Last week we went on our little vacation to Livingstone (Victoria Falls) and Botswana and it was fantastic! It all far exceeded our expectations.
We left last Thursday for an 8 hour bus ride to Livingstone. There we stayed at a beautiful lodge in big safari tents, where hippos and crocs were really not too far away. They had a beautiful pool (and great wine!). On our first day we spent the morning lounging by the pool and then the afternoon was spent visiting Victoria Falls. It is dry season right now (the rains are just starting) so there wasn't a lot of water at Victoria Falls but they were still spectacular! Certainly much higher and longer than I expected. We hiked around for a while taking a million pictures of course and then it started to rain, so we took a break for lunch. During lunch somebody (not to mention any names...mike and chad) got the bright idea that we should try swimming in Devil's Pool! Well, for those of you who don't know what Devil's Pool is, let me explain.
During the dry season, if you hike about 1.5 hours at the TOP of Victoria Falls, across all the rocks and rushing water, you'll come to the biggest portion of the Falls. Once you get there, there is a small body of water where stupid tourists can swim...WHILE OVERLOOKING THE FALLS. While swimming, there isn't much between you and the 110 meter fall to the rock bottom of the falls, except a small rock ledge, where the water rushes over. Like I said, this is only available to people during the dry seasons otherwise the water that rushes over it is too powerful and will take you right over the edge. Our guide even told us that he has heard of elephants and hippos falling over the falls.
So...after lunch we starting on our guided tour...all 5 of us, Chad, Mandy, Mike while carrying their 20 month old daughter the whole time (despite what you may think, they are very responsible parents!) and myself, all guided by Morris.
The hike took about an hour and a half one way and there were times along the way that I wasn't sure we were the smartest group of tourists. We had to walk over wet and slippery rocks where if you fell, you wouldn't just get your camera wet. There were times when the current was stronger so we had to form a line and hold hands to help support each other. Then finally, we reached the end point - Devil's Pool. None of us could believe what we were seeing and that we were supposed to willingly go in and swim....however...that is what we did!!! Mandy and Karis stayed to the side and took pictures (see, she is responsible) and the rest of us sheepishly got into the water AFTER seeing our guide cannon-ball in first, of course. There was an amazing and fearless man who took a video of the whole thing for us too, so when I get home to some faster internet I'll post the video for you to watch.
It was amazing. It still makes my stomach turn and the adrenaline starts pumping just thinking about it. And the good news is, we are all alive and I am able to write about it.
The next day we crossed over to Botswana for a day of safaris. We did a 3 hour boat drive in the morning (in the freezing cold rain) and then a 3 hour land drive in the afternoon. We saw so many animals it was unbelievable! We saw a group/heard/school??? of about 100 elephants which was amazing. Right beside them were a dozen hippos and even a few antelope! In the afternoon we saw more elephants, hippos, antelope, warthogs, crocs, and a few more I'm sure.
That night we stayed in Botswana at another great little lodge so we could do another safari the next day - we still had some animals we wanted to see. So the next day we saw lots of baboons, antelope, a mongoose, and even a leopord and lioness!!! It was amazing!
Monday morning Chad and I ventured back to Lusaka to start winding things down here at the home. It has been a busy week with lots of excitement, but also, a lot of sadness.
We had a Christmas party for the staff and kids and that was great. Most, if not all, of these kids have never celebrated Christmas before so we had the pleasure of teaching them about Christmas and even seeing them open their first Christmas present. They loved it! All day they were so excited and just couldn't wait for the party. They loved their gifts...especially the toy cellphones (which we didn't know actually made noise...hopefully those batteries die soon!).
Now, as I am writing this early on Friday...our last day in Lusaka....I can't even believe it. We are both so excited to come home to see our families and our friends, to even have some Starbucks! But, we are both really struggling with these goodbyes. We LOVE these kids, and the staff. The original plan was for Chad and I to come back to Lusaka after Christmas but as you know, things have changed. We have to say goodbye and most likely, we won't see these kids again. Thankfully we have been able to work out a plan for them until the end of February, so nothing is really going to change for them. They will be staying at this home until March 1st when our lease is up and at that point, some decisions will have to be made. We are hoping that most, if not all of them can be adopted by then, but that is unlikely so we are all busy brainstorming to try to come up with another plan. We cannot just send them to another orphanage here...we just can't.
The kids don't really understand that we are leaving for good and they keep asking if they can come to Canada with us (they have no idea where Canada is or how far it is or even why we can't just bring them with us, because we would certainly bring them all home if we could).
We are busy packing up our things and saying our goodbyes. We have a few last minute errands to make but then that's pretty much it. We will be dropped off at the airport at 10 pm tonight and then we'll catch our 1st of many planes at 12:10 am. We arrive in Toronto at 8:35 pm on Saturday night...hopefully without any problems (we hear there is a snow storm that might be hitting, so we're praying the airport stays open!).
Once we are home we'll post some more pictures and even a video.
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