Devil's Pool

Hello all,

Devil's Pool was absolutely amazing! Terrifying, but amazing. 

We got up and had breakfast this morning and then got the 9.30am shuttle to the Royal Livingstone Hotel to meet the guides. 

Our session started at 10.30, and was comprised of about 18 of us. We got to Livingstone Island which is where David Livingstone was first shown the falls. From here you could see (and hear!) the huge volume of water plummeting over the edge. From here it got a bit scary. We hadn't really been told that you had to be a strong swimmer, but I was very glad of my weekly swims at home!

I couldn't take photos so it's hard to describe, but basically we had to hold hands and walk across very slippery rocks right near the edge of the waterfall. Then we had to swim across the really strong current to get to different points before the pool. The guides didn't give us very good instructions, and I was glad my shoulders were strong. 

One woman in our small group of five, Sally, told the guide that she wasn't a strong swimmer. For some reason he then left her and she floated away to the edge. We were terrified, I really thought we were going to see someone die! There was a rope which she clung to for dear life and then the guide got her. She said the look on his face was the scariest part though, she thought she was a goner!

Apparently in the next few weeks they will close the pool until October because the flow of the waterfalls after wet season becomes too strong. You could definitely tell! A friend of mine has been here and she basically leant over the ledge. Rob and I got in and we were both terrified because the current kept catching on my sandals and trying to push me over. We clung to the rock on the edge and managed to pull some silly faces and smiles for our photos, but I was really scared!! Rob said it was the first commercial tour he had ever been afraid on. 

Besides the fear though it was a rush and we had an amazing time. And after getting back (I helped Sally across because the guide left her again!!!) we were rewarded with a late breakfast of eggs benedict. 

We got back and took a group photo after bonding over Sally's near death experience, then looked around the resort. There were tame zebras and the hotel reminded me of Raffles in Singapore. It was beautiful!! 

Then we got a taxi into Livingstone again and queued up for 1.5 hours for Rob to get money (aaaaarghhh!). Now we are back at the resort chilling. Emily, Ash, Rob and I are laughing at how tired we are after just a week with three left to go. Hahaha!

We leave this resort tomorrow. It's really nice except for the feral monkeys. They even raided our bus, and a guy's job is literally to follow them around and slingshot them with rocks so they don't hurt tourists! It doesn't always work, Maddy got scratched. I don't know what is more scary, Devil's Pool or the monkeys!!

What a great (but scary!) day. 

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox