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3 -
Zimbabwe -- Zambezi River, Kariba Lake
June
5 - June 10
Zambezi
River, Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe
-- June 5 --
Yo, ho, yo, ho, an oarsman's life for me! After our first day
on the river, we've begun to settle into our most strenuous and rugged
bush experience yet. Today didn't start out that way, though.
We woke
up at 6:15am at the Ruckomechi Lodge on the southern shore of the
Zambezi. Stationed here to prep for our canoe journey, we had enough time for some game drives--
in fact, last night was our
FIRST game drive where we SHARED a vehicle with other guests...
after 2 weeks in africa, that ain't bad! We can thank Mr. Mogave and
the Zimbabwe government situation for the empty tourism here. It's
sad for the country, but it's been nice for us that everywhere seems
so empty. More on this later.
 Anyway,
the game drives at Rachomechi last night and today turned out to be
excellent! On yesterday's drive, we were surprised 30 minutes
in by a pack of wild painted dogs, and later came across 6 lions.
This morning we tracked and found 2 leopards, watching 2 impala
nearly inadvertently walk into their grasp , and later had a coke amidst a herd of 139 Cape
Buffaloes (yes, we counted).
After
lunch (there were 10 elephants in the camp!), we hit the water.
Not
unlike other places we've visited so far, low tourismhas made the canoe trip
pretty empty. Kristina and I are paddling downstream together
in 1 canoe, and our guides, Andy and Jo (for Joann), are paddling
downstream in the other. That's it. In addition, we're
accompanied by a truck with 3 more people who precede us and set up
camp, cook meals, etc.
As we set
out on our journey, our guide Andy warned us of the top dangers in
the river-- sun, dehydration, stumps, hippos, and crocs. In order of
frequency-of-occurrence , I'd rank hippos as the most prevalent!
Delicately following the guide canoe, we held our breath as we
passed HUNDREDS of hippos on the river, peering at us with just
their eyes, ears and nostrils above-water. (We already knew
that hippos are responsible for more human deaths in africa than any
other animal.) Alwats yielding the deep water to them, we also
always kept our tasty, pink extremities from becoming visible
targets for the crocs.
During
today's 2 hour paddle, we enjoyed the sun,
but cursed the strong headwind. The paddling was hard, and except
for a steering error on my part that put my right-hand into an
acacia thorn tree (ow), we came out unscathed. We stopped for
a short game walk-- barefoot-- and in the late afternoon, 20 minutes
upstream from the campsite, we drifted, canoes tied together,
watching the sunset with beers and cokes. Relaxed and ready to
enjoy our dinner, a lone Cape Buffalo bull rushed us at the river's
edge! Just another day in africa...
 --
June 6 --
The
moans of lions in the distance woke us just before we arose at
5:30am. Still dark, our small tent remained comfortably warm
all night-- we had left all the flaps open, and laying in the tiny
camp-beds we could gaze up through the openings at tons and tons of
stars.
Our day started with a game
walk after breakfast. Andy led (carrying his rifle) our
single-file line, and Jo brought up the rear (carrying her
rifle). The sounds of the lions set our agenda, but after 30
minutes we failed to find any of their tracks in the sand.
Instead, we came across a "honey guide"-- a bird who
chatters to get human (or animal) attention, and then flits from
tree to tree to show you the honey. Even that failed us, and
we came up empty handed with no honey. Just
500 meters from the camp and our full breakfast, Andy stopped us to
point out the lion tracks! They had walked exactly where we
had an hour earlier, their paw-prints on top of our teva-prints.
Crossing from a thicket to a clearing, there they were, 100 yards
away, roaring and tearing at a carcass! I could hear my heart
beating in my ears as we crept closer and closer to them unseen,
watching the 2 males eat. At 70 yards away, they saw us, and my
instinct made it clear to me that they didn't want us there! But
that didn't stop Andy, we kept moving closer. The lions dived
into the bush and circled us, roaring and moaning continuously. With
no vultures on the scene, Andy explained that the kill must have
just happened. Suddenly, the lions tired of us, and took
off. We walked directly to the buffalo carcass, and uneasily
checked it out, taking pictures and always watching our backs for
the return of the lions, who certainly wanted their meal back from
us meddling humans. With
our day already made, we ate a sumptuous breakfast, revisited the
carcass to see the vultures, and then hit the river. No sun
today, but less wind as well. This was our first cloudy day in
africa. The
day ended without further incident, save a near capsize of Andy
& Jo's canoe when they moved to avoid a buffalo in the
water and mutually surprised a giant hippo who had been lying behind
a reed patch. Hippos are big but they ain't slow, and they can
displace a LOT of water fast when they are surprised.
 --
June 7 -- We
ended our canoe trip quietly today, with 5 or so hours of generally
easy paddling under a mostly-cloudy sky. Our most exciting
moment came when Andy snuck up on a 7 or 8 foot croc, and nearly
moved close enough to touch it before the croc spotted him and
hurled itself back into the water. We
ate lunch on a plantless sand-dune in the river, the sun only
occasionally peeking out to warm us up. Our 3 walks in the bush
looking for game mostly fruitless, we had to be satisfied with just
watching baboons mate (constantly) and mirror our head movements and
taking photos of waterbuck and eland. Kristina
has become our expert steerer (after my accident with the acacia
thorns) and I supply the power from the front. Shoulders sore,
tomorrow morning we leave here on a charter flight to Matusadona
National Park. We'll miss the river, but our water adventure
on the Zambezi isn't over yet.  Matusadona
Water Wilderness Lodge, Lake Kariba
In
1960, the Zambezi river was dammed at the Kariba gorge, and Lake
Kariba was born. A HUGE lake, with the tops of long-dead
Mopane trees protruding from the surface, Kariba is home to the
Water Wilderness lodge that floats just outside the Matusadona
National Park. We
spent 2 nights at this unique lodge, which consists of 5 floating
cabins for guests (there were 3 couples here the first night, we
were alone the second) and a "mother ship" for meals,
fishing, and game-viewing from the rooftop deck. Kevin and
Kristine-- thanks for the tip! (BTW, Blessing was on leave...)
The major highlight for us: checking off #5 of the "Big
Five" -- Rhino.  Seriously
endangered, only around 2000 Black Rhino remain on earth, and the
Matusadona Park is home to a program that protects them. 5
baby rhino are kept in "bomas" every night, and during the
day they roam the park freely under constant guard by park
authorities. In Zimbabwe, poaching has become such a serious problem
the law is literally "shoot on sight" if poachers are
seen.
When
the rhinos reach 1000kg (about a ton), they are released into the
wild and live on their own as part of the population of about 50
rhino free in the park. Since the rhino babies are used to
having humans around, our guide walked us right up to them, and even
showed us how they could be scratched behind the back leg.
(Like elephants, rhinos are browsers and eat leaves and grasses
only... they don't threaten humans unless we threaten them first.) Rhinos
are now Kristina's favorite animal. ----------- That's
it... today (June 10) we arrived at Victoria Falls for 2 nights--
our first time at a place with a phone since TWO WEEKS AGO. And
Monday morning we head for South Africa on the Blue Train (a two day
trip). I should be able to write again in 4 days once we're in
Cape Town. Send
us news and questions! WE miss everyone (but we aren't
homesick!) Love,
J & K |