Zambia - November 28, 2011

Another early morning wakeup call and across the border to check out Devils Pool.
We departed for Livingstone Island The Livingstone Manor hotel. It is a colonial era style 5 star hotel that is over the top. The pool reminded me of the one you see in The Great Gatsby movie with Robert Redford. Awesome
After signing a release, we headed over to the island and were taken on a brief walking tour that ended at The shore right above the falls. As there was rain the night before, the water was up and the current was a bit stronger, oh and the fact that its right above a gigantic waterfall. After a briefing on how we were going to swim, yes swim, across a portion of the river. One last detail was throwing rocks at some hippos that were standing right where we would be swimming. I guess that works....
Now the good thing about swimming across the current is that you are in such self preservation mode that you completely forget about the crocodiles and hippos you are sharing the water with. It was a tad chaotic but as long as you don't panic when the current starts drifting you towards the edge of the falls, you're good. To be honest it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I don't consider myself a great swimmer but I can handle my own.
Once you get to the rocky island where the Pool is, there is another debriefing about where to jump, being very specific on how far out and in which direction, too far to the right and it's in the current and well, they just said you don't want that to happen. Too far to left or not far enough out and it's not deep enough and you will hit rocks. Gotta say, I nailed it. They took some great shots in the pool which almost is like a big hot tub. The water was pretty warm too. I don't know who the hell figured it out the first time but it's cool, way cool. More photos at the top of the falls and then another swim back across the river to the bank. I only got a tad hurt in the whole process as I was getting back onshore and my foot slipped into a crevasse and it hurt like a mother.
We had breakfast of eggs Benedict on the island and then back to shore where I was escorted back to the hotel to begin one hell of a long day of travel.
I had arranged Shepherd, my driver in Jo'burg, to pick me up at the airport to go do some final shopping in the African craft market between flights as I had about 7 hours to kill. Im glad I did because I found some really cool stuff, almost too much. Once again, stay tuned!!