Caprivi Strip, 2014 Part 28

The WOW Description

Enough of the literal description – how about some WOW description? Wow, it was absolutely phenomenal (maybe not WOW enough). Just standing there with your mouth hanging open, with all of your senses on overload, may be closer. My eyes saw the water rushing over the edge and the mist rushing skyward. My ears heard the constant roar of the water splashing into the gorge. My skin felt the mist as it permeated the air and the drops of water as they condensed on the leaves and fell back to earth. I could taste and smell the minerals and earth dissolved in water as the mist entered my nose and mouth. The lush flora had its own sensory excess to offer. The smell of all the flowers and their colors were breathtaking. The smell of the jungle was impressive as well. The living plants with their own smells mingled with the decay of dead and dying on the jungle floor made for an olfactory concerto of their own. I really have no idea how long we stood taking in our first glimpse of the fall as time seemed to stand still. I have no idea how many pictures the five of us took, but memory cards were filling up fast and we still had not moved fifteen feet from the first overlook.

Soon enough, the space-time continuum righted itself and we decided to see the rest of the falls. I am not a good enough writer to describe in enough detail the experience of walking along the edge of the falls, but I’ll give it my best try. The air was cool and comfortable, the scenery was unbelievable, and the company was pleasant. There were so many rainbows in the falls that rainbows became almost commonplace. If the stories about there being a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow are true, we could have given Fort Knox a run for its money. The five of us wandered along the edge, sometimes stopping to talk or compare notes or share a picture. Other times, each of us was lost in the awe of Mosi-oa-Tunya and unaware of anything else. The constant “thunder” of the falls had an almost hypnotic effect. It blotted out all ambient sound and allowed you to get lost in your own thoughts. Only when someone spoke, or you just happened to notice you were all alone, did the modern world return. Even though the pace was easy and relaxed, all too soon we found ourselves at the end of the falls and the border with Zambia. Sunset pictures were on the menu, but sunset was still over an hour away. We decided to head back to the entrance for some liquid refreshment of the adult beverage type (it was getting close to sundown, after all). Between the beverages and the antics of the local Vervet monkeys, the time went quickly. With the last sip gone, Johann, Janice, and I headed back to the falls’ edge.

A ten-minute walk had us back to the edge of the falls in what we reckoned to be a prime location for sunset pictures. Setting up took very little time and waiting for the actual sunset was all that remained. Waiting patiently proved more difficult than expected as the din combined with the never-ending photo opportunities had us snapping pictures way before sunset. Somehow I became fixated on a little tree all by its lonesome on the other side of the falls. It was growing out of a small patch of rock, with water rushing by all around. I think I must have taken 30 or 40 pictures of this little tree. I changed the angle, the exposure, the magnification, and just about every other thing I could think of, but I never accomplished what I set out to do, which was to capture the loneliness and tenacity of this little tree perched on the edge of oblivion.

Sunset finally made it and the real fun began. It was a mad dash to take a picture of the same thing over and over again while changing all of the camera settings to try to get everything just perfect. The pictures themselves varied dramatically. Just as the sun dropped to the edge of the mist, and as a soft hiss was barely audible, the colors ran from a light-orange to pink. The waves of mist seemed to give the sunlight a life of its own as they danced across the gorge. In between the light show, it transformed into a ballet of sorts as different colors and shadows intertwined and put on a performance all their own. Next, just before the sun set at the edge of the jungle and the gorge itself, it was like looking into the gates of Hades itself. The waves of mist took on all the red they could muster and appeared almost as flames of hellfire. The show wound down with a series of shadows moving across the ground and in our direction. If you leaned out into the falls, their progress could be tracked down the walls of the gorge and across the water. Mother Nature had put on an excellent performance this evening.

Having a steak dinner and several bottles of wine back at the hotel was downright anticlimactic compared to the sunset show, but conversation among good friends is always a pleasant way to end the evening. Everyone turned in early as we had to leave at 6:30 in the morning for our elephant back safari.