Apart from visiting the Victoria Falls, I had a lot of fun on the Zambezi River. The Sunset Cruise, known more commonly as “The Booze Cruise” was wonderful. The cost was $60US which included great food and as much as you could drink in the 3 hours we were on the water. I am not kidding! I enjoyed gin & tonics all the way. As you can imagine, the atmosphere was lively and after the first couple of drinks, everyone was chatting to everyone. I met some really interesting people with amazing stories. Several doing aid work in remote areas who were here for the long weekend. Some with HIV, some teaching English, some researchers working in the national parks and also travellers. As we cruised up the river we saw pods of hippos, large crocs and plenty of birdlife. The sunset was also wonderful.
On my last morning in Livingstone, I had the good fortune to go kayaking on the river. My room mate at Fawlty Towers was disappointed when her booking to go kayaking was cancelled at the last minute due to her being the only one signed up. They only take a minimum of two so I said I would go with her. It was amazing! Kayaking on the river and one bank is Zambia and the other is Zimbabwe – how cool is that? I admit to being somewhat nervous of the hippos! We kayaked very close to the 
Zimbabwe shore as we passed them and it was a little close for my liking, but the guides assured us that they are fine if we dont go in their territory. Every now and then the guide would tap the side of the kayak with his paddle to let the hippos below know we were there. The fact they kayak the route every day reassured me a little but seeing them just pop their heads out and stare at us was a little unnerving.
I was so grateful for Mica for this experience, as if not for her I would not have done this. Being on the water gives a whole new perspective. We were also very lucky to come across 4 elephants who had swum over to one of the islands to graze.
The Zambezi is the 4th largest river in Africa and begins in high marshland in the north-west of Zambia. It flows into the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. In places it acts as a border for Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana. There is one special place where these 4 countries all meet. This is where the Chobe River meets the Zambezi.
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