Acclaimed as the wildest one-day whitewater run in the World, the Zambezi River is also recognized by rafting and kayaking enthusiasts as one of the top ten paddling rivers on the planet! White Water Rafting on the Zambezi River has been classified by the British Canoe Union as Grade 5 - "extremely difficult, long and violent rapids, steep gradients, big drops and pressure areas". This is a high volume, pool-drop river (distinct rapids and more defined drops, with pools of water after each drop) with little exposed rock either in the rapids or in the pools below the rapids. This was my experience of rafting through the Batoka Gorge...

We started off this morning by getting picked up from the hostel and taken to the main centre from where Safpar (Safari Par Excellence) operate. After a cooked breakfast and a safety demonstration, we were put into our teams, with Tembo as our guide, and taken to the entrance of the falls, and led down to the Boiling Pot, to where we were yesterday. There we jumped into our boats and were shown the calls and instructions to get us through the day. After a some practise, we hit the Boiling Pot rapid which took us straight up to the rocky side, rattled us around a bit, then dumped us all upside down, beneath the raft being washed down river. A good start to the day.

From there, we picked up a few pointers and calls and soon started to work as a team, paddling at the same time, pre-emptying the calls to 'get down' or 'forward paddle' or 'backwards paddle'. There were the occasional close calls, but for the most part we were fairly solid on the water. We stopped around midday for lunch, which was a good welcome break from the paddling and awkward positioning. But good to get back on the water again, until the afternoon storm came about - and this time brought wind, hail and rain with it. Just to make it that bit more enjoyable.

It was only at rapid #13 (aka 'The Mother') where we flipped the boat again, and once again swept down river and into the rocks on the side. But easy enough to recover and continue on down river. After rapid #19, the water settled down a bit and became slightly less intense and slightly more relaxed, and more about trying to get others, mainly Chuck, into the water.

The full day rafting tour went as far as rapid #25 where we caught the cable way system up to the top, almost 120m above the level of the river. A lot easier than the hike up. From there, we drove through the villages of Muchenje, Mukuni and Madobi, and back to base, where we changed into dry clothes, had a hot meal and some coffee before watching the DVD of the day's rafting, which I decided to buy. Once back at the hostel, we had an easy one around the bar area, with a bit of pool and table tennis and a few beers to toast our day's achievement of surviving the Mighty Zambezi and it's rapids!