Our last morning at Victoria Falls we’re up early. We’re crossing the border to Zambia to see the falls from the other side, and optionally to swim in the river at the edge of the falls. It’s chilly. The border crossing is absurd. Our driver picks us up at the hotel and drives the five minutes across the Victoria Falls bridge. We go to the border stop and get our passports stamped, then walk out to meet our second driver on the Zambian side. He drives us the five minutes to Livingstone Island.

The island sits at the brink of the falls, and at low water in September through December you can reach the Devil’s Bathtub and swim. The water is too high in July, but with a guide you can wade to the edge of the falls and swim. A young veterinary student from Shanghai and two Korean missionaries are in our group and planning to swim. We are not.

Donning rain ponchos we walk the short distance to the river . Mist soaks us through the ponchos. Water drips down our legs into our shoes. It’s cold. We carefully walk onto a rocky outcrop at the edge of the falls. The brave swimmers wade into the water one at a time and immerse themselves. With a guide holding their ankles, they get within inches of the precipice, water rushing over them.

Adrenaline charged they emerge from the water smiling in triumph. I’m cold and wet.

We walk back to a pavilion for breakfast. The coffee is weak, but hot and we embrace it. Breakfast is filling and warm. Leaving our ponchos, and quite wet, we walk to our car, where the driver ferries us the five minutes to the border, we get our passports stamped and reconnect with our original driver for the five minute drive to the Victoria Falls Hotel.

In half an hour we’re on our way to the airport for our flight to Cape Town.