4 Nights & 5 Day Rafting Trip
•Depart Day 1: 08:00
•Return Day 5: 14:00 to 15:00
DAY ONE
You will be collected from your accommodation to meet at The Lookout Cafe situated on the edge of the Batoka gorge at 08:00 am. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served, your guide will give a pre-departure briefing, and you will be asked to sign an indemnity form. We shall then drive to rapid #1 and begin the steep walk into the gorges below.
Within minutes we are a world away from the buzz of Victoria Falls town. At the base of the trail, our rafts await us in a large pool on the Zambezi, and it is here that you will be given a safety talk. The first part of any rafting experience is very much a learning exercise and after a few practice runs we nudge our boats into the current and drift down-stream to challenge the legendary rapids of the Zambezi. There is no gradual build up! The 23 km you will raft today includes renowned rapids such as ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ and ‘Oblivion’. This is the wildest section of the Zambezi river.
A cold buffet lunch will be served on the banks of the river in the gorge on our way downstream. We will reach our beach campsite at rapid #21 at about 15:30 pm. Camp is set up on the white sandy beach overlooking the river.
DAY TWO
We rise as the sun illuminates the towering walls above, to the smell of bacon and eggs on the fire. Camp is packed up and all the equipment is harnessed down tightly for the voyage downstream; a long day lies ahead. Our world will become one of exhilarating action and scenes of remarkable beauty. The Songwe gorges, home to the threatened Taita falcons, are spectacular.
There is now more time between major rapids than on day one, a chance to relax in the sun as we drift down calmer stretches. On day two we shall negotiate rapids such as ‘The Narrows’ and ‘Let’s make a Deal’ to arrive at ‘Upper Moemba’ rapids.
‘Upper Moemba’ rapids are one of the most spectacular on the river and as with so many of these rapids it has a perfect platform for photographers who can stand within meters of the action. Our rafts slide over the lip and drop into several huge crashing waves that appear to swallow them completely. The entire Zambezi is squeezed into a narrow cataract at this point. We run the ‘Upper Moemba’ rapids and portage ‘Lower Moemba’ Falls arriving at the beach camp for the second night.
DAY THREE
Day three is another hard working day. We paddle 2km of flat water before we arrive at the proposed Batoka Gorge dam site called the ‘Chibonga Falls’ which we will portage.
Downstream awaits the towering waves of ‘Ghost rider’, the biggest commercially run-able roller coaster wave train in the world. In the original exploratory trip on the Zambezi one of the rafters opted not to run the rapid and pushed his empty boat off into the current. The sight of the empty raft successfully running the rapid in the twilight (after two others had flipped) inspired him to name the rapid Ghost rider. An option will be given to portage this rapid.
After a short distance we will arrive at ‘Deep Throat’ where the river is very narrow. We will walk around the rapid and the boats are pushed through. After all this we paddle downstream past a set of small rapids before negotiating a more technical rapid named ‘Asleep At The Wheel’ and then drift into camp exhausted and accomplished!
DAY FOUR
After departing camp we drift past Fish Eagle’s nests, and negotiate ‘Wave Train’, ‘J-Bay’ (similar to Jeffrey’s Bay a popular surfing place) and Bismark’s Territory (home to a particularly large crocodile named Bismark!). We see the biggest fisherman’s village encountered during the 5 day trip and this offers us a glimpse at an astonishingly uncomplicated and simple lifestyle, totally free from the modern, urban world we left behind some days ago. We proceed down the river through class #2 rapids and arrive at our base for the night ‘Hippo camp’.
DAY FIVE
The river really changes character. Basalt rocks give way to grassy banks and the grunts of hippopotamus carry across the water. Our rafts drift past islands in the river, havens for Egyptian Geese and basking crocodiles. A relaxing couple of hours later, we rendezvous with our vehicles near the Matetsi River mouth. After packing up and deflating the rafts we head back to Victoria Falls by road, having lunch en-route. The journey back takes 3 to 3 and a half housr and we will arrive back in Victoria Falls between 14:00 and 15:00 pm.
|
day 0 |
Victoria Falls (town) | Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) |
1 night |
FB |
|
day 1 |
Victoria Falls (town) | Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) |
1 night |
FB |
|
day 2 |
Victoria Falls (town) | Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) |
1 night |
FB |
|
day 3 |
Victoria Falls (town) | Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) |
1 night |
FB |
|
FB: Full Board - Dinner, Bed, Breakfast and Lunch |
|
5 Days / 4 Nights
4 Nights & 5 Day Rafting Trip
•Depart Day 1: 08:00
•Return Day 5: 14:00 to 15:00
DAY ONE
You will be collected from your accommodation to meet at The Lookout Cafe situated on the edge of the Batoka gorge at 08:00 am. Tea, coffee and biscuits will be served, your guide will give a pre-departure briefing, and you will be asked to sign an indemnity form. We shall then drive to rapid #1 and begin the steep walk into the gorges below.
Within minutes we are a world away from the buzz of Victoria Falls town. At the base of the trail, our rafts await us in a large pool on the Zambezi, and it is here that you will be given a safety talk. The first part of any rafting experience is very much a learning exercise and after a few practice runs we nudge our boats into the current and drift down-stream to challenge the legendary rapids of the Zambezi. There is no gradual build up! The 23 km you will raft today includes renowned rapids such as ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ and ‘Oblivion’. This is the wildest section of the Zambezi river.
A cold buffet lunch will be served on the banks of the river in the gorge on our way downstream. We will reach our beach campsite at rapid #21 at about 15:30 pm. Camp is set up on the white sandy beach overlooking the river.
DAY TWO
We rise as the sun illuminates the towering walls above, to the smell of bacon and eggs on the fire. Camp is packed up and all the equipment is harnessed down tightly for the voyage downstream; a long day lies ahead. Our world will become one of exhilarating action and scenes of remarkable beauty. The Songwe gorges, home to the threatened Taita falcons, are spectacular.
There is now more time between major rapids than on day one, a chance to relax in the sun as we drift down calmer stretches. On day two we shall negotiate rapids such as ‘The Narrows’ and ‘Let’s make a Deal’ to arrive at ‘Upper Moemba’ rapids.
‘Upper Moemba’ rapids are one of the most spectacular on the river and as with so many of these rapids it has a perfect platform for photographers who can stand within meters of the action. Our rafts slide over the lip and drop into several huge crashing waves that appear to swallow them completely. The entire Zambezi is squeezed into a narrow cataract at this point. We run the ‘Upper Moemba’ rapids and portage ‘Lower Moemba’ Falls arriving at the beach camp for the second night.
DAY THREE
Day three is another hard working day. We paddle 2km of flat water before we arrive at the proposed Batoka Gorge dam site called the ‘Chibonga Falls’ which we will portage.
Downstream awaits the towering waves of ‘Ghost rider’, the biggest commercially run-able roller coaster wave train in the world. In the original exploratory trip on the Zambezi one of the rafters opted not to run the rapid and pushed his empty boat off into the current. The sight of the empty raft successfully running the rapid in the twilight (after two others had flipped) inspired him to name the rapid Ghost rider. An option will be given to portage this rapid.
After a short distance we will arrive at ‘Deep Throat’ where the river is very narrow. We will walk around the rapid and the boats are pushed through. After all this we paddle downstream past a set of small rapids before negotiating a more technical rapid named ‘Asleep At The Wheel’ and then drift into camp exhausted and accomplished!
DAY FOUR
After departing camp we drift past Fish Eagle’s nests, and negotiate ‘Wave Train’, ‘J-Bay’ (similar to Jeffrey’s Bay a popular surfing place) and Bismark’s Territory (home to a particularly large crocodile named Bismark!). We see the biggest fisherman’s village encountered during the 5 day trip and this offers us a glimpse at an astonishingly uncomplicated and simple lifestyle, totally free from the modern, urban world we left behind some days ago. We proceed down the river through class #2 rapids and arrive at our base for the night ‘Hippo camp’.
DAY FIVE
The river really changes character. Basalt rocks give way to grassy banks and the grunts of hippopotamus carry across the water. Our rafts drift past islands in the river, havens for Egyptian Geese and basking crocodiles. A relaxing couple of hours later, we rendezvous with our vehicles near the Matetsi River mouth. After packing up and deflating the rafts we head back to Victoria Falls by road, having lunch en-route. The journey back takes 3 to 3 and a half housr and we will arrive back in Victoria Falls between 14:00 and 15:00 pm.
