The day we should have died.

Sunday

  

We started the morning slowly, catching up on emails and generally recuperating from the night before.  We each eat a Hit cookie and get dressed, loading up with sunscreen everywhere except my feet.

Which was a bad decision.

At 11am, we are ready to leave for Victoria Falls on our free shuttle.  We get in the van with a family from Atlanta.

Again, how small is the world?!

We learn that they’re going to hike to Devil’s Pool, and so are we!  But they knew how to work it out, which was wonderful because Frances and I would have never made it on our own.

We booked a tour guide, Leonnard, from the gift shop.  We would have totally skipped that step if it was just us.

But we would have not only been up a creek without a paddle, but up a creek attached to the largest surface area of falls in the world.

People kept telling us the falls would be better in the rainy season and that they would look pretty pathetic now.  They weren’t nearly as long, but they were nowhere near pathetic!

[first sight of the falls]

That’s just the part of the falls we could see from the entrance to the park.  Where all the mist is in the background, there is a bigger part of the falls.  But we still think Victoria Falls is beautiful!

We ended up hiking past the small falls over to where the mist is.

Only, we hiked right on the edge!  (well, like 10 feet from the edge)

But don’t worry, the family we met from Atlanta had two 8 year old boys that went with us, and I think they were fine too!

It's crazy how close they let you get to the edge.  There are several pictures where I'm only 3 feet away.  We hiked through streams and over dry land where there are normally falls at the end of rainy season, only there weren't many falls there because it's dry season.

Which was great because it allowed us to walk to Devil's Pool.

It's this natural pool right past Livingstone Island.  It's right at the edge of the cliff, right before the falls fall.  We were (with help) allowed to lean off the edge of the cliff and stare straight down to the bottom of the falls.  My eyes followed the same path the water does when it falls and makes a mist.  It was terrifying and breathtaking.  The pictures don't do it justice.

They never do.

I have so much more to write about, but I want to post pictures ASAP, so here are the pictures, I'll fill you in on the details later :)