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| Climbing down the mountain to the river carrying our gear |
By 8:30am we were all in the lobby meeting our guides for inflatable white-water kayaking. Before we even reached the river we were instructed to carry our oars, life vests, helmets, and shin floats down a treacherous mountainside trail. Once we reached the bottom the porters inflated the kayaks while Steve gave brief instructions on kayaking 101 and avoiding “serious caw-nage.” Our excursion spanned class 3 and 4 rapids taking us from rapid 10-25 on the Zambezi, downstream of the falls. We’d all been given/bought nyami nyami necklaces to bring us safety and luck on our voyage. Nyami nyami which looks like a dragon literally translates to “meat meat” and is supposed to bring safety to those travelling the Zambezi.
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| Steve showing us how to kayak and avoid "caw-nage" |
We hit the water and I felt my body growing sore from the beginning, using muscles I’d probably never used before. I made it through the first rapid unscathed but this was only a warm-up. Rapid 12, named The 3 Ugly Sisters and Their Mother, is a series of 4 violent rapids in quick succession. I immediately got my first taste of a flip as the first of the sisters knocked me off the boat and I struggled in the current to hold onto my oar as the water sucked me down and flung me on towards the second sister, luckily I was able to grab onto the safety boat operated by Steve before I hit. From there I watched the rest of my friends knocked from their boats along the sisters. As we reached the mother I held on with all my force as a giant wall of water knocked right into us. We were all shaken after this and we regrouped in a jetty before moving on. At the next rapid I was again knocked from my boat and began getting frustrated. In between the rapids I was encouraged by the breathtaking grandness of canyon views and stayed determined to ride through. Amazingly I started to grow more and more competent, making it through rapid 14 even after one wave had knocked me into the center of the mess and another wave hit me from the side spinning me backwards into the big rush, but I managed to hold onto my boat and oar and back into it straight, riding right through the rush.
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| The first rapid, a small taste of what was to come |
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| A moment of calm enjoying the gorgeous views |
I was getting the hang of it, but then there we all were sitting at the jetty before rapid 18, our biggest test of the day. The rapid is named “Oblivion” so it was no wonder we were all hesitant to follow Steve into what he promised would be “absolute caw-nage.” Our instructions were to hit the first wave straight on and then “paddle like all hell left.” I made it through the first wave and set myself up well for the second which I rode. Then facing the real “oblivion,” a monstrous 15 foot swell coming down on me I tried to right myself directly into it like instructed, but got side-swiped and went into the ferocious rapid spun sideways. As the water crashed into me I quickly tried to grab onto my boat to keep from getting sucked under but the force ripped my hands from the kayak and I was pulled down beneath the surface. The first moments I was calm and just held my breath confident the various means of flotation adorning my body would soon pull me to the surface. Then that didn’t happen, and I was still moving fast underwater and it was all dark and I couldn’t tell if I was being pulled further downward or just along the current and then I started stretching my arms out just trying to feel anything but water and I started worrying more as my breath ran out and I was still being pulled along forcefully beneath the surface. Just as real panic set in my fingers felt air and with my arms I pulled my head to the surface for a brief gasp before another wave hit me and sent me back under, but I was quickly out again and searching for my boat. Instead I found Helena’s and she gave me a lift until my raft returned. “Oblivion” was over and that was the high climax. There were more rapids and even another tumble from my boat, but after surviving Rapid 18, nothing phased me. Everyone that went through it agreed. We were stronger, braver, more resilient now.
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| Post "Oblivion" I lost my boat and got a ride with Helena |
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