The agenda for the day on the river was fairly simple. Pack up camp, reload the gear boat, and paddle for about 45 minutes through our last stretch of calm water (Class III) to the take-out.
But, first, we had to get past Lower Moemba.
Lower Moemba
A spectacular waterfall! If the Victoria Falls did not take “all the glory,” then the Lower Moemba falls would be a tourist spectacle in its own right! The whole Zambezi is forced over this eight meter waterfall. It is definitely not runnable for rafts and very few kayakers have attempted this mighty drop.
So, we hopped in the rafts only to paddle to the other side of the river from camp. We disembarked there and waited for the show to begin. Unlike our other portage in Rapid #9, the rafts had to be lowered down over a 30-foot vertical cliff instead of the guides taking them through solo. It was all hands on deck to get the heavy gear boat down!
Meanwhile, I was anxious about how we were going to hike down to the rafts from our perch above the falls. Like one of the rafts, Sugar had to hoist me down by my life jacket to the raft waiting below because the final drop into the boat was too far for my little legs to reach from the ledge that I was standing on.
Once I was back in the relative safety of the raft, then the challenge was to get out of the eddy-pool where the rafts had been waiting.
We cruised through the last few fun, easy rapids to our take out just above the Ghostrider rapid at the proposed Batoka Dam Site. The dam has been proposed for many years to supply more power to the region’s growing population, but only recently have steps been taken to begin construction at the site. If completed, the dam would flood all of the rapids for at least 50 km upstream, rendering the trip that we just took impossible. This is why I felt an urgency to run this river while we still could.
With about 60 river miles complete, there was only one last thing to do: hike out of the Batoka Gorge. Thankfully, the trail was not as steep as the hike up from our previous campsite two days earlier (750 vertical feet). Nor was it as technical, as the remnants of an old paved road were evident in some sections.
We had a long, bumpy drive ahead through remote countryside and rural villages. We stopped at a rural school to drop off school supplies that we had all brought from home. I was taken aback by the warning sign about explosive devices in the school courtyard. The school official explained that the sign was a relic of the Rhodesian war when the entire area was covered with landmines. When we arrived, the students were playing chess, taking a break from studying for their upcoming exams. They greeted us by singing the Zimbabwe national anthem.
Ready to be out of the uncomfortable transport, we were delighted to finally arrive at The Elephant Camp, a luxury safari camp in Victoria Falls National Park. Eager for A/C and showers, we were reunited with our luggage and got settled into our room. Our AirTags were helpful again because we had a missing bag upon arrival, but it turned out that it had just mistakenly been delivered to another guest’s room.
After getting cleaned up (and, boozed up), we hopped in the open-air jeep for a sunset game drive to the gorge above Rapid #9 (the rapid that we had to portage on Days 1 & 2). Snacks and sundowners were waiting for us when we arrived.
Having survived some of the most intense whitewater in the world thanks to an excellent guide and great team, I couldn’t have asked for more. With the full moon rising across the gorge and a colorful orange sunset behind us (and, a glass of wine in my hand), I felt incredibly thankful for the adventure that we had all just shared.
