Bundu Rafting...

Day Fifteen:

Boy, do I have a story. So yesterday we thought it'd be fun if we all went rafting! So I was kind of concerned about it, but I wasn't going to say no. I'm always up to do something adventurous, even though rafting has always been a fear of mine. But Colin, Nigel, Aryn, Jamie, Ciaran and I decided we would do it! So this morning we got a ride down to Bundu Rafting up at Rapid 6 I think it was? And we got our wet suits on, got our paddles, helmets, life jackets and then our instructor Potato brought us down the gorge to our raft. I forgot about my fear of rafting because I was so terrified about the hike down. About a year later we made it to the bottom, and I probably sweat out 10 pounds - I was definitely ready to go rafting. So we all get into the raft and Potato was going over different ways to paddle and instructions on what to do if you fall out of the raft. And nigel being the most amazing person in the world tells Potato that he should use me to demonstrate how to retrieve someone from the water. Before I could even say no next thing I knew I was plunged into the river and being ripped out of it from Potato and thrown back into the raft. As I layed there coughing up water everyone sat around me laughing, I guess it was pretty funny now looking back on it. After that little incident we took off! We were going down a few rapids, they were tough but not too bad. We were all having a really good time up until we turned one corner and there were three rapids in a row facing us. I guess we all had an adrenaline rush because we were all paddling so hard until Potato yelled "DOWN". Which means duck into the raft and grab onto the rope along side. I went to reach for my rope and of course, it wasn't there, the clip had been undone. As I flew out of the raft into the rapids I thought it was going to be the end. I was consumed into the rapids and water filled into my lungs, as I was going under my shoes were sucked right off my feet. I came up long enough to take a breath then I was under again. The current pulled me out of the rapids and I saw the safety kayak throwing rope at me, and there were two other people in the water and we tried to all swim together towards the rope. I yelled at Nigel to come help me, and I swam towards the raft and they pulled me back in, just like we had practiced. Once again I layed there coughing up water as everyone else was around me laughing. It was pretty sweet but while it was happening, that was definitely the last word to describe it. Then we proceeded down the river we stopped on the Zimbabwe side of the river and went cliff jumping! I went to the highest one with Nigel and one by one we jumped right off. Then after our cliff jumping we stopped at this sandy beach that had squeaky sand. Which is a lot of fun, if you know what squeaky sand is. There was a rock on the beach that looked identical to Pride Rock from The Lion King. Who knows, maybe it was. After our break we did a few more rapids and finally came to our last stop. Since I didn't have any shoes Nigel gave me his flipflops to hike back up the gorge and Ciaran carried mine and Jamies paddles and when we got to the top there was a nice cold fanta waiting for us! I had quite the adventure that day and I'm proud that I went through with it! Even with all the faults, I'd do it again and I encourage everyone to do it!