Victoria Falls - the most scenic place on earth to throw up

Marc here - taking a chance to post about our most recent vacation

We got off to a rough start on day 3 (I know, we're blogging out of order): Karla was sick, and had to skip the "Gorge Activities" in the morning.

So it was without my wife's support that I overcame my paralyzing fear of heights just long enough to get strapped into the safety gear - and then there was no turning back: we rappeled down a cliff, flew across the gorge on a zipline, and the piece de resistance was the "gorge swing" - which sounds harmless (ie. all the kids like to play on swings, right?) but actually involves a 30m free fall featuring 3.5 seconds of terrifying fear/adrenaline/gasping-for-breath, followed by the chafing of a lifetime from the safety harness as the ropes swing you way out into the middle of the gorge and away from the sharp rocks that you were falling towards just a few moments ago.
This photo (left) shows me stepping out into a free fall - it's hard to enjoy the scenery at 9.8m/s^2....









The key to the zipline is to run as fast as you can off the edge :)
In this case, at least I'm hanging on to something, which made me feel marginally safer...











Of course, the "the flying fox" style is even more daring (there goes Daryl)













Karla joined us at noon, for a speedboat ride to Livingstone Island to have lunch at the top of the falls. But first, we went on a guided swim to the edge of the falls (let's not forget my paralyzing fear of heights). Karla still wasn't feeling well - but she hung in there with us to make some great photos!
Right before the photos below were taken, Karla threw up, and then was the first to jump into the "Devil's pool" where you can swim right to the edge. I don't think she has ever been sick in such a beautiful place (rainbows/mist/waterfall/etc)













Jumping into this pool takes some courage - the edge of the falls is about 15 feet away.













The flow of water over the edge is only a couple of inches where we're sitting, but the current is very strong on both the left and right side of this "pool"













Don't look over the edge - it's a long way down. The cliff in the background belongs to Zimbabwe (the Zambezi river gorge is the dividing line in this area)








After a walk along the edge of the falls, we had lunch. The servers could tell that Karla was not doing well, and somehow they managed to find her a mattress, so she could rest - while Daryl, Sabrina and I enjoyed a fantastic lunch and drinks.

After 3 days in Livingstone, it felt like we were leaving Zambia too soon - but our time in Rundu and Etosha continued to exceed our expectations...