ZAMBEZI- The most dangerous rafting in the world!
Going down the big rock to the river took 20 minutes (the coast was very slippery and sheer. Right before we left, we went swimming in a yellow-green river. For those of us who got on the boat in Zimbabwe, the first part of the river with wild waters was "Morning Glory", the most dangerous!!!
The Skipper asked us if we wanted to go through along the edge of the river (known as the "Chickens way" route) or through the middle of it- we all chose the second option. Even though we were warned that we only had a 50% chance of staying on the boat, we just couldn't pass up the big adventure. Right after we started rowing, we flipped over! Oars and people went up in the air and then all of a sudden everything became white. We could hardly breath. While struggling in the river, I started recalling the advice from the initial instructions "... The grey thing is the boat; lift your hands, the boat will pass by and you'll find yourselves on the surface of the water". The truth was that the grey thing above me disappeared but I didn't get to the surface.
"Just stay relaxed!" - was one of the
clever instructions. Our battle with the river had already been lost. The water
was throwing and turning around the whole crew and carrying us down the river
very quickly. "When you count up to 10,the water will bring you to the
surface" I recalled the words from the lesson. And so I started counting.
After I counted to ten, a couple of seconds later I still couldn't get to the
surface. I started swallowing water, it was warm and sweet. Why did it have
to happen to us?? All the other rafts had
passed through "Morning Glory" without trouble, and we were the only
ones whose raft had flipped. I counted up to 42 and realized I was about to
faint away. "They said that the water was going to get us to the surface
itself, I guess I know that" - I was telling myself while swallowing water
and trying to figure out top from bottom underwater. The next moment I saw a
light and became jolly thinking I was going up to the surface. But, just before
that very moment the river dragged me towards the bottom and the nightmare didn't
stop. The river was very strong and powerful and I felt pain all over my body.
Then all of a sudden I found myself on the surface. Trying to take a breath
I figured out that I was in the part of the river where it was very calm and
my trouble was over.
Other members of the crew were out of the water trying to get over the shock.
Pressure in my ears, an unpleasant feeling in my nose, lungs and stomach were
all unimportant. A couple of minutes later we were on our boat nervously looking
at each other - if this was only the beginning, how were we supposed to get
through the next 12 places where the river was wild? Our raft had only five
brave people and a skipper. We manoeuvred through the next section of wild water
called "Stairway to Heaven". We had lots of trouble but fortunately
our raft didn’t flip. We were very relieved when we were told that "Morning
Glory" and
"Stairway to Heaven" were the most dangerous parts of the river. "Commercial
Suicide" is another wild water where we had to leave our boats and walk
down the river for about 20 meters carrying the boat, all around us was wild
water. It was lunchtime, finally, we got a chance to rest and take a breath.
The food was very tasty and fresh, but we were very tired and wet. We started
rowing again after having been encouraged by other people. We had to experience
another ten places with wild water. The last but one "Oblivion" made
us go swimming and diving again, but that time we came to the surface very quickly.
We came to our destination at about 5pm, tired and thirsty but full of a new
appreciation for life, death and natural powers.
The next thing we did was
climb the rocks on the shore, slowly and carefully. Pain in my muscles and nose
will pass. But what will stay is the unforgettable feeling that we've been through
the craziest and most dangerous rafting in the world.
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