Serendipity

The other day I saw a video of Snoop Dogg recieving a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame and thanking the person he should thank for his result in life. Not a god, not his mother.. but himself.

I wanna thank ME
I wanna thank ME for believing in me
I wanna thank ME for doing all this hard work
I wanna thank ME for never quitting*

were amongst the things he thanked himself for.
The clip is used as motivational speech, meant to inspire others to create their own reality, a reality they can thank themselves for.

After the course, our reality is that Susanna and Niklas fly home straight out of camp and Terrence will be going back to work within days. Man, am I super happy that I don’t have to go back to normal life after this. Having spent two months in a tent, in a camp, in nature, it must be extremely weird to go back to European civilisation.

But that’s not me though. I get to spend another three weeks in Africa before flying out. My plan is to see a bit more of Zimbabwe, as I imagine it must be beautiful apart from its obvious flaws. It doesn’t exactly work out that way though. First of all, Victoria Falls is super expensive. Any activity will set you back tens of dollars, and even accomodation has western prices.. although admittedly standards are quite high as well. And then there is the economic crisis in the country. There’s hardly any fuel in Vic Falls, so my plan to rent a car and go to Hwange isn’t going to work out. There’s no money either, or at least no US dollars that most shops prefer. It even comes to a point where I’m in a restaurant in Bulawajo with the waiter telling me that my burger will cost me 9 USD when I pay in actual USD, 18 USD when I pay in Zimbabwean Bond dollar and 27 USD when I pay with (credit) card. This monetary system quickly drains me of my last remaining US dollars that I have left, and I’m barely able to buy a bus ticket to South Africa with my remaining money.

There is one thing I need to do first though. It has been an amazing coincidence that I ended up in Victoria Falls, 5 minutes from the Zambezi river, thé river of my dreams. A river I never dared dream of paddling, and now it is right here, quietly calling out my name.. I purposely did not bring any kayak gear, as I did not deem myself worthy of paddling this infamous river. But now everyone is trying to convince me to just do it. And it makes some sence, after all: it ís right here.

Wisely enough the rafting companies will not just let me join them. The river is too big for that, and consequences might be severe. One company will allow me to paddle part of the river though, as part of a rafting trip. The price is pretty steep at $120 though and for a few days I ponder on it, even considering crossing the border into Zambia to paddle the same river but entering from the other bank. But a quick internet search unveils that rafting from there is even more expensive at $160 for only 3-4 hours. So I stay in Zimbabwe debating what to do. It would be a dream come true though and really, this internal debate is just for show. I’ve already decided to do it long ago.

Just below Vic Falls

We start off just below the Victoria Falls, once the main destination of a dream of mine, and now the starting point of another. And the river is b.i.g.! Man, am I happy that I am not paddling the first couple of rapids. They are way too big for me. Even in the raft they turn out to be a challenge. I get catapulted into the water 3 or 4 times.. and admittedly, swimming in these turbulent waters is not exactly fun. Then, right before rapid 13, the guys tell me to switch places with one of the safety kayakers. The kayak does not have foot rests nor a back rest, but it will have to do.

We kinda take somewhat easier lines, but still, these rapids are BIG. Running rapid 18 I decide to go for the middle line instead of the chicken line on the left. It is a huge rush of adrenaline, and when I make it through I go into 2-minute long tantrem-like sequence of excitement fueled screams.

It is bizarre… in just over a year I have paddled 3 rivers I never thought I’d be able to paddle. First, there was the White Nile in Uganda a year ago, which I got to paddle for about a month. Then there was Futaleufu earlier this year, a river I had dreamt of for about 10 years. And as if that wasn’t enough, I freaking get to paddle the mighty Zambezi. Admittedly, these weren’t the most formidable rapids of the river, but fuck it, I’m here and I’m paddling this river. For me, it will do!!

Somehow quiting my job, ending up in a Santiago hostel I never intended to go to (another hostel messed up my booking), meeting a French kayakker there who would later invite me to paddle with him in Peru, postponing my field guide course to do just that.. somehow all that made me end up here in Zimbabwe, giving me the opportunity to paddle the mighty Zambezi and making my dream come true. I may not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but nevertheless I am a blessed man.

And admittedly, like Snoop Dogg, at times I am tempted to think it is ME who is to thank for all this fortune…. but considering the sequence of events there must have been at least a hint of serendipity here!

 

(* note: Snoop Dogg also thanks himself for having no days off, but clearly that wasn’t usefull for my story here, as this in no way applies to me)