Bungee Jumping
I wanted to make this an entry all of its own because I have never been bungee jumping and getting to the place where you do it was an experience itself. After my mother and I saw the falls, we left the park and talked about the bungee jumping. I made an appointment for the next day but had the voucher on me and the bridge where you jump is just down the road from the entrance to Victoria Falls park.
Now, as I said, getting there was an experience all in itself. When we left the park, me and my mother started to walk down the road towards the Zimbabwe and Zambia border. It was rather sketchy because it was an open road with dozens of semi trucks waiting to cross the border, there was dirt all over the place and people lining the roads either trying to sell something to you or smoking weed (the smell was quite pungent). We weren’t sure whether we had to be processed or not by immigration because there was a building there for it, but we just walked by and over to the bridge.
In the middle of the bridge was a small structure where you bungee from, and I will not lie, looking down into the river from that high up was making me nervous. Not nervous enough to have second thoughts, but definitely nervous enough to make me think “holy shit what am I doing”? So, we approached and as we got closer, there was a young teenage girl about to take the plunge. I watched as she leaped from the bridge screaming and eventually, she dropped all the way down until the line was taught, and she started laughing. That gave me confidence that I would not die so I took my mother, who was shaking with anxiety from the thought of me doing it and lead her across the bridge to where I had to provide my voucher and sign up.
It was funny at first, because when you cross the Victoria Falls Bridge, you cross into Zambia and that is where the sign-up place was. As the attendant was taking down my info and weight, my mom asked if we were in Zambia to which the attendant replied, “Well, you’re kind of in no man’s land right now” which to me meant, “You’re here illegally because you did not get processed and I am not supposed to say anything about it.” So politically we were in no man’s land but geographically we indeed were in Zambia. She probably gets that question a lot from tourists and I did not want to push it. But I can technically say I have been to Zambia so hell yeah.
Anyway: the actual jump. I want to preface this with stating that I developed a fear of heights as I got older. Never had it as a kid but for some reason as time went on my head starting going, “Hey you know you could die if you fell from here right?” and I do not know why. My body would just tense up if I was on a balcony or standing near a cliff. But I am a firm believer in facing your fears and this was the perfect way to do it. I’ll spare the minute details and go straight to it. They wrapped me up in the harness, gave me a GoPro, counted to 5 and told me to jump.
There’s nothing like free falling. It was instant adrenaline. I couldn’t help but scream and just go “OH MY GOD” while I was watching the water of the Zambezi River rush at my face. Once the line was taught all the way at the bottom and I started bouncing back up, all I could do was laugh maniacally. There was nothing going through my head except for what I was experiencing in that moment and as I was dangling there above a river in Africa less than a half mile from the largest waterfall in the world, I saw an entire 360-degree rainbow because of the massive amount of mist in the air. It was one of the most breathtaking sights I have ever seen while I was doing one of the craziest things I have ever done. Never in my life have I done something like that and immediately wanted to do it again right then and there. I didn’t, however, because it cost $160, but I certainly will eventually and encourage all to do it as well.
