Mosi-oa-Tunya




June 30th Journal Entry:

The Smoke that Thunders. Holy smokes. Most unbelievable part of creation I have ever been able to witness. It dwarfs Niagara, and the land around it has been respected more. The first part you see when you walk up is the Devil's Cataract, which is the fall in the corner and it just roars powerfully along the edge as it banks the water down to the bottom. From this viewpoint, you can also see part of the main falls which are clearly huge, but you don't realize how wide they are until you keep going. Multiple viewpoints later I was still saying, "we still cant see the end of it," stunned. There were baboons everywhere along the paths. They do not fear humans one bit. At the second or third lookout there was a little mist, but I felt some more water hitting me than just mist. I looked up confused and saw that a baboon was peeing from the top of a tree. Seriously... a baboon peed on me. He got Rileigh too. I was disgusted but thought it was funny at the same time. Nothing could make me too mad when all I had to do was turn around and be staring at one of the seven wonders of the world. Mosi-oa-Tunya: The Smoke that Thunders. That was the original name of the falls before some white guy came around and named it after some white chick. I think that name does it much more justice.

Devil's Cataract

We continued down the path stopping at every viewpoint. When you go near the main falls you get SOAKED. We were all drenched completely. I couldn't get enough of it. I wanted to stand on every rock to soak it in from every angle. When we got to the lookout on the end, there was the purest rainbow you could ever imagine. Every line of color was beaming. It looked like it was close to us too, right over the gorge. There was actually a double rainbow but the outer one took awhile longer to see. We were a little rushed on time, so the girls took the shorter way back. I chose to take the same way we came in so I could have some more time with the falls. It was the perfect opportunity to kick it with God for awhile. I stopped at most of the viewpoints again as I worshipped, prayed, and tried to listen. I kept walking past where we came in and got to see a couple more lookouts we had missed the first time around. One of them actually had stairs I went down to get closer to where the Devil's Cataract hits the water at the bottom. The other one was just a fence by the Zambezi, before the river becomes the falls. It's kind of cheesy, but I was thinking about how the water represents different phases in life. One minute you are just coasting down a lazy river, not much happening aside from a little ripple here and there. Next minute, with little to no warning, you are in an absolute free fall. Even when the water lands, it is rushed through the gorge and travels a long journey of rapids. I feel like the stage of life Rileigh and I have been in is like the falls (in a good way). Everything is so freaking crazy, but everything is so freaking awesome. I love it. But as I was looking out over the river, the calm before the storm, the water that has no idea what is going to hit it, I sense that God is saying that this is the stage of life that we are in. That we don't even know crazy yet. I am rarely sure and always doubting myself when it comes to listening to God. I'm pretty good about talking to Him but not so great about shutting up and listening. I would be lying if I said that I was sure in that moment, but that is an ominous calling if it is true. Game on, God. Let's roll.

The Falls
All of us on the boat cruise
That night we went on a sundowner cruise that was an amazing way to spend some chill time. It was Rachel, Rileigh, and I and an awesome Zimbabwean couple. They said game sighting was not guaranteed, but we lucked out and saw hippos, crocs, elephants, and even a giraffe, which they said was really rare on the cruise. I was chillin' on a boat, Rileigh in my arms, watching the sunset on the Zambezi with a giraffe eating from a tree in the same line of sight. Shaka naka! (It is good!) For dinner we went to the Boma. It is kind of like Zimbabwe's Carnivore, except there is added atmosphere and a show that comes with the dinner. Everybody got a drum to play along with the show and it sounded amazing. I could listen to traditional African drums forever, and had a blast playing along. I ate buffalo, lamb, croc tail, warthog, kudu, beef, and chicken. It was all marinated and cooked so well it all tasted good, besides the croc tail which was pretty fishy.

Rafting on the Zambezi

Rachel and I woke up early the next morning to go rafting. It was a long hike down into the gorge to the water. We were teamed up with a really cool Australian family. It was a lot more physically tiring than I remembered last time. Being in the front was sweet. We didn't tip over at all but for the easier rapids our guide let us jump in and hang on to the sides. Gnarly. Apparently we passed by a crocodile but I didn't see it. It was so cool seeing everything from down in the gorge. It was definitely the biggest gorge I have seen. The Grand Canyon was already on my bucket list but I want to go there even more now. We had another long steep hike up out of there when we were finished. As we flew out of Vic Falls back to Harare, we got to see the Smoke for one last time out the window.

The view from the helicopter

While we were rafting, Rileigh had an awesome experience of her own. She went on a helicopter ride over the Falls. She had a great time and came back with some unbelievable photos and videos.


  • Journal barely survived the Falls
  • I missed hearing Shona there
  • I understand your tunes
  • Chidamoyo! Chidamoyo! Diarrhea! Aids! - Rafiki
-J

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