Livingston Island and the Darwin Awards

Marty and John at the edge of Victoria Falls

We start the morning with the inclusive, elaborate buffet breakfast in the open front restaurant beside the pool. After breakfast, John spends an hour on the internet while I write my blog, but I am unsettled; uncertain if an activity that I have booked for today, before leaving home, will take place. I had hoped that John and I would be able to swim in Devils Pool at the top of Victoria Falls, but hear that the water level is too high for the swim. Simply having lunch on the island seems mundane and I rather wish to cancel, but am told that I will not get a refund. We resign ourselves to going, not knowing how else to proceed and at 12:00 P.M, John and I are shuttled over to the Royal Livingston Hotel, where the motor boat will pick us up. We wait on the expansive deck of the Royal Livingston Hotel, overlooking the Zambezi River, dotted with sand bars and tiny islands.  We can see Livingston Island, at the very edge of the falls and I wonder if we are about to earn a Darwin award.  We sign the indemnity wavier, strap on the mandatory orange life vests and climb aboard a small motor boat. The boat sets its course directly towards the lip of the falls; turning towards the tiny island just 300 feet from the precipice and nosing up onto the sand.  We follow our guide along a narrow dirt path arriving at a raised and tented platform, with a table set for 6, and a heart stopping view of the falls.  Another couple will be joining us, but in the interim, we remove our shoes, wrap ourselves in the provided heavy green rain ponchos and set out barefoot along the muddy trail, behind our guide. The path is slick and our guide points out hippo tracks and I conclude that some of this presumed mud is most likely, hippo poop.  When the edge of the falls is just 100 feet away, our guide takes my hand and we step off the trail into knee high, marsh-grass, interspersed with outcroppings of firm black bedrock.  At places, I sink up to my knees in the muck and hold our guides hand all the more firmly.  A moment later we are standing at the edge of the river, the falls less than 20 feet beyond. Our guide points to a series of rocks between us and a rocky point immediately above the falls and maps out our stepping stone route between the river bank and the rocky point.  I tell him that I cannot do it, but John is game and I say a quiet prayer as our guide takes John’s hand and they traverse the 20 feet of river to the rocky point.  I reassure myself that this tour has been operating for many years without mishap and that, most likely, it looks worse from my vantage point on the bank, than in reality. Our guide has my camera and takes photos of John on the protruding rocky precipice, the falls thundering forcefully beyond. I breathe a sigh of relief when John is again, standing beside me on the marshy river bank.

John Touching the Rainbow

View from the edge of Victoria Falls

John standing at the lip of the Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls is over a mile across, so there are many sections to the falls and numerous vantage points. We turn and walk a 100 feet to the other tip of the island with a view of Rainbow Falls and the Livingston monument. In October, this part of the falls will be dry, but today the spray from the waterfall creates a rainbow. I hold the guides hand firmly and sink deep in the mud when bedrock is not available. Our guide takes photos with the falls and the rainbow behind us. With the island tour complete, we muck our way back to the trail and pad barefoot to the platform tent area where lunch will be served. Before stepping up onto the dining platform, we are seated and our feet washed in hot water and dried.

John and I sit on the sunny side of the table, the falls cascading, just 30 feet off to our left.  I seldom drink wine in the afternoon, but all is inclusive and we have little to do but relax after this adventure.  A newly-wed couple in their early 30’s from the U.K. are the only others on this island tour today and we share stories of our respective trips and lives, while indulging in a first rate, three course lunch.

Lunch on Livingston Island

At 3:00 P.M, we climb back aboard the small motor boat and within 5 minutes are deposited back at the Royal Livingston Hotel. A short shuttle ride takes us to our hotel, where for the remainder of the afternoon, John relaxes by the pool, reading Jurassic Park. Our lunch was very late so we skip dinner, but take early evening showers so that we will be ready for our morning flight to the Kalamu Lagoon Camp in Lungasa.  When showering, I discover 5 stowaway tics from Livingston Island, two of them burrowed in extremely private spots. I try not to freak out  but wish them removed.  After a call to the desk, I go to the hotel clinic and nurse  Nana, discretely removes the ticks with forceps. Her big smile and sense of humor puts me at ease and I am taking them home as souvenir, in the event that I experience any adverse symptoms later on.