Today was one of the most fun and fully packed days we have had thus far. We woke up at 8 to start our day. Neither of us had slept through the night because of some really obnoxious boys that were staying in the same hostel room as us. Nonetheless, it was better than the night that Mike and Dave had, getting into Jollyboys around 3 am. We dragged them out of bed and headed for the bus to go back to Victoria Falls.
Upon arriving at the falls we got our passes to cross onto the bridge (the bridge that connects Zambia and Zimbabwe. The closer we got to the bridge, the more scared we all felt, especially when we saw how high the bridge actually was. A drop of 364 feet is a looooonng way to fall. We signed the wavers saying that if something were to happen to us, we wouldn’t sue the company. But of course the woman at the desk assured us that there was nothing to worry about.... Mike had already decided that he wasn’t going to bungee jump so it was only Chrissy, Dave, and I who were taking the leap of faith.
Dave went first, then me, then Chrissy. Even though I had done it before, this jump was much higher. They told you not to look down and to just stare at the horizon. However, they then said to move to the edge so that your toes are hanging over – now please tell me how I’m supposed to shuffle forward to a specific spot with my feet all wrapped up in towels and ropes without looking down. I’d have to say that standing at the edge was pretty scary but my adrenaline was pumping and I had a tingling feeling of excitement running through me. The bungee man stood at our backs putting pressure on it and then said “5,4,3,2,1 bungee!!” and that’s when you jumped off the edge. If you didn’t jump, he would just push you. We knew this before hand because it had happened to one of our friends, and she actually passed out during the fall.
The free fall was awesome, soaring down for about 4 seconds before the bungee cord yanked you back up. The view of water and mist from the falls rushing at you was unbelievable. When the bouncing ended and you were just hanging there a man came down on another rope to flip you right-side-up and then you were pulled back up to the top. After the jump we went to buy of pictures and also pirated our videos by just filming the tv screen, smart move by us (saved us $30). We also indulged in some good old American food – the boys got giant burgers and fries, and Chrissy and I had the most amazing bacon-egg-cheese sandwiches. This was our treat for throwing ourselves off a bridge and surviving.
After bungee jumping we headed back to town where we bought some groceries for the weekend – this consisted of water, cheerios, bread, peanut butter, and bananas: we are so American. At 2 o’clock we were picked up from Jollyboys by a really cool guy named Brett, the owner of the company Jungle Junction. Jungle Junction is a company that runs a secluded island (Bovu Island) which people can go to stay on. We heard about it from one of our friends, Ivy, who had just been there a few weeks ago. So anyway, we loaded our bags, and ourselves, into the back of his pick-up truck and headed out to the island. It was about an hour and a half drive but it was really fun. Once we hit the dirt it got pretty bumpy though and the roads (more like tiny pathways) were so narrow that the tree branches would whip often you in the arms and face while we were driving. Brett had warned Chrissy that she would be bouncing like a “bucking pony” – I guess the term “bucking bronco” isn’t used by Zambians…
Once at the water we loaded our stuff in canoes and a guide paddled us out to the island. This is when our canoe couples formed, Dave and Chrissy, me and Mike – it was cute. We looked everywhere for crocs and hippos but didn’t see any. When we got there they gave us complementary welcome drinks – we went with mosis and cokes (and these are the cokes in glass bottles that just taste soooo much better). This island is one of the coolest places I’ve been. There are barely any people on it, other than the 4 of us there were only 2 guys there. They were from South Africa and were really nice, and one of them had the funniest laugh ever, the kind that you can’t even imitate. Other than them, only Brett, the canoe-men/guides, the cook, and the money lady occupied the island. Side note: the money lady had a beard, like a perfectly trimmed goatee on her chin. When we saw her we were quite confused because she was also wearing eye shadow and blush... maybe it's common for women to have facial hair in these rural villages? But anyway, the island was so serene and relaxing, perfect to get away from everything.
We stayed in little fisherman’s huts that overlooked the river. They only had three walls and were open in the front. It got cold at night but we had sleeping bags and mosquito nets too. All the other buildings were huts: the bathrooms, the showers, the dining room area. The dinning room was like a hang out space with lots of comfy floor pillows/couches and shelves with books and magazines to read. It was built around a giant tree, kind of made me think of the Swiss Family Robinsons.
That evening around 5 we went out on a sunset canoe ride. The sunset was beautiful and the sun looked enormous as it set over the river, and it was a brilliant shade of orange. When we got back it was dark, and since there was no electricity on the island we relied on flashlights and candles. The candles were all stuck in wine and vodka bottles, which we thought was pretty sweet. For dinner they made us spaghetti bolognaise which was delicious – finally a real meal with meat! Oh, and there was also a fresh salad that we all managed to eat without getting sick, success! Towards the end of out meal we saw a little furry creature jump up on the wall near the table, it was black and white spotted with a long black and white striped tail. It had the face shape of a cat/fox. We learned it was a “jenet,” a rare animal that few people get to see, and here one was just chilling with us at dinner. We fed it some of the food and it chowed down eating it right off our forks and then plates! We named this one Jeremiah, and shortly after his little jenet friend came and joined him for dinner too. I think we took about 30 pictures of them, luckily they didn’t run away with all the flashes.
After dinner we went and hung out at the bar for a while just playing cards. This became our go-to spot on the island. We played a bunch of rounds of asshole and some other game that Mike taught us, which was a lot of fun. We also took some time to just look at the sky. Because it was so dark, the sky was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. It was different shades of black and dark blue, and the sky had the most stars and brightest stars I’ve ever seen. I love looking at the starry night sky so this was quite a treat.
Once we burned through about 4 sets of candles we decided to call it a night. Going to the bathroom in the pitch black is a little creepy I must say, luckily I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night. I had already told Chrissy and the boys that if that happened I was going to wake one of them up to come with me. Unfortunately Chrissy did wake up to go…. The next morning she said she lay there for about 10 minutes thinking about whether she should wake me up and then decided against it. Afterwards she proceeded to pee just outside our hut instead of walking all the way to the bathroom. Trust us, when it comes down to it being terrified of getting eaten by a crocodile is a great reason to not use a toilet.
http://www.junglejunction.info/index.htm
http://www.junglejunction.info/index.htm
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