Victoria Falls

Eileen and I successfully met up with each other and our overland tour group at Victoria Falls, where -- aside from Eileen's spontaneously bloody nose this morning -- we've had a great time  (or at least I have).  After taking it easy on Friday (Eileen's first night in Africa), we went to the falls in the early morning on Saturday; there's nothing like jet lag to make you a morning person.  They're spectacular, especially because we saw them in relative isolation (before the throngs of other tourists arrived) and because there were several rainbows (including one double rainbow!).  Some of the lookouts were more misty than others, but I think we came at pretty much the optimal time for actually seeing all of the falls.  Apparently, when the water is really high, the spray is so intense that it's hard to see the falls, but when the water is really low, some of the falls aren't running anymore.  But we got to see all of them.

We enjoyed high tea in the afternoon at the picturesque Victoria Falls Hotel.  Finally, in the evening, we joined the group for a buffet meal and entertainment.  We had our faces painted (in keeping with our ladylike personalities, Eileen chose a hippo and I picked a water buffalo) and the whole audience participated in some vigorous drumming.

Today was our "activity" day, and we opted for whitewater rafting on the Zambezi river.  I've been whitewater rafting before, but I think this was the most intense trip I've been on: 19 rapids, including several Class 5.  We didn't ever actually flip over (due to the skill of the guide and, of course, our stellar paddling), but on several occasions it felt like the raft was basically vertical.  All great fun but my butt hurts a bit now.

After an ununsuccessful attempt to stream the Seahawks-Chargers game over this flaky Internet, it's bedtime at the campground for us.  Tomorrow we're off to Hwange; the plan is to spenda few more days in Zimbabwe, one night in Botswana, then four days in South Africa.  I don't expect that Internet access is likely to be ubiquitous at the campsites we're staying at, so don't worry if there aren't any posts for a while.