into the gorge toward the water below. I barely heard her scream.

She came back smiling from ear to ear and said it was awesome. My turn. So with all the guys laughing (I mean, they really didn’t stop laughing and giving us thumbs up the whole time) I crawled my way up to the platform (130 yards above the water) and tried (miserably) to prepare myself for the 76 yard free fall as they attached the 104 yard safety rope to my harness. Once I was all strapped in and definitely secure, I was asked to step to the edge of the platform. I took a tiny step forward and about 2 huge steps backwards. The man working the platform basically had to drag me (see video below) to the edge of the platform. And then he asked me “Are you ready?!” And I said “No!” He completely ignored me and counted backwards from five, quickly, and PUSHED me off the cliff. Like seriously had to push me to get me off that platform.

I wish I could properly describe what it felt like to free fall into a gorge with crocodile and hippo infested, level five rapids. It’s a 76 yard drop until you feel the catch of the rope. My stomach was in my throat. I’ve heard that expression before and thought I knew what it meant, but I didn’t until that moment of falling. My stomach was literally in my throat and I think I was screaming but not sure how the sound came out since my insides were surely blocking my vocal cords. I felt like I was falling for ages. I really really thought I fell for a good minute and a half. It was TERRIFYING like nothing I’ve ever done, completely exhilarating and wonderfully FREEING. I wish I could go back to that moment. It grows in value with every time I think about it.

Once the support rope finally caught and I stopped swinging, I was left dangling for a couple minutes in the middle of the gorge over the river. It was a beautiful day with a beautiful breeze and I had the best seat in the house. My initial shock and fear from the free fall turned into a delirium that caused a mixture of crying and laughter. The crying from the emotions I felt and the laughter at how much freaking fun I was having. Not just in that moment, but the entirety of the experience of Africa. I happily sat slowly swaying just slightly back and forth soaking it all in: the view, the experience, the location, the sounds, the smells, everything I could to lock away into my memory.

The men at the base eventually yelled down at me that they were going to reel me in. Close to the top I had to basically walk up the cliff perpendicular to the river to avoid slamming into the rock and/or platform. I ended up crawling my way back to the top and very ungracefully stumbled back on land. Again I say, nothing about this process was cute. But everything about the process was awesome.

At the top I was greeted once again by all the friendly, laughing faces and my friend Ellie who was just as exhilarated as I was and also just as happy to be done with it all. But would I do it all again? Absafreakinglutely! We thanked all the men that helped us, bid our laughing squad adieu, and made our way back to town to the famous Victoria Falls Hotel.

Walking into the Victoria Falls Hotel is like stepping 100 years back in time. It made me think of Casablanca and Humphrey Bogart. It would totally have been the type of place he would hang out. And indeed, the hotel has been around since the early 1900s so who knows, he may have (if you don’t know this about me yet, I am a HUGE classic movie fan). We grabbed a table on the beautiful patio, ordered some victory drinks and enjoyed the amazing views of Victoria Falls (which is, by the way, one of the seven natural wonders of the world). It was like a little sneak peak of heaven, or at least for me, as I let my thoughts sink away, pretending it was 1940 instead of 2015.

We played back our GoPro footage and as it turns out, the free fall off the gorge cliff was not 15 minutes like I could have sworn, but more like 1.3 seconds. Time sure is a tricky thing. And even though from the top of the gorge we couldn’t hear the other screaming, we both definitely screamed like our lives depended on it as we fell.

After our drinks, which were gracefully paid for by a gentleman whom we never met, we headed to the town center where we found Owen to get a ride back home. We were thoroughly exhausted from so much exhilaration in one day and so happy to be alive. Canopy tour, flying fox, zip line and jumping off the edge of a cliff, now that’s what I call a Sunday Funday.