Canoeing on the Zambezi

Saturday 22nd October - Alarm went off at 6am.  Got dressed, smothered ourselves in suntan cream, had some breakfast and were ready for pick up here at the house at 07.10

Ten of us were off to go canoeing on the Zambezi above The Falls - about 20km above and for a stretch of about 10km over a few grade 1 and 2 rapids.  Going over a few rapids like these is exciting but when wild game in the form of hippos and croc are added into the mix then the potential for increased adrenalin is even more exciting!  And then there were the elephant - nobody had mentioned those to Penny.............

After a drive through the Zambezi National Park and paying our entrance fees and our first view of the mighty river (fourth largest in Africa after the Niger, Congo and Nile)

The Zambezi River

we arrived at the launch site.  Our guides were extremely humorous in their telling of facts about the game and birds we saw along the way.  I can't begin to say how kudu got their name, according to them, but it was something to do with balls and how they moved when the animal was in movement.  We were also introduced to the Ugly Five as opposed to the Big Five - maribou stork, warthog, hyena, aardvark and wildebeest; we only actually saw the first two.

And along the way we saw a seldom seen site of a baobab in flower - an indication that it will soon rain.  It is very hot as expected - over 40 degrees.

Baobab in flower

Penny was teamed up with Mike from Israel and I with one of the guides - Otila.  There were 6 boats in all with three guides led by Ndoga whose intro speech re safety and how to paddle was clearly and reassuringly given in a very laid back and easily understood way - with humour too.  We left our bags, camera, watches in the vehicle and donned our life jackets and picked up our paddles.  We also had bacon and egg rolls and coffee before setting off.  Penny made me take a photo of the loo which she was fascinated by out here in the middle of nowhere!

A proper flushing toilet out in the bush

We saw hippo - some fairly close - and bounced over a few rapids and then saw a couple of elephant in the distance.  We turned a bend in the river avoiding a hippo to our left when we realised upon a whole heap of elephant in the water and on the land in front of us to our left and right.  I heard Penny say something like "how can we possibly go through all that?".  She was pretty terrified.  We stayed by the right hand bank and watched as two young bulls jousted in the water in front of us.  We waited and as we slowly and quietly nudged forwards the elephant separated themselves and split into groups either side of the river - some still in the water.  The two young bulls stopped playing.  We paddled through the middle of about seventy elephant.  This again was a fairly uncommon sighting and we were very close!  There were several babies amongst the herd and it was so interesting watching them being guided across the water.  Quite an experience.

Launch and breakfast site

With our paddles

Happy landings!

And so after two and a half hours on the water we came to the end and lunch and a cold beer or soft drink.  Fellow paddlers, a Swiss couple, have promised to send us some photos as they had waterproof equipment.  We look forward to seeing them.  I'm afraid I was not prepared to risk losing my new camera in the water.  The other paddlers were a couple of Polish girls and two American sisters who were being shown around by their South African friend, Janice.

Hot and dusty we jumped into the pool as soon as we got back home.  

The evening was spent by driving around The Big Tree (the old pioneer meeting and camping place and used by David Livingstone), a quick visit to the Kingdom Hotel to see what's what and then on to the Falls Hotel for a cocktail on the verandah.  We then went on to the restaurant by the swimming pool which has been called Jungle Junction in remembrance of the time when the BOAC boat plane was in action flying from  Alexandria through Khartoum and The Falls and on to Jo'burg.......The Falls being nicknamed Jungle Junction.  The meal consisted of a buffet and a show of traditional dancing - mkishi, shangaan, nhau and ndebele.  It was Ok but it was a bit tired and nothing like as enigmatic as the performances I remembered at the old Falls Craft Village.  We had a great waiter called Marshall who was mortified when there was a stuff up with the bill; our fault not his.  Penny left him a good tip.

Mkishi Dancers