white water rafting

Suds convinced me to go white water rafting on the mighty Zambezi river in Zambia.
I was fine with it until we got the safety talk. By the end of it I was so scared I couldn't speak! The Zambezi is a class 5 river, the most dangerous class of river tours are allowed on.
The trip started with with a long hard rocky climb down to the river . Then we loaded into the boat.




Our second rapid was a class 5, apparently that means really bad. The third rapid was a class 6 so we had to get out of the boat and walk around it while our guide Potato took the boat thru it.


Suds is the fool with his arm up mugging for the camera on the other side. After being so thoroughly scared I took my safety seriously. When the guide yelled "DOWN!" I hit the deck and held on for dear life! That's me in the pink shirt and blue helmet holding on!


I don''t know why everyone else is not holding on. They must not care for their own lives.



Suds wasn't satisfied with just rafting, he decided to river board, which means he
went down the rapids on a boogy board and flippers! (not the stage 5 one, though!)












Because we hadn't had enough adrenaline rush already, there was rock jumping. I of course did not participate. I had had enough excitement.


We rafted rapids 7 thru to 23. It took about 4 hours to raft thru it all, then another HARD vertical climb to lunch and beer!

These guys had to pack the rafts, kayaks and other equipment down the the river then hike back up and drive more than an hour to meet us at the end. They then hiked down, deflated the rafts, packed everything up and hiked it all up the mountain. It was a TOUGH climb up carrying only a life jacket and my fat ass. I can't imagine these guys doing this everyday! No wonder they are pure muscle!