Whitewater Rafting the Zambezi

The Zambezi river channel is the boundary bewteen Zimbabwe and Zambia, in southern Africa.

The photo on the right was taken on the Zambian side, with Victoria Falls in the background.

Rapid Number 1. The river flows from the falls through a narrow gorge which turns 90°, with the water smashing into a wall of rock (out of view in the bottom of the photo).

Many rafters come out the other end of this rapid bobbing around dazed in the water wondering where their raft went.

The 25 rapids along the 24km of river rafted in the Batoka Gorge make what is arguably the World's best one-day rafting experience.

Rafting through these rapids of up to grade 5 (Long and violent rapids. Large waves that are unavoidable. Complex course. Scouting is a must.) was one of the best things I've done in my life.

The "Get down!" command from the guide meant not so much getting down, but holding on tight and clinging on as best you could while the raft got tossed around by the water.

Some of the torrents we came up
against seemingly towered over us in the raft.

You get aquainted with the rest of the crew and have a fun day out on the water, relaxing, conversing and even playing around a little in the calmer sections of river.

However, I can imagine the day would be tremendous fun if you filled the raft with your best mates.