Synopsis

Documentary film about the local employees in adventure tourism on the Zambezi River (Zambia/Zimbabwe) and their perspectives on the post-colonial setting around the Victoria Falls, 150 years after their "discovery" by Dr. David Livingstone, the missionary and explorer.

The spectator is taken on a three days tour to the different locations and activities at the Victoria Falls: White-Water Rafting, Bungee-Jumping, the Hotelpool, the Sunset Cruise etc.

For the first time in the history of the extensively video-documented adventure tourism in the area, a strong emphasis is put on the perspectives of the local people and the hierarchies between employees and tourists.

The film questions the traveller's stereotypical imaginations of "Real Africa" and exposes the problematic issues of socio-economic development in Livingstone, the tourism capital of Zambia, one of the poorest countries in the world.

The film's journey is exclusively commented by the local actors and it shows some of the backstage realities in tourism: Porters and Raft-Guides give insights into their work, the Director of The Livingstone Museum relates the colonial history to the neo-colonial working conditions, a Government Officer (Ministry of Tourism) explains the investment policies and the competition with neighbouring Zimbabwe

Throughout the film, entertaining and fascinating scenes of the river and the various adventure activities visualise the commentary and are compellingly inviting the spectator to join the ride into the ambiguities of tourism development.

From the footsteps of Mr. Livingstone to the modern "explorer" and, above all, their service personnel, the film gives a voice to those actors, who are, today, dealing with the complicated colonial heritage - Livingstone's heirs.

Main protagonist and intermediary between the tourists' and the locals' world is Vincent Mapulanga, a Raft-Guide who grew up in a rural Zambian village and who got the opportunity to move up from a porter to become a guide. He managed to leave the country, got trained in the USA and worked in Austria for a company called Lemming Tours. Today he makes his living as a postman in The Netherlands. Throughout the film, he narrates his personal experiences that reveal a close linkage between tourism and migration issues.