Africa: Livingstone Island and Devil’s Pool

Perfect!

The next morning was our trip to Livingstone Island and Devil’s Pool. As I mentioned in my last post. Livingstone Island is one of many islands in the broad flat Zambezi River above Victoria Falls and is where Dr. David Livingstone first glimpsed Mosi-oa-Tunya (The Smoke That Thunders). The island is in Zambia.

Map: Google Maps

Accessible only in the dry season, Livingstone Island was opened in 1992 as a tourist attraction. 

A highly protected area, it has only one authorized tour provider – Tongabezi Lodge – and a maximum of only16 tourists are allowed on the island at a time.

The edge of the island actually sits on the lip of the falls where there is a roughly 328-foot drop to the gorge below.

In one area, there is a pool – named Devil’s Pool – with a rock lip above the precipice. Tourists walk across a channel of the river, over some rocks and to the pool. Then, they can jump or slide into the pool and make their way to the waterfall’s edge to look over as the water rushes past. 

Lip of Devil's Pool; Photo: Becca Stevens

Obviously, the whole process is guided to make sure the tourists only go where it is safe.

We signed up for the “morning breezer,” which includes a boat ride to the island, a brief guided tour, Devil’s Pool and breakfast.

The morning started with a ride over to the Kingdom Hotel in Victoria Falls, where we were picked up to be taken to Zambia. A British couple was also there to be picked up for the same tour.

Crossing into Zambia was quick and painless. The roadsides on the drive looked dry, dusty and poor with lots of commercial traffic, people walking (often with large bundles on their heads) and people hawking souvenirs including worthless currency with denominations in the trillions (makes you wonder how they used calculators or cash registers!).

Colonialism at its best!

We drove through poverty until we reached the Royal Livingstone Hotel where the tours launch. Talk about colonial grandeur! A beautiful lodge with manicured lawns, a doorman in a uniform that combined native costume with the livery of a British doorman and a clientele sipping tea on a shaded veranda. I expected to see men in pith helmets and ladies in white linen frocks and big floppy hats.

We checked in under a tree down by the river and walked to the small motorboat moored on the shore. ...

The Zambezi

... we boarded and took off ...

An exhilarating trip

... weaving through rocks, past little islands and Hippos (sometimes you can’t tell which is which) ...

Hippo among the rocks

We were so near the lip of the falls that I think you’d be in a world of hurt if your engine died. I am not sure what would prevent you from going over the falls.

Becca and Kristen in the boat

Once on the island, we walked down a path and a guide took us to the edge of the gorge and took some group pictures. It was pretty close to the precipice. I am not afraid of heights, but, well, it was pretty close to the edge!

Back: Kristen; Middle: Linda, Caty, Alexis, Becca; Front: Kandice, Janet

Then we went to a staging area for Devil’s Pool. We could see the falls going over the edge. The river is very shallow at this point but the guide told us that the entire area is under water during the rainy season.

Path to the pool

They had told us there was a changing area (some of our party had bathing suits on, some didn’t), but there wasn’t. So those not in suits had to improvise (trees and towels did the trick). We had already improvised on Caty’s suit, cobbling together something using my bathing suit bottoms and a tank top. Oh, yes, we were almost at the end of our tour and we still had no news on her luggage.

Wide view

I had never planned on going to Devil’s Pool – I have a pretty big phobia about walking across rocks in rivers and I wanted to be able to take pictures with my big camera. 

Not my thing

It’s a good thing I wasn’t planning on it because I wasn’t allowed to get my broken finger wet. I would have been pretty disappointed.

Photo: Becca Stevens

Linda decided to forego Devil's Pool as well. So it was just the young ladies and the British couple.

Linda and I watched as our traveling companions forded the chest-deep channel through a corridor that looked as if it were marked with police tape, but was actually a rope (not sure what good that would do you if you were washed away). 

Then they climbed up a small island and down to the Pool. We could see just the edge of the Pool. 

Although everyone had gotten waterproof phone covers, the guide insisted on using just one phone to photograph each of them on the edge.

Not a fan of kneeling on the edge

I wanted to try to get shots from my viewpoint and would have been perfectly happy to just stay where we were. 

But, our guide insisted on taking us to the edge of the falls (much closer than made me happy, especially with my recent experience of falling down). Then, he made us sit down on some very low rocks to take our picture. 

Hey, guy, we are not that young anymore! It was awkward and uncomfortable – and the pictures aren’t that flattering. 

And, it was very hard to get up with just one working hand!

But, loved the view

Since I didn't go to Devil's Pool, I asked Caty to write up her experience. Here's what she had to say:

Becca and Caty

I wasn’t sure if I was going to go into Devil’s pool or not. 

The description seemed a little frightening and I’m never really excited to hop into a bathing suit. 

I went back and forth about it the whole trip. I had no bathing suit (Thanks BA!) and I had also caught Guillaume’s cold so I was leaning towards skipping it, but we ran in to Matt from Canada (again!) at the hotel and he raved about how amazing it was (and also how freezing the water was) and I was once again torn. 

I didn’t really make the decision until the morning of. I decided I wanted to go (if we could figure out a not-too-revealing bathing suit alternative). Thanks to Mom, we were able to come up with something that worked! 

Once we arrived at the island, I had to remove my shoes (my only pair, thanks again BA) to walk over the sharp rocks (which were algae covered and slippery in places as well). 

Becca, Alexis, Caty, Kandice and Guide

I have pretty sensitive feet, so that was definitely not my favorite part (the other girls had water shoes and said it wasn’t too bad at all). 

Caty at the edge

After a short walk (holding hands to help us balance on the rocks) we reached the water and slid in. It was cold, but not nearly as cold as we had been led to believe (yay!) probably because Matt had been on the early morning tour and ours was late morning when it was much warmer. 

We had to cross a fairly swift moving section of the river (which went over the falls not too far downstream from us). There was a rope across the river closer to the falls. 

We were told if we got swept downstream, we should grab it and hold on -- just a little bit scary! The current was much faster than I expected and we had to swim pretty hard (with our legs straight out behind us because the river wasn’t very deep and there were several large rocks that jutted up towards the surface). 

We reached the other side and climbed on to more rocks and were given our instructions for the pool. 

Becca at the edge

We were to sit down, slide in (no jumping this time of year because the water was too deep and we could have been swept over) and swim over to the ledge on the left side. 

We were told several times, DO NOT go right, the current is faster there and the ledge is not as high, so we would be swept over the falls. 

Yikes! 

We each slid in and made our way to the edge for our first glimpse. 

It was pretty insane. You could see the drop, but not all the way to the bottom and there was a beautiful double rainbow in the spray. 

Once our group was all in the water they had us climb out onto the ledge at the edge of the falls for a group photo. Getting out was difficult and pretty nerve-racking, as it seemed if you weren’t careful, over the edge you would go! 

Views of the edge; Photos: Becca Stevens

Once we were on the ledge, it wasn’t too bad and they took lots of pictures of the group and then had us get back in the pool and each get out one at a time to take individual pictures. There was a guide there (to help us stay in the right place) but he was a bit of a ham, and ended up in almost everyone’s pictures. 

Becca, Caty, Kandice, Alexis, Kristen posing on the edge

It was a really neat experience, but with so much focus on getting the pictures (and he took a LOT), I feel like we didn’t have enough time to actually look over the edge and experience being on “the edge of the world.” 

Yikes!

Soon, we were told it was time to head back (there was another group ready to get in) and we walked/swam back to the other side. 

But, the falls were spectacular – with a double rainbow just below the precipice.

Rainbows

That was Caty's assessment. Now, back to the other side ...

Once Linda and I got safely back to our viewing perch, I took pictures of Alexis as she posed on the edge. I missed the others.

Posing

When they were finished, they made their way back.

Returning

Delicious

After everyone dried off, we walked over to a tented dining room and had a delicious breakfast of muffins, juice and eggs Benedict (although I had requested tomato instead of eggs and they did a fabulous job with it.)

After breakfast, it was back into the boat for the quick trip back to the mainland.

During the morning’s adventures, we saw some those Hippos plus an African Fish Eagle (which was a bit far away to photograph) …

Blurry, but we saw it!

An African Sacred Ibis …

I love this shot

Some very leggy African Openbills ...

Interesting birds (see the gap in the bill)

And a Tawny Eagle that dropped its lunch as it flew over the girls returning from Devil’s Pool ...

Ooops

As we were leaving the Royal Livingstone, we were joined by some rather obnoxious women who were upset because their ride hadn’t picked them up. No wonder American tourists get a bad name.

Our plan was to zip back across the border, clean up and go back to Victoria Falls National Park. 

The falls

But, when we got to the border, it looked like a scene from a movie. Hundreds (well. At least 100) of people in line, many with suitcase or bundles on their heads. I wondered if war had been declared or something.

We had our visas

Our driver told us to get out and get in the queue. It was terribly hot and there was no shade. The line was not moving and we weren’t sure if we were in the right line. Apparently, inside the building there were multiple windows – commercial, Uni-Visa, buy a visa and something else that was never clear, since they were only labeled as 1, 2, 3 and 4.

We were told to switch to a different line, but it was so crowded; it was more of a crush than a line. 

There was one person buying visas for 40 people! There were the obnoxious ladies. There were tons of locals. There was a couple who was supposed to go on a helicopter tour in 20 minutes. We ended up giving all our passports to Alexis and literally pushing our way to the front. All in all, we were there more than an hour.  I am not impressed with Zimbabwe’s immigrations system.

By the time we got back to the hotel and had lunch (and cold drinks), we didn’t have time to go back to Victoria Falls because we had decided to book a Zambezi River Cruise that afternoon. That was a disappointment. 

But, then, not really.

Trip date: August 25-September 9, 2017