The Great White Zambezi

We were contemplating long and hard whether to go for the rafting trip after hearing so many horror stories from fellow rafters who've been. Every single rafting trip has been accompanied with an accident - a guy air-lifted from the ravine after hurting his back, a girl in a neck brace, a girl who lost her basketball shorts and was left with her bikini bottoms! Honest to goodness!

Anyway, after weighing the pros and cons - we thought what the heck! Who knows when we'll be back again - so we went. (Mum - if you are reading this KL put me up to it! :p )

We signed up with SAFPAR (http://whitewater.safpar.com/) for the full day trip with our hostel. Drinks, snacks and transportation were included. Had 30 minutes worth of introduction and safety advice before we ventured down the river.

The guides were amazingly good and very impressive especially the way they manouvered the kayaks & rafts, and efficient and quick in pulling up the casualties who had fallen in. There were 12 rafts out that day, and KL and I were with a group of students from the States led by Babyface, our guide.


We were very fortunate that out of the 23 rapids, we fell in only twice. Once on a Class 4 and another on a Class 5 rapid! We knew we were going down when Babyface 'parked' us at the side of the river before attempting the rapid by checking our vest and helmets were securely fastened! It was an exhilarating experience - a real treat for an adrenalin junkie! We were knocked over then swept away by the massive rapids, struggling to catch our breaths in between the rapids - sucking in more water than air.

Going... going..

GONE....!

Do give it a try - though not recommended for the faint hearted!

Ps: We stayed at Jollyboys Backpacker in Livingstone, Zambia (http://www.backpackzambia.com/) - highly recommended. Though, if you are thinking of getting the private huts - make sure you book before hand.

Latest update from London

Well, I'm back! Finally got myself a brand-spanking-new Dell laptop last week and got connected today. Yooohooo...!!

After our 10 month travel, KL is back at work (he had only 2 days of rest before starting work - poor thing) while I'm still at home bumming around. A proper rest is definitely required after all the travelling we've done ie. lugging our heavy rucksacs, planning our next destination, looking for accomodation for the night. Don't get me wrong. The trip was excellent, had a excellent companion (who did most of the planning! hehehe..), met a lot of people, had lovely experiences, saw lots of places, ate a lot good food and wine - definitely wouldn't have missed it for the world!

That said, it's really nice to be back in the comforts of our home. Oh well, back to reality... now that I'm connected to the internet - I'd better start looking for a job. No excuses this time! ;)

Below is a photo (taken by Noel who's visiting) in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, which runs under the River Thames and is 1217ft in length and about 50ft deep. It's a pretty touristy place, jam packed with people especially over the weekend and quite often you encounter some idiots who cycle along the tunnel when you are not supposed to. On one end of the tunnel is the Island Garden Park which has a great view of the Royal Observatory and the green GMT line (only visible at night). And on the other end is the Greenwich village. A quaint place - with its weekend markets, plenty of pubs & cafes and a huge park to boast. KL and I usually spend our weekends there when the weather is good, and if we're not playing tennis - he'll be there oogling at the bikini-clad ladies tanning under the sun!