Best Road Trip Ever: chapter 2
1/5/2011
Victoria Falls was the most beautiful natural display of beauty in the world
that my eyes have had the privilege of witnessing. There is a man-made
structure n the area that compliments the landscape. It is the 333 meter high
bridge overlooking the falls connecting Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Main attraction:
bungee jumping. It is the allegedly the 2nd highest bungee in the
world. This is what you jump into…
We headed over to the building to sign up. To our delight we
find out that we can do a zip-line, bungee and go on a gigantic swing off the
bridge for just a little bit more money. We all signed up by signing our lives
away on forms.
We began by doing a zip line over the gorge to the middle of the bridge. This
provided fantastic views and really helped us warm up for what was to come.
There were 50 some middle school boys, all in short shorts and rocking mullets,
that we had to wait behind, but we got to study the best form for jumping off.
First up was the swing. Daniel and myself teamed up to get optimal velocity.
Here we are just before our drop.
We were instructed how to step off the ledge properly. All I
remember is stepping off wrong and hearing Daniel scream, “Shalom Ya’ll!” This
was in fact the most terrifyingly awesome moment of my life during free fall.
That damn swing made my heart race a million times faster than when I sky dove
a few years back. It was intense. We all survived the swing. Up next… bungee.
Melissa was volunteered by the workers there to go first.
She was really brave and took the dive. I was so proud of her. Next was Daniel.
He screamed, ‘U.S.A!’ as he jumped off. Hilarious.
One of my favorite pictures.
Before I knew it I was up. Suddenly I got very spiritual. My mind hated what I
was putting my body through, so I focused on the unseen in the heavenly realm.
It was really neat to try and battle the sensation of fear and try to replace
it with a calm feeling. I said a quick prayer of psalm 23, Lord is my shepherd,
and leaped off. Wow, words can’t really describe the feeling. Next was
Kimberly, she rocked it. Then Natalie, she probably had the best form. Last but
not least was Woody. She was terrified, but we encouraged her to finally do it.
She had the last jump of the day as the sun was setting. When she was hoisted
back up onto the bridge we all ran towards her and hugged her. It was a special
moment. The team has never bonded so much as we did that day.
1/6/2011
Departed Livingstone,
Zambia at 6 am.
After a couple of euphoric days, we were rooted back into
reality as our car broke down at the sketchy Zambia/ Botswana border.
Arrived in
Panamatanga, Botswana around 1 pm.
We spent most of the day at the auto garage. We stayed in a Dutch Reform Church
that night. It was a great place with mattresses and fans. We mostly rested
that day after our intense adventures earlier.
Departed Panamatanga,
Botswana at 6 am.
We heard from many people to never drive in Botswana at
night because there are a TON of animals on the road. We shoved off right at
sunrise, and wouldn’t you know it, in the first five minutes we saw a giraffe.
Such amazing creatures they are.
Wouldn’t ya know it, five minutes after the giraffe we stop
because a gigantic elephant is crossing the road.
We were blown away by that elephant. Within five more
minutes we saw another large male on the side of the road. We stopped the car
and Daniel and I jumped out of the front seats to get up close. The elephant
got riled and started to flap its ears and stomp. We wanted a picture but the
girls were screaming, ‘No! GET IN THE FLIPPING CAR!’
We replied, ‘No! TAKE THE PICTURE FIRST!’
Melissa says, ‘No! We’re not going to take it!’
The elephant angrily stomps and flaps its
ears.
Then Melissa screams, ‘Ok! Take the picture!’
Epic.
(I was planning on writing more chapters, but I lost interest in writing on this…. send me a message and I’ll tell you what happened next!)
