Gorge Swing and Mother's Day!--Asher

Asher Ballonoff May 8th 2022

Happy Mother’s Day! Today we are going to do the gorge swing! The gorge swing is not a swing but a freefall for 70 meters! In the morning we are going to move to another hotel called ilala lodge. We are leaving Livingstone Lodge at 10:00. I woke up to dad and mom going on a little run. My dad runs and my mom walks and runs. I decided to go with mom on her walk. When we got outside, she went so fast just walking! We sped walked to clarck street on the roads and then headed back. Then we met up with dad and went back. By then linden was up. We had a breakfast of toast, eggs, and bacon. Then we packed up and called a taxi to ilala lodge. The drive was not long to our new hotel. The lodge was a massive building with a thatched roof. We got inside and were escorted to a small table and served lemonade. We checked in and went to our room. We opened the door and saw an amazing room! There was everything! There was a small refrige that had some drinks and a chocolate bar! Linden and I had this room to ourselves. Then we had an hour of alone time. Linden and I made a song for mom’s day. In the middle linden booted me out because I was “fidgeting”. Then she made a song on her own. Because of this conflict we split up for lunch. I went with mom to the Lookout Café. That is where they do the gorge swing. For lunch I got a beef fillet and mom got a massive vegan burger. Then we had Linden and dad to come over and to maybe do the swing. They took a long time to get over here. Secretly they were getting a cake for mom (of note it tasted like PLASTIC when we finally indulged in it that night at dinner!). Then we all asked what the safety records were for the gorge swing. Fortunately, they said that there has never been an injury ever on the gorge swing. My mom and dad had a little conversation about if we were going to do the gorge swing. In the end they said yes! Linden and I were going on the tandem gorge swing. Right after the paperwork, a worker led us on a short trail to the massive gorge. When we got there, we were by a plank going out over the gorge. Butterflies started to flutter in my stomach. My legs felt like jello. We got 1 full body harness on and 1 half body harness on and we were led to the small plank of death. The man there told us to walk forward on to the deck to attach us to the very strong ropes and cables. Once we were connected, he said that he was going to tell us the safety of going up. Linden told him that we were being pulled. He did not say anything about safety and pushed us of into the unknown. We started to drop. I closed my eyes and Linden was screaming my name. On that fall I could not breath and was terrified! Once I felt some tension, I open my eyes after a 3 second drop that felt like 100. At the bottom Linden and I talked about the fall. Shortly after the swing we started to ascend. Up and up. Then we got close to the wall and walked up the side of the cliff. We had some trouble getting up. We rolled over a couple of times. In the end, we made it up just fine. Definitely the scariest thing I have ever done and also it was a very memorable way to forever remember Victoria Falls and Mother’s day!