Date of Entry: November 19th 2016

Date of Writing: April 17th 2017

I spend the night and next morning relaxing in the luxury that is fawlty towers in Livingstone Namibia, the beds are comfy, the lounge is good, and they have a bar restaurant and amazing pool.  I also book a trip to a place I’ve been dreaming of going since seeing a youtube video some 8 years ago.  The Devil’s pool/armchair at victoria falls.

I head there in the early afternoon taking a taxi to the falls for a few dollars feeling lazy and there I meet our guides and our group which funnily enough includes two of the canadians we kept running into in Namibia who had rented trucks and done a very similar route to us.

From the entrance of the park our guide prince leads us out across the rocks off the main trails where tourists allowed hopping over small streams and observing how the rocks have been eroded and formed by the water during flood season.  It’s cool to be out there and also worth noting that the devil’s pool is not open during flood season (March-august though that varies year to year)  Access would simply not be possible.

On the way out to the falls we stop for a seat at the edge of the gorge looking to our right at the thunderous falls and down at the churning rapids below.

As we draw closer to the main falls my heart starts to race, looking ahead I see a group of people at the pool now well ahead of us, which can be seen in the photo below, and my heart starts to pound in my chest. This has been a dream for a longtime, although I will admit yesterday’s escapade to the edge of the cliffs on the Zimbabwe side was pretty damn cool too.

We get to Livingstone island where David Livingstone first discovered the falls and there is a small makeshift house with drinks and a small restaurant for those who pay a lot more than I have which was around 80 USD  with just a drink and no meal or boat ride, booked through my hostel at the agency right near the entrance to the park.  The nice thing is is the fee includes entrance into the national park so I can wander around after.

We change into our bathing suits, or in my case just peel off my shirt and then we head closer to the rush, eventually running out of rocks to walk on and so we hand our cameras to Prince’s assistant and start swimming.  There’s not too much current but for those who are nervous there’s a rope to hold on to as we are just a couple of dozen meters from the edge of the near 100 meter drop.

We crawl out over some more rocks and then boom we take the plunge into the pool, half jumping half falling in just a dozen or so feet from the edge of the falls, surfacing and swimming right up toward the edge until just a few feet before I hit a wall of rock underwater.  Now I’ve opted to be the last one out there in the hopes of getting a minute or two extra, so i swim over from the main photo point to get out of the way and take a seat on the ridge a little further from the edge.  Amazingly the river is filled with little fish who adore eating dead skin off your feet.  It tickles and feels creepy if you don’t expect it but really after 20 days mostly spent camping in Africa my feet are war zones and as I wait out everyone else going out to the edge just absorbing the awe of the place I get a free foot treatment worth at least 20 or 30 dollars.  It’s pretty cool to sit there, just feet from the edge, getting a spa treatment, but I’ll admit it, I’m thrilled when my turn finally comes, and I plunge back into the pool swimming right out to the edge, climbing up onto the underwater rocks carefully as Prince watches concerned by my unhidden enthusiasm.

It’s incredible to be in a waterfall that huge, so close to the edge that you can literally lean over and look out.  Prince is nervous as I’m not very afraid having lots of experience with waterfalls, though he frustratingly refuses to let me sit with my feet dangling over the edge.  I don’t give him the option to refuse my paint me jack request, it provokes quite a bit of amusement from the group.  I still smile every time I see these photos.

After all too short a time (5 minutes that feels like 5 seconds)  we call everyone out for the group shot, out in the stunning falls enjoying our last minutes sitting atop the devil’s armchair.  These moments alone make the trip to Africa worth it, but this amazing continent has already and will continue to give me so much more.  God I love waterfalls.

We walk back across the rocks and get back to the national park, the canadian couple and I take a walk through the Zambian side.  It doesn’t offer anything in terms of waterfall views at this time of year, so if you come for Victoria falls in Dry season (Late August to /March) make sure to visit the Zimbabwe side, but we do still grab a nice picture or two from the distant lookouts of the falling water.

Eventually we say our goodbyes as the other two head down the trail which leads to the bottom of the gorge, myself to hot and tired to go since I know it doesn’t get you anywhere close to the falls at this time of year, but on my way out I do find some awesome baboon families socializing right near the trail entirely unbothered by my presence.

On my way out I sell the devil’s pool excursion to a group of 5 quebecersI meet and get them all hooked up with Prince before heading back to Fawlty towers in another taxi, jumping in the pool to beat the midday heat having ticked one significant item off the bucket list (a list I don’t actually have.)  Then I enjoy a truly amazing dinner at  Golden Leaf  the best indian food I’ll get in Africa and a place you need to go if you’re in livingstone and like curry.  Another Zambia adventure is coming up next.  Stay tuned.