The falls!

Reading this week:

• Doctor No by Ian Fleming

We came across the falls suddenly when we finally arrived. We had to cross a small river, walked through some woods, and were stunned to find a household almost right on the edge of the cliff. We said hellow to the nice old lady who lived there, and she lead us down to the river and finally we were at the falls!

I got hella vertigo taking this picture.

Pool at the top of the falls.

View over the edge of the falls.

When we got to the falls we were dehydrated and woozy from lack of food but both of us immediately set out to explore. I climbed down from the river crossing to try to get to the very edge of the falls. Alli went off to explore the far cliffside to get a good view. All day we had been joking about the phone call we’d have to make if one of us fell off the falls, this far from the nearest road or transport. I didn’t know at the time where Alli had gone, and started to get worried that she had actually fallen off the cliff. Luckily she hadn’t, and she actually got some pictures of me crawling on my belly to look over the edge.

I was worried about rain so after exploring and getting some food into us, we set up camp. The best spot was actually right near the edge, and I tried to avoid thinking about just rolling off the edge. There were signs of a camp fire so other people had the same idea we had before. Our spot gave some pretty awesome views of the valley beyond the falls and was sorta shielded from the roar of the water.

With the tents set up the next major goal was swimming! Over on Abercornucopia, they note there is a pool at the top you can swim in, and I think this was the major draw for Alli. The water was pretty cold but after a whole long day of getting to the falls it was pretty nice to relax and wash the sweat off. If you sat in the right spot it was like getting a water massage, and if you pulled your feet up you could pretend the water was sweeping you off the edge of the falls.

After swimming it was a pretty quiet evening. I started a less than impressive fire, but it was warm enough for two people and we watched as it slowly turned to nightfall. We were hoping to see the lights of the fishermen on the lake from our vantage point, but I guess they were taking Sunday off. I brought camping gear to Zambia with the notion I would hike off into the woods and camp places, and this is the first time I actually did that. Totally worth it.

The next morning I woke up before dawn and got to catch the sunrise coming up over the hills. Mpulungu (again, from a distance) was absolutely gorgeous in the morning light and I wish more people could make it out to see all of Zambia’s amazing sights like Izi Falls.