Saturday, January 30th - Livingston, Zambia

We were up at 6:00 this morning and out the door by 6:45.  Very shortly we were at the airstrip - a piece of levelled dirt - for our microlight flights over the falls.  Randy, Fran and Susanne went in the first group as they had another commitment after.  Andrea, Mike and I were in the second group. The company has three micro-light planes so only three could go up at any one time.  The pilot sits in front and the single passenger behind.  My pilot's name was Andres and he was great.  

The flights are only 15 minutes and they have everything timed precisely.  There isn't five minutes from the time the plane pulls in to the time it pulls out again and that includes unbuckling the passenger, getting their helmet and headset off, getting them out then getting the next passenger in, buckling them in and putting on their helmet.   Inside other people are taking the money, getting the signatures, selling the pictures, etc. And it all goes very smoothly.   We were the first of the day and we all commented that it might be interesting to see if they are still moving as quickly in the afternoon.  Hopefully the pilots get some down time during the day!

The flight itself was really nice.  I didn't really know what to expect but it was both windier than I'd expected and calmer than I'd expected.  The pilot said a couple of times that it was windy today and you could really feel the force of the wind against you.  At one point I thought my helmet strap was too tight and possibly going to strangle me.  Then I discovered that it wasn't my helmet at all but rather the neckline of my jacket as the wind blew it straight back behind me.  When we changed directions you could really feel the wind from that direction as well.  Sometimes it felt like it would blow you right off the seat or out of the sky, but of course it didn't.  At the same time, the ride was very smooth and there was no turbulence like you experience on a plane.  Or maybe there was and I just didn't feel it because of the wind.  I did think that the pilot must have a strong grip on the steering bar because it seemed like he had to be continually adjusting it.  However, that didn't stop him from pointing at things and even letting go at times to show me I could just spread my arms and fly - which I did for most of the flight including the landing.  And the landing was a piece of cake.  I thought that might be rough but it was so smooth it was hard to believe you were back on land.  This was my first experience in a micro-light but it was great and I certainly would do it again.

The view was fantastic of course.  We went from the one end of the falls to the other and he explained all the different parts of the falls and the islands and where the river is starting to cut a new falls.  We also flew over the gorge itself and saw the twisting turning gorge where the falls used to be.  We were over Zambia then Zimbabwe and then back over Zambia.  We came back along the river and spotted some hippos.  The water level in the river is quite low now but there is water lying around because of the rain.  Overall it was pretty amazing.  There is a camera on the tip of the left wing so at the end of the flight you can buy a copy of the pictures that it took.  That will be a nice souvenir.

Once back at the hotel I had some breakfast and then spent some time packing my now dry clothes and uploading pictures.  It was slow but at least it was working.  Three members of the tour group and our tour leader left for the airport as they are heading home.  Tonight we meet our new tour leader and others who might be joining us for the rest of the trip.  

At noon we had a transfer to our new hotel.  We're not sure why we had to switch hotels when it's all the same tour but we did it any way.  The first one had lots of warnings about the monkeys and baboons taking things.  The second one has warnings about hippos and other animals.  It is right beside the river but so far I haven't seen too much wildlife here.  The Matambo River, on which we are staying, is a muddy looking river.  The falls had very clear water flowing into them so I'm not sure if we are above or below the falls.  At one point we had a hippo right below us and several times he showed us how wide he could open his mouth.  I think he was probably just bored and yawning but it still looked impressive.

I stayed at the hotel all afternoon and had some lunch in the restaurant overlooking the river.  Randy, Fran and Susanne went white-water rafting and should have been back by 1 but they still weren't home by 4 (which it is right now) so I assume they stayed in town.  I was kind of waiting for them to go do some touring around Livingston but I guess that won't happen.   However, the Livingston Museum was the only thing I was really interested in and someone who was in town just came back and said the power was off so they couldn't see the museum anyway.  Obviously I was meant to have a relaxing day and get caught up on some of these blogs.  And lunch in the restaurant right on the river was very nice.

Zambia's official language is English so it is easy to talk to anyone here, although they do have a slightly British/African accent to add to the language.  Their currency is a kwatcha but most businesses take US or South African money so I never set get any Zambian money.  Their currency is in big bills like 10 million kwatcha so it's very confusing.  

Our meeting at 6 was the usual new group tour meeting but it was nice to meet the new people - two from Canada and one from Switzerland.  There are still 17 of us with 2 England, 3 Germany, 1 Switzerland, 2 Scotland and 9 Canadian.  Our two doctors from the first part left but we now have another doctor with us.  She is a psychiatrist but has medical training as well.  We thought the psychiatric training might come in handy anyway.  Our new leader is Arthur and he seems very nice, although not quite as personable as our last one.  I can't imagine he'll be as good as Hardie but we'll see.  He has just come in from a tour from Cape Town to Livingston and now will go back over the same route in reverse.  Some of the others who were with him on that trip said they loved it.  Of course there was a lot of driving through the desert and the scenery was quite repetitive at times but they said it was great.  They also said it was very hot but there was always a breeze so it didn't seem too bad.  I can hardly wait for some hot DRY weather.  I'm a bit tired of the humidity.

After the meeting we went for dinner in the restaurant and then I went back to the room while others stayed a bit longer.  It's lights out around 10 in these places so it's good to be organized before you find yourself in total darkness.  Especially when you are in a tent and have mosquito nets to deal with!