Zambia

Today has been an absolutely invigorating day. We kicked it off bright and early with a lion encounter in which we tracked semi-wild lions during their daily routine. As we followed the lion's, it was so amazing to view them in their natural environment. They were younger lion's so they were extremely playful. We watched in awe as they tackled each other to the ground. It was easy to forget how dangerous they were in that playful state, but the moment things heated up we were reminded of why we had to sign an indemnity form. We watched as one of the lion's made an attempt to take down a baby elephant. It was so amazing to see them in action, up close. We even had the opportunity to touch them when they were resting. The lion I was patting turned around to look at me and I had to slowly stand up and move back. As the walk came to an end, the lion's returned to their resting spot and we concluded the tour. As we were headed back to the hotel we saw elephants on the way. We stopped to have a look when the biggest elephant charged us. It ran right up to our mini-bus and hit its tusks into the window.
After the lion encounter, we made our way to the markets. the markets were an… Interesting experience. Every store was basically identical, as were the sales tactics used. They began with a Zambian handshake, followed by asking us where we were from, then attempted to draw us in by offering a gift to welcome us to Zambia. What I found interesting though,  was that they wanted to trade pens and hairbands. At first I didn't know why, but then I found out that it was for their children for school. I was astonished that something so common to us, was so sought after in Africa. One woman actually offered me a sarong for a packet of hairbands.
After the markets, the real fun began. We made our way to Angel's pool for High Tea. The entire experience was completely liberating. You arrive at an extremely stunning hotel, located right near the edge of the Victoria Falls, and from there you are transported to an Island called Livingstone Island. The boat ride itself was scary. I could have sworn the water was going to pull us off the edge. Surely enough though, we arrived at the Island to which we were greeted with mini strawberry cocktails. They then walked us around to the front of the Island, showed us the "Loo with a view" and escorted us to the edge of the Victoria Falls, one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. As we made our way to the edge, we carefully stepped from one rock to the other. One slip and it could have been the end. We then reached an old loose plank that led from one rock to the other. Right underneath the plank was rushing water and just a few centimetres away was the edge of the falls. We were scared at first but we managed to cross and the view was well worth it. We were getting soaked with water and the sound of the waterfall was phenomenal. Shortly after that, we crossed the plank again and made our way to the Angels Pools. We watched in shock as our guide walked right along the edge of the falls and gestured us to follow him. We stood there completely frozen looking at each other as if to see whether any of us would actually follow him. He then began laughing and started pointing to the actual route. As we made our way around, we reached a small cascade which lead to a pool of water right on the edge of the falls. The guide was gesturing for us to slide down the cascade into the pool, but every instinct I had was telling me not to do it. Nevertheless, we did as he said and before we knew it, we were swimming on the edge of the falls. The current was so strong I thought I was going over for sure. Looking down was exhilarating. The view was stunning. The guide then showed us a water pocket under the cascade. We leaned back into it and completely disappeared. The force of the water was sublime. We then climbed across the rocks into another section of the pools where we sat for a bit longer underneath another cascade. Once our time was up, we were then escorted towards our high tea which was absolutely delightful. Overall, a fantastic day!