But it was far more terrifying from the bridge. By the time I was over there, and had convinced my dad to come with me it was really too late for me to back out. When we were buying our tickets they said there was a great deal if you wanted to do all three of their "activities", or perilous leaps toward impending doom, so we opted to take the deal. We decided to warm up with the zip line across the gorge. While it was pretty high up, and a long distance, it really wasn't very scary. Honestly, it was more exciting than anything else.
That's me, right in the middle there. My father then followed suit. After the zip line warm up, it was time for bungee!
Maybe thinking it would provide reassurance, my dad asked for their success rate, "Have you ever had any accidents?" And the reply we got was a cheerful, "Not yet!" My stomach flipped. I don't know what kind of answer I was expecting, maybe, "We are very cautious and provide secondary and tertiary precautions." Then again, I guess I forgot that I was literally in between two African countries, one of which is going through political and economic turmoil. So I assessed the situation on my own. The first bounce should least break your fall and you shouldn't hit the water too hard. However, I also concluded that if something does go wrong, and you fall into the water below (given you survive), you still have to watch out for the crocodiles swimming along the Zambezi. Anyway, I summoned every last gut I had and stepped into the harness and out onto the platform. The harness wasn't great, I won't lie. It was just a few strappy nylon ropes configured around my body in the most unattractive way one could think of, but I figured it might work. I had refused to watch any of the videos prior to my launch in fear that they would scare the last ounce of bravery right out of me, so I didn't know what to expect next. They had me sit down on a bench as they wrapped up my feet, because apparently you bungee jump upside down, only connected by the ankles. This little bit almost made me back out, they took four ratty old dish towels, which looked like they belonged to my 80 year old grandmother when she learned to cook, and wrapped two around each ankle. At this point I needed some reassurance, so I looked up only to see my dad with his head cocked, brow frowned, starting at my ankles, exuding nothing less than sure terror for letting his only little girl leap about 80 feet, not knowing if she would bounce back up or not. So I realized I definitely wasn't going to get any help there. Meanwhile, my ankles were bound together with a thick nylon rope and tied it in a knot, yes a knot. Then they finally attached me with a little carabiner to the bungee chords. There was one for my ankles and one for the harness strapped around my body, they said the second was for precautionary reasons only, but I was kind of wishing that was the main one.
Finally, it was time to actually jump. At this point they say that if you don't jump after they say 5...4...3...2...1...BUNGEE, they push you. So really my best option was to jump. I couldn't look down, it was all to surreal, so I just leapt off in a perfect swan dive, so I was told later. I could have swarm I waited a good 4 to 5 seconds before I started screaming my head off, but I was also told later that it was indeed only a second after. Suddenly, I felt to bungee tighten and I was being pulled back up. The first bounce was pure relief, I had made it, nothing broke, and I wasn't falling toward the crocodiles! However, I had very different feelings toward the next 15 bounces. My brain was filled with thoughts of keeping my ankles flexed to make sure I didn't slip out, to how sick I was about to get, to I really should been enjoying the situation because the view was phenomenal (despite being upside down). About a few minutes later than I would have preferred someone came down to get me, and they pulled me up. I couldn't speak for about 10 minutes after, the adrenaline was rushing, and so was the sweat. I think I was more terrified after the experience than before or during. So when they asked if I was ready for the their "activity" I just laughed uncomfortably and walked away.
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