On the Zambesi 1

The last two days have been filled with adventure. We were picked up from the hotel at 8:00 Zimbabwe time, which means about 8:45. A jeep arrived with Bono and a driver. We were informed that we would be going to the Natureways office and then shopping before we got onto the river. And this is what we did. We stopped at the Natureways office to pick up the equipment and food, and also the two other guides, Champion and Scumbuzo. This of course took some time. We passed some baboons and the evidence of elephants (dung), along the way to the stores. These stores were what you might call a secondary mall, not in the centre of Kariba. There was a central square, with stores on both sides of it. We went into the supermarket to get some supplies: I wanted to get some more batteries. Again, this took a lot of time, but finally we were off.

We had a fair ride through the town, and then turned off onto what we would call a farm path. This led to the Park Office, where we were to pay our fees. Of course, it was an uneven number, so there was a great scramble to get the proper change. And it is paid, as everything is, in US dollars.

After that, we were on the road again to get to what I would call, generously, a cowpath. This was to lead us down to a place near the water.

Bono gave us last-minute safety instructions, and we loaded the canoes and set off down the gorge. It was quite different from what we would be used to, much more rounded. But the river had some rapids and some tight spots. Vegetation went right to the tops of the hills, and was like a tundra or savannah. We had eighteen kilometers of this to do before camping for the night. Along the way, we saw some hippos, some crocodiles, some baboons, and some monkeys, along with many types of birds which I will never remember. And we stopped for lunch along the way, at the side of the river.

Being a safari, they had brought a table, and a stove, and stools to sit on. And a cooked lunch as well, which was much appreciated.

A short nap, and we were off again. After a short while, we left the gorge and made our way past an abandoned hunting camp to an island called Crocodile Rocks. There we put up our tents, they cooked a supper for us, and we ate in the dark and talked (it gets dark here about six). We discussed Canada, Zimbabwe and its politics, and general affairs of the world. We were accompanied by the grunts and bellows of the hippos. They make almost all the disgusting noises you can think of, so if you do something like that yourself, you can always blame it on the hippos.

The hippos went on all night. But we were tired enough to sleep in spite of all of their noise. The moon was almost full, so there was a fair bit of light as well. Before we went into the tent, we saw some elephants across the river, drinking. Too bad it was so dark. The night was a good sleep.

This morning, we were up at 6:30, had a light breakfast of coffee and biscuits, and got on the river. We were to have about eighteen kilometers of paddling and in was to be broken up by a full breakfast stop as well as a lunch stop. We were on the river by 7:30, paddling what was now a much wider and less rapid river. The gorge of yesterday had given way to a much flatter topography. I have to say that the paddling got quite tiring, although the commentary of the guides (I had Champion in the stern of my canoe) was very informative about the local flora and fauna. Saw a number of birds again, as well as more crocs, a herd of warthogs, several more pods of hippos, and some deer-like animals. Also a lizard, about 50 cm. long, which apparently eats crocodile eggs. That must take courage!

Breakfast - the real one - consisted of a cornmeal porridge (called Millimil) which had peanut butter stirred into it. We also had what they called sweet potatoes, although they grow underground and have flesh a lot like in colour (but not taste) of our regular potatoes. Breakfast was delicious. A short rest and we were back on the river, paddling a long way until about one o'clock when we stopped for lunch. This country grows avacados, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots - all the things we might use and did for a salad. Again, it was great. And it was followed by a siesta, which was not too bad either.

Interestingly, the place we stopped had been frequented by elephants, evidenced by large footprints in the mud, and large piles of dung aroung the site. But it served our purposes, and I even had a little sleep.

In places here, we could see some of the villagers on the Zambian side, down bathing or cleaning their clothes. There was a certain primitiveness to this which was quite exciting. And there were many Zambian fishermen in their dugout canoes, with long paddles, minding their nets. On our side of the river (which at times was 500 meters across), there were lots of hippos and crocs.

There was a strong north wind, and with the amount of water in the river at this point, the waves were hard to battle. We took on a bit of water, but were generally okay. The water level was down, so we had to make some detours, but we got eventually to a campsite on the Twin Logs Island, named after two dead tree trunks paired at one end of the island. We pulled up the canoes, worked our way through the reeds to get to the sandy centre of the island, and set up camp. Supper tonight was a thick corn porridge called sadza with a beef stew on top. The way it is eaten by Zimbabweans is ti take some of the sadza, roll it in the hand to a small ball, and dip it in the stew. I wasn't yet prepared to try that, so ate it with knife and fork. And a kale-like vegetable dish, also quite tasty.

Charlie says he will take a picture of me writing on my iPad in the wilderness. I think that would be neat! When we are on the river, I am leaning against the side of the tent with the iPad on my lap.

And so to bed. It is 8:30, but I am quite tired. And the morning comes early. Bono warns us that tomorrow will be a long day. We are picking up another tourist for the trip, in the town of Chirungu.
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Location:Twin Logs Island