Ahhhh! The luxury of sleeping in! In the last chapter I mentioned that these camps seemed to be intended as a place where visitors could kick back and relax. This was reinforced by the fact that breakfast was served at 8:00. No dawn game drives or other early morning activities.

During our leisurely breakfast (another full English affair of eggs or omelets to order, meat, bread, marmalade, etc.) we made leisurely plans to take a leisurely canoe trip down the river. My repetition of the adverb in the previous sentence is intentional. Linda fumed a bit about no animal viewing opportunities, but again there was nothing anyone could do about the flooded river, so she decided any activity was better than sitting in the tent all day. She agreed to go only if she and Les were in separate canoes! Les seemed ambivalent, but went along.

Preparations for the canoe trip were, again, leisurely. Ian and another staff member gathered up three canoes from the half dozen or so tied on the river bank, tethered them to the camp motorboat, loaded up the four of us tourists and a couple of native staffers, and off we went. We headed up river, planning to land on the upstream tip of the long island in front of the camp. From there we would embark in our canoes and paddle or drift down the South (Zimbabwe) side of the island for about two hours. This would cover quite a few miles, as the current was running fast in the flooded river. (Carol has just pointed out that in her notes the island is clearly indicated to be 9 km long. I had missed that.)

Linda and Ian were to be in the lead canoe, Carol and I behind them in a canoe by ourselves, with Les and a native staff member named Morad bringing up the rear. Our briefing consisted of a warning to steer well clear of any hippos we saw, and to take our time as there was no particular hurry. (The operative word here is: Leisurely!) The journey itself was the objective, not the reaching of a destination. Below you can see the canoes as we prepared to set out.

Les and Carol in the center, with Ian behind Carol. Morad, who rode in a canoe with Les, is behind Les.

Linda's participation in this event was somewhat reluctant, but she expressed the hope that we might see something that would be interesting. Her expression below is probably indicative of her level of excitement.

"Oh, happy day! Why am I doing this?"

We set out at 10:20. The day was hot and sunny, but there was a steady breeze blowing upriver preventing conditions from being too oppressive. I was happy to have a hat for sun protection as Carol and I backed our canoe away from land and prepared to head out into the current. I had not put on any sunscreen, thinking that the exposure I'd had over the past several weeks ought to prevent my arms and legs from burning. The hat would protect my head and neck. As I took my first few paddle strokes and switched the paddle from one hand to the other, the handle of the paddle caught under the brim of my hat and flipped it off into the water! I tried to paddle quickly back to where it was disappearing, but before I could stop our forward momentum and get back to it, it was out of sight in the muddy river. That was the end of my $3 K-Mart hat! I declared it sacrificed to the river, and thought bleakly that some crocodile or hippo might be wearing it in a photograph a tourist might take in future weeks. Ian seemed concerned about the loss, but I quickly brushed it aside, telling him how inexpensive the hat was. My face and neck would just have to survive the sun!

We paddled along for an hour or so, occasionally seeing some hippos far off in the river. They would appear as little black spots that would remain visible for about ten seconds or so and then disappear again. Actually, when seen up close the spots were almost pink. We were looking at their ears, eyes and nostrils as they would put their heads up to breathe. There was no opportunity for a picture.

Several times we edged in very close to the island shore. There were several huts on the island and plots of corn growing. Occasionally we would see some people on the land, and once or twice noticed a dugout canoe tied up on the bank. Mostly, however, we had the entire river to ourselves. After nearly an hour and a half we realized that we ought to take some pictures to remember the canoe trip by, so we carefully brought out the camera. I wasn't about to sacrifice THAT to the river! Below you can see us happily paddling along!

Ian and Linda cruising past the island.

 
Our only decent shot of Ian. At right, Linda is trying hard to spot some animals. Seems to be enjoying the ride after all.

Les and Morad going the wrong way! No wonder Linda didn't want to be in the same canoe! (Actually they were on the other side of us.)


Les is smart! His hat has a string to tie it on!

 
Hatless John with sunburned face. At right, Carol is obviously enjoying the canoe ride!

Nearly two hours after setting out we saw the camp motorboat appear around the fast-approaching end of the island. We paddled toward it and got out of the current in the lee of the island's end. Getting ourselves and our minimal baggage (mainly camera and drinking water) out of the canoes and into the boat was accomplished without incident, and after securing the canoes to the boat, we motored back up stream. We took the picture below of an immense baobab tree, and I thought again that I'd like to bring a seed or rooted cutting back to Texas to see if it would grow there.

We were back at the camp in time for lunch at about 1:00, followed by…siesta? Our afternoon visit to a local village wasn't scheduled until after the heat of the day, and after tea, which was served at 4:00 PM! Definitely a "leisurely" day!

It would have been difficult to take a nap after lunch because of the heat, but some of us tried. There wasn't much breeze in the camp, and the tents were quite warm. After lying on the bed for a while, I decided to try sitting under the thatch roof of the lounge beside the river. At least there were ceiling fans there to create some airflow. I took the camera and a paperback book with me and read. Carol noticed, looking upriver, that the water flowing into the Zambezi from the Kafue was a much darker brown than the main current. She took a picture of it, not knowing if the camera would pick up the difference. It really did, as you can see below.

Kafue, on right, flowing into the Zambezi. Is it clearer, or just a different color of muddy?

Tea was served promptly at 4:00 PM. The main dish was a fruit cobbler that was delicious. Everyone gathered for tea, and it was about then that a motor boat from down river arrived with a group of six or seven young adults from South Africa who had been staying at the Kiubo camp where we would be going the next day. They were happily chatting and laughing as they walked up to the lounge from the boat landing, then everyone introduced himself and we continued with tea. The new arrivals were relaxed and somewhat sunburned, but a few of them were soon in the swimming pool and just generally having a good time. They were at the end of their holiday and would soon be heading back to South Africa.

One of the activities they had tried was fishing for tiger fish in the river. There was quite a bit of banter and "trash talking" about who the champion fisher-persons were. It had developed into a contest between the guys and the girls, and the girls were way ahead! There would be time this evening for one more excursion out on the river to fish, and the guys were bragging mightily about how they had been holding back, but NOW they'd show the girls how to catch fish! I'll update you on the results later.

One of them told of an exciting moment when they had been on a "walking safari" and had been charged by an elephant. We were quite impressed, as it sounded like it could have been a terrifying thing. When we met their local (native) guide later at Kiubo Camp, who would spend the next two days with us, he made light of the event, saying it had been a "false charge." OK, fine. But if you don't know the difference it could still be terrifying!

The guide's name was Tryson. Like the guides we had met in Kenya and Tanzania (Mrosso and Willie), Tryson was articulate and obviously very knowledgeable about local birds and animals. We'll show you a picture of him in a bit.

At about 5:20 PM, the level of activity had settled down and I was again sitting in the open air lounge and reading, when one of the young women from South Africa called me over to look past the railing down at the ground near the river bank. There was a monitor lizard, about two feet long! I was able to get Carol and the camera over there before it ambled off into the weeds. Here's what it looked like.

Too bad there is no size reference. He was big enough that I was glad I was several feet above him!

"See you later, Monitor."

I was able to visit with Gretta (the lady recently hired to manage the Kulefu Camp) a little, and learned that she was a native of Amsterdam, but spoke several European languages fluently including English with a British accent. She was looking forward to learning the local Zambian languages and dialects.

Just a few minutes after we saw the monitor lizard, Gretta told us it was time to go if we wanted to visit the local village.

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Village life in Zambia along the Zambezi River.