For better or worse, I’m a sucker for doing the thing you’re supposed to do in the place you’re supposed to do it. That’s why I usually don’t travel to a destination unless I’m sure I’ve saved enough to do everything I know I’ll be dying to see once I’m there.
I distinctly remember the “Devil Pools” being an optional activity on the overland tour I did through Southern Africa (which passed through South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana). It was completely up my alley (I mean who wouldn’t want to hang off one of the world’s largest waterfalls?!) BUT, there were so many incredible “bucket-list” highlights on the trip that I wasn’t too phased when I realized it was going to be too expensive for me to afford 🤷🏽♀️ I was fine and dandy with my decision UNTIL I arrived in Livingstone and realized there was a thriving “unofficial” industry. The cost of visiting the Devil Pools with an authorized operator was $200+… the cost of visiting after hours, and watching the sunset over Victoria Falls with an unofficial guide was $20. FOMO hit me realllll hard 😅
So yes, while I can’t endorse it. I don’t regret it. Myself and six others handed over our cash to a local guy who told us to meet him at 5:30PM. Our guide was friends with security, we waltzed on through the entrance and waited for the official tour boat to leave before we made our way over the rocky landscape. Visiting this incredible natural wonder illegally is not, however, the point of this story. (In fact, I’m sure thousands of people do it every year). Where things got interesting was on our journey back to the entrance.
The problem with watching the sunset at the Devil Pools (and probably the reason why it isn’t allowed) is that you have to make your way back to the entrance in the dark. We had made it halfway when one of the guides stopped and hushed us. No more than 100 meters away three elephants had emerged from the shrub.
“The only reason they’d leave the shelter of the trees is if there was a predator nearby. Guys. We really need to pick up the pace” he whispered very, very intently. He turned and began running across the boulders. Pick up the pace was clearly code for “RUN” 🦁😳
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I looked down at my not-so-sturdy £1 Primark flip flops, my makeshift iPhone torch, and the vast plain of precarious boulders ahead. This was not going to end well. It was now too dark to see the mass of water crashing over the 90m drop to our right. Less than 100 meters behind us, more elephants had appeared. Dead ahead, my fellow travelers and guide were racing ahead.
Earlier that evening, while waiting for the “legal tours” to leave, our unofficial guide had shown us a hippo carcass. During the rainy season, the boulders are completely covered in water. If a hippo dies, its large carcass simply sinks to the bottom. Despite the crazy amount of water rushing down the waterfall, the skeletons get lodged in between the boulders. When the dry season arrives, the carcasses are revealed, and let me say – you will smell one WAY before you see one.
As if fate had it in for me, the one boulder that my flip flop simply had to break on and the one boulder where I simply had to then stub my foot and fall… was the one next to a rotting carcass.
Before I could register what had happened, I was knee-deep inside a hippopotamus rib cage and my hand had landed on a slimy, maggot covered bone. The air was so thick with stench that it pierced my throat when I breathed in. I gagged.
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On the plus side, however, I didn’t even get a scratch 😅 I lifted myself back up onto the boulder, kept marching on, and counted down the minutes until I could antibacterial my entire body 🤣 Did a lion appear from the forest? No. Did the security guards at the entrance care when we left? No. Did I plummet to my death off the side of Victoria Falls? No. Would I pay to do an official tour if I visited again for peace of mind/no risky encounters/avoidance of all things hippo carcasses… Absolutely 🤣
I think part of the charm of my early travels was all the complications that came with backpacking on a tight budget, and if nothing else, it’s left me with some crazy stories ✍🏽
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