Livingstone - Saturday 13th Feb

We got picked up at 8.30 by Denis the taxi driverto go to the Victoria Falls Bridge climb which is where the Zambezi River is and separates Zimbabwe and Zambia. 

Victoria Falls Bridge was a crucial link in the route of the railway north,the planning of which the famous Cecil John Rhodes had imagined with a line going from Cape Town to Cario .The bridge was designed by George Hodson who was a partner of Douglas Fox and partners.To ensure the accuracy in the manufacture of the bridge it was assembled  sections at the Cleveland Bridge Company  factory yard in Darlington England before being shipped to Africa .The chief engineer responsible for construction was a Frenchman named George Imbault.

The main arch was joined on 1st April 1905 . The two centre girders of the arch were in place by sunset on the 31st March,but they overlapped by about 1.5 inches . When work started  the next morning  was found that the bridge had contracted in the cool of the night as well as the water spray from the falls by the exact amount with the two centre girders dropping into place to fit perfectly.

At the time of completion the bridge was the highest in the world and has a upper deck length of 198 metres  The span of the arch is 128 metres and is 128 metres above the Zambezi River. the bridge had become the major tourist attraction and is home to the Victoria falls Bridge company who offers historical bridge tours,111m bungee jump,bridge swing and zing line activities.

The bridge was officially opened on the 12th September 1905 by Professor George Darwin, the grandson of Charles Darwin .

We arrived at the Zambia boarder crossing and then had to walk a couple of kms to the bridge with semi's lined up awaiting their turn to cross

View onto Victoria Bridge which caters for cars,trucks and trains one of only a few in the world that have 3 types of traffic over it.

First up we got a brief history and details on the bridge and then got knitted up to walk the platform under the road

 The tour took about an hour and we had brilliant views of the fall

The famous Victoria Falls( think of the opening in the old Tarzan series when we were kids) and is 1062 metres above sea level and 1.7kms long with 7 gorges and during peak season from February to March 500 million litres of water per miniute flow over the falls.The average rain fall is 600mm per annum with average tempatures of 35c and 40% hudmity.

Got back to the tour centre just on noon for a quick beer and to decide if I was going to bungee jump.I had been thinking about trying it for a while but couldn't muster up the courage to do it.Post the brave beer and a nervous one in the bathroom I signed up for the package deal which consisted of the bungee jump, swing jump and zip line. Good value as the bungee and swing were US$160 each so got all three for US$210. Decided to do the scariest one first so down to the bridge to get knitted up for the bungee jump.

Than onto the platform for quick brief then into the wild blue younder 

Scared the crap out of me I must admit and wondered to myself what was I doing. Next up was the Jump Swing so you go off standing up rather than diving off- enjoyed this one better

Next up was the easy one, the zip line

Denis collected us after the activities and then dropped us back to camp for brunch. On the way back to the car came across this sign on a truck which Jo said was reflective of what I had just done.

Back to camp for brunch and a rest and then  to get ready and be collected at 4.30 for our train degustation dinner.The train is an old stream train fired by coal that consists of 2 dining carriages , 2 relaxing carriages and a kitchen carriage.First up it was drinks and nibbles in the relaxing part with a Zambian guy who gave us a talk about the history of Zambia and the railway line

We arrived shortly after the talk at the Victoria bridge for a sunset walk plus being ambushed by the craft( crap) sellers

The middle of the bridge is the start of Zimbabwe 

Back onto the train and through to the dining carriages for dinner

The main course they told us was lamb however we when it was served we suspected it was not and asked the waiter who quietly told us no it wasn't lamb but a game meat which was melt in your mouth meat and I finished off half of Jo's as well.Got home about 10 to head off to bed.