Victoria Falls Area – Ullan Adventures

That Time I (Stupidly) Jumped Off a Bridge

Kirsten / July 6, 2017

Many years ago, Chuck shared a video of his friend bungee jumping off the Victoria Falls Bridge. It honestly looked terrifying. In subsequent years I kept hearing about bungee jumping off the bridge. The bridge sounded like one of THE best places in the world to bungee jump and I figured if I was ever going to do that, it’d be there.

Then I discovered that at the Bridge you can bungee or do the Swing which is like bungee jumping except you don’t end up upside down and you swing like a pendulum at the bottom instead of bouncing back up. Yes, please!

Before our trip, all of us were interested in doing the Swing jump. However, the kids were too young to jump off the bridge, but they could do the Gorge Swing at a gorge near the falls.

Due to timing, Beckett and Mara were up first.

A little bit after their jump, it was time for me to do it. I kind of didn’t want to. We were at the end of our trip and I’d done so many cool, incredible things and was happy with how the whole trip had gone. Why tempt fate? Why add one more thing at the end?

Well, because I’m me and I knew I’d regret not doing it for the rest of my life. If I was ever going to do it, it was here and it was now. So I paid my money, and tried not to panic.

The jump area was empty and we didn’t see anyone jumping our entire time in Victoria Falls. And the guys running the place were so laid back and were chatting away while they got me suited up. I was not feeling confident.

Then it was go time. I got to the edge, counted down from 3, and stood there. I just couldn’t make myself jump. I looked over the edge and my mind was a jumble of “WTF am I doing?” and “OK, I can do this”. The guys running it started giving me a hard time, but I told them to just give me a minute. I took a deep breath, counted down from 3, and… jumped.

I fell completely weightless for a few seconds. I can’t even explain how that feels. It’s surreal and your mind is trying to figure out what is happening and everything slows down making it seem longer than it really is. It’s actually a pretty disconcerting feeling, but a neat sensation to experience as well.

After falling for a few seconds, I felt the tug of the rope and I started to swing out into the gorge. My first thought as I started to swing? “I didn’t die!” At this point, I relaxed and enjoyed the swinging. After swinging the first arc, I looked up and waved to Chuck and the kids on the Bridge. I may have yelled out a loud “Woot” as well.

See the tiny speck that is me down there?

I swung back and forth a few times, swinging under the bridge then back into the gorge. That part was really cool and gave me a chance to look around and really experience where I was and what I was doing.

Then it was time to hoist me back up. Beckett hated this part of his jump, but I didn’t mind it at all…

…until I got to the catwalk under the bridge. The guy there hoisted my legs over the railing, but had me dangling backwards and tilted precariously towards the gorge. And then he unhooked one of my cables. I grabbed onto the rope and to him for dear life as I thought I was going to fall backwards back into the gorge. This moment was pure terror and no amount of convincing could make me let go. Eventually, I trusted him that he had me and I let go at which point they got me up and over the railing and onto safe ground. Phew!

From there, I had to clip in and out of the catwalk as I walked under the bridge to the side. It probably should’ve been scary, but it wasn’t at all. Eventually I got to the edge of the bridge where Chuck and the kids were waiting for me, and after a hug from Beckett, I declared :

It honestly took me a while to sort the whole experience out and come off the adrenaline high. I was so glad I did it, but amazed and freaked out that I did it at the same time.

Later that night as I tried to fall asleep, I kept experiencing the free fall sensation and it would jolt me awake. Not fun.

Now that I’ve had time to reflect on it, I still think it was one of the scariest and stupidest things I’ve ever done. That said, I’m so glad I did it and experienced it, but I’m not sure I ever need to do it again. It was definitely a cool, adventurous experience though, and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone adventurous.

Watch the entire jump here:

When Beckett Jumped into a Gorge

Kirsten / July 6, 2017

Before our trip to Africa, both kids were interested in doing the Gorge Swing near Victoria Falls. They’d seen contestants bungee jump in Victoria Falls on the Amazing Race and both thought it looked fun.

The swing is like bungee jumping except you don’t end up upside down and you swing like a pendulum at the bottom instead of bouncing up and down.

The gorge with the swing platform in the distance

Chuck and I had a lot of reservations letting the kids do it, but they both kept asking to do it. In fact, Beckett had been begging to bungee jump since Thailand, 4 years prior. So we said OK, then crossed our fingers that we wouldn’t regret the decision.

Normally I would’ve liked to do my jump first, but the way the timing worked, they went first.

They decided to do it tandem so they’d be together.

Once they were suited up, they went to the platform to get hooked up to the bungee cords. They were all set to go when all of a sudden they both burst into tears and starting saying they didn’t want to do it.

The guide unhooked them and they quickly came back to us all upset. Mara said she didn’t want to do it any longer, but Beckett kept saying to give him a minute. After a few minutes, Beckett decided he still wanted to do it, so they got him suited back up.

The guide hooked him up and next thing we know, Beckett is walking off the platform and falling into the gorge.

My heart stopped until I saw him swinging at the bottom of the gorge and I knew he was OK.

Once he swung back and forth a few times, they hauled him up to the platform. He hated this part and said it was the scariest part of the entire thing.

He was so happy to be back on solid ground!

Afterwards, he was definitely happy he did it, but said he was shaken up. And he said he’s not sure he ever wants to do it again as well.

Watch the video of his jump here:

Africa Victoria Falls Area

3 Whirlwind Days at Victoria Falls

Kirsten / July 4, 2017

We arrived into Zambia on the afternoon of July 4th for our visit to Victoria Falls which was the last stop on our 3+ week Africa tour.

Victoria Falls straddles the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Falls themselves are in Zambia, but the best vantage point for viewing is on the Zimbabwe side.

We chose to stay on the Zambia side for a few reasons: 1, we couldn’t find non-sketchy lodging in our price range on the Zimbabwe side, 2 we could use points to stay at a Marriott on the Zambia side, 3, Zimbabwe was having money and safety issues, and 4, I thought more of our activities were on the Zambia side.

It turns out I was very wrong on that last point, and we would’ve been better off on the Zimbabwe side. Every activity we wanted to do was on the Zim side, so we really never had a need to go to the Zambia side at all. And since all the hotels weren’t near the falls, we had to pay for a taxi to and from the hotel THEN go through immigration on the Zambia side, THEN take a taxi across the bridge and THEN go through immigration on the Zimbabwe side which was quite time consuming and a pain in the butt. In fact, I think I counted that we EACH got 32 passport stamps in 3 days just from crossing borders over and over. Lesson learned. Luckily we were able to get a multi-entry visa for each country or this would’ve cost a fortune!

Lots of baboons hang out near the border crossings

Waiting to cross the Victoria Falls Bridge

Entering Zimbabwe on the Victoria Falls Bridge

Our hotel was great though so that part worked out well!

Once we arrived, we dropped our bags at the hotel, and headed to the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe for a proper high tea. None of us have ever had a proper tea before and we couldn’t have picked a better spot. We couldn’t see the falls from the grounds, but we did have a neat view and had grazing warthogs come by as well. Not to mention pastries, petit fours, tiny sandwiches, and 4 different types of tea!

You can see the mist from the Falls in the distance

The next day we were up bright and early for our day trip to Chobe in Botswana. We were exhausted after that and had dinner near our hotel, then went to bed.

The next day was our last day in Victoria Falls and we still hadn’t really seen the falls! Since we all wanted to do the swing jump, we headed to lunch in Zimbabwe then to sign up the kids to do their jump. Unfortunately the only border officer handling entrances decided to leave right as we made it to the front of the line. We assumed he was taking a bathroom break and would be back shortly. About 45 minutes later, another officer finally came over and stamped us through. The line was ridiculous at this point and we lost some precious time!

After lunch, the kids went to do the Gorge Swing. You can read more about that here.

And then after that, it was finally time to see the Falls! They were magnificent!

The Falls are the largest in the world and span over a mile. It isn’t one big waterfall, but consists of multiple falls. At the park we started by seeing the Falls on the western side then walked east the length of the Falls till we hit the end of Zimbabwe. Some areas were so wet that we ended up soaked by the end. Words don’t convey how spectacular it was to be there seeing the Falls, and hearing the rush of water thunder down.

Beckett catching the rainbow. He didn’t find a pot of gold though. 🙁

The Eastern edge of the view from Zimbabwe

After our visit the Falls, it was time for me to jump off the Victoria Falls Bridge.

Then it was time to return to the Zambia side for dinner and packing. The next morning, we headed to the Victoria Falls Airport in Zimbabwe and started our long journey home.