Zambezi Blast Challenge

11 - 18 September 2010

Tackle some of the world's biggest white water!

• What is the itinerary?
• Fitness Levels
• Costs
• I want to take part, What do I do next?   

Water-sport enthusiasts class the Zambezi River as one of the biggest white-water rafting destinations in the world.

Beneath the mist of the Victoria Falls, deep in the Batoka Gorge - one of the most dramatic places in the world to start a white-water rafting trip.

From the very first rapid encountered, you will embark on a river journey with some of the most exhilarating white-water and spectacular scenery that you’ll experience in your life.
From the best white-water on the planet, amazing sandy beaches, to a helicopter flight through the Batoka Gorge and over Victoria Falls – read on as Africa delivers a feast...

Itinerary

Day 1

• Depart UK for flight to Johannesburg.

Day 2

• Arrive into Johannesburg where you will be met and escorted to Livingstone, Zambia, and then to your hotel.

• The remainder of the afternoon is free for you to explore or relax after your journey. In the evening there will be a pre-trip meeting to give you equipment and information about the trip.
  Later on, you will travel by boat to the upper river, to watch the sun set behind vulture-clad Baobab trees. This trip also offers the possibility of seeing elephants, hippos and buffalo at close range.

Day 3

• After breakfast (9am), you will head to the base of Victoria Falls for the start of your challenge. There will be a full safety briefing before embarking on the first section of river.

• The first rapid ‘Morning Glory’ is one of the biggest commercially-run rapids in the world. ‘Stairway to Heaven’, ‘The Devil’s Toilet Bowl’ and ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ follow before you arrive at ‘Midnight Diner’, featuring one of the biggest waves ever seen on a river.

• You then carry your rafts around ‘Commercial Suicide’ – an impossible rapid to navigate for any but the best kayakers!

• ‘The Gnashing Jaws of Death’ provides a suitable white-water finale before returning to camp to spend the evening relaxing and watching the sun disappear for your first night under the stars.

Day 4

• After breakfast all the equipment is loaded into the rafts.

• Our first rapid today is ‘Creamy White Buttocks’, followed by ‘The Mother’! Later on, you will experience one of the most thrilling rapids on the whole trip - ‘Oblivion’ - with wave after wave of white water hitting the rafts!

• A little further down is your next camp site where you can watch graceful fish eagles soar above you as dusk falls.

Day 5

• ‘Morning Shower’ wakes you up in the fashion you are becoming accustomed to! The river begins to open out a bit more, but this doesn’t mean the rapids become smaller. One of the more technical and exhilarating rapids you will conquer today is ‘Open Season’.

• After lunch there will be ‘Chamamba’ and the amazing finale to the day, ‘Upper Moemba’.

Day 6

• This morning, the rafts are carried over the un-negotiable ‘Lower Moemba’ and you then drift downstream for an hour to see the proposed site for the joint Zambia/Zimbabwe power project.

• At Chabango Falls, everything is removed from the rafts and after lunch, the empty rafts are carried around the Falls before being re-launched into the water and then on towards ‘Ghostrider’ - the longest of all the rapids and is the final stretch of your challenge.

• You will be collected by helicopter and transported back to Livingstone, Zambia. The flight will take you beneath the gorge rim and back past the rapids travelled over the past few days. You will fly out of the gorge amidst stunning views of the African landscape, before flying over Victoria Falls.

• At the hotel will be the chance of a welcome shower before the presentation dinner that evening.

Day 7

• Mid-morning, transfer to Livingstone airport for the flight back to the UK.

Day 8

• Arrive UK.

Please note that while we make every effort to stick to this schedule and the accommodation stated, this is subject to alteration.

Fitness levels 

This wonderful challenge aims to attract people with a reasonable level of fitness to participate in an exciting and memorable event. This experience will physically and mentally test you. It will give you a tremendous sense of achievement and at the same time benefit those people whose lives are affected by epilepsy.

Costs of the challenge for 2009 and 2010

• Registration fee: £399
• Additional minimum sponsorship required: £ 2,995, of which £1,496 goes directly to Epilepsy Action
• Insurance fee: £45

If you would prefer to pay the registration fee in installments, please call the fundraising department.

Eighty per cent of the minimum sponsorship money is to be paid to Epilepsy Action no later than 11 weeks before departure. The remaining 20 per cent is due within six weeks of completing the event.

 What do I do next?

Organised by Global Adventures Challenges

Fundraising guide

Index · Advice · Ideas · Money · Publicity · Training plans
A to Z of fundraising ideas

• Download or print our fundraising guide
• Download our trekking events guide
• Download or print a sponsorship form
• Get one of our excellent Epilepsy Action events T-shirts