This is the mighty Zambezi River, at the point where it spills over Victoria Falls, located on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is the fourth longest river in Africa, the longest east flowing river in Africa, and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa.
It is here where this story takes place. While we came to this area mostly to see Victoria Falls, we thought that we might also try our hand at fishing. Specifically, we came seeking the famous Tigerfish. These fish can get quite large, and as the name suggests they are fierce predators, with extremely large teeth. They are aggressive and often hunt in packs. The African Tigerfish is the first freshwater fish recorded and confirmed to attack and catch birds in flight. Sounds like fun, right?
Well, we are in Africa, where most things around us have big teeth and can eat you, so why not the fish? And so, with adventure in mind, off we went to catch some fierce fish on the mighty Zambezi River. We drove down some crazy African backroads until we came to the fishing camp along the river. Met our guide, went over a few safety instructions, which consisted of the advice to stay out of the river because there are things that can eat you or kill you, and we were off.
We baited out hooks with, ironically, pieces of dead Tigerfish, and threw in our lines. Along the way down the river we found out that our guide David had a family with two children, one of whom was a recent addition.
We saw a Giraffe that came down to the waters edge to drink. No fish....
We spotted an African Fish Eagle who followed us around looking for a free meal....No fish....
Saw several crocodiles...... no fish....
We learned that our guide David loved to watch T.V. In particular, he informed us that his favorite show was a U.S. show called WWE (yes the wrestling show). He said his dream was to go on that show and win the title and become a wealthy wrestler....... He turned to me and said, "People have told me that it's not real, but I don't believe them." I left that one alone. Still no fish......
The most thrilling thing to take place was when we were being chased off by Hippos. And that, was actually a little scary... they are very territorial and will attack boats. One guy followed us for quite a while, unhappy that we had wondered too close to his family. Still no fish...
The sun was starting to go down, and David informed us that we had to go back because we have to be off the water at dark. And so, with reluctance we began to make our way back to the fish camp. With an empty boat. It was a fishing failure. No mighty Tigerfish stories were going to be told by us. Bummer.
However, it was from this failed adventure that I took a couple of my most favorite photos of my son.
I didn't even realize that I had these until after we had returned home from our trip and I began to go through the photos. What we had looked at as a failure of a day instead gave us something beautiful. Some cool photos of my son doing one of his favorite activities. I even used one of these photos on his High School Graduation announcement. So, not a complete failure of a day after all.
Failure in life isn't fun. I really, really, really hate to fail at something. And if I am not careful, I can let failure become the sentence that I play over and over again in my head. But I don't think the point of failure is failure itself. My husband has a question he asks our son when Keagan tries something and it doesn't work out. Jeff will always ask Keagan, "Well, that didn't work out, but are you smarter now?" And the answer is almost always yes. The lesson here is that failure is only failure if you don't learn something from it.
I recently read an article about the founder of Spanx, Sara Blakely. She recalls that at dinnertime her father would often ask her the questions, "What have you failed at this week?" This question taught her not to fear failure, but to instead fear not trying. She has carried this on over into her workplace by often putting out failures, both her own and her companies, in company wide broadcast emails.
What would happen if we would all embrace learning from our failures instead of being so scared of failure. Failure is part of life, whether or not we want to admit it. We will fail at some point. It's what you do after the failure that speaks volumes about you. Are you going to let failure crush you, or are you going to get up, dust yourself off, and learn something? The choice is yours. It's a choice that will have great impact on your life.
So, my goal for myself, and my challenge to you is to not let fear of failure keep you from trying. And when you do fail, learn something from it. Every moment in life can count, don't waste one wallowing, instead, learn something. Even if what you learn is that catching Tigerfish in Africa is harder than you thought it would be. So, what did I learn from the failed fishing attempt? Time spent with my son and husband is precious. That there is beauty even in failure. That the sounds of the birds settling in for the night around the river are calming. That the water on the river is beautiful, and clam, and healing. That you never know what people are going to tell you about their life (WWE). That the sight of a big African sun setting is stunning beyond all description. That there can be amazing beauty in the midst of failure. That maybe the point wasn't about fishing success, but more about enjoying the moment, just as it was.
I'll leave you with a few more photos of the sun setting over the Zambezi River. Enjoy your week, both the successes and failures. And don't forget to learn something from both.
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