The escarpment with low clouds hanging in front of it.
Friday, April 6 (Day 21): Down the Zambezi River to Kiubo Camp
Another day of sleeping as late as we wanted (6:30 was about the limit!), followed by breakfast and preparing to go down river by boat to the next camp. We loaded our baggage into the motorboat and set out at about 8:15, not knowing what to expect. The boat ride would take nearly two hours, but some of that was spent going fairly slowly along the shore looking at the scenery and occasional wildlife.
The morning was warm but not unpleasant, with scattered clouds providing occasional shade from the sun. The boat had a canvas sun canopy over it as well, so we were able to stay in the shade. The Zimbabwe (South) bank of the river was mostly forested with occasional open grassy areas, and was completely flat for as far inland as we could see. By contrast, the Zambia (North) side was almost totally forested, but the land rose steeply a few miles inland into a long ridge or escarpment probably 1,500 to 2,00 feet above the level of the river. This provided some interesting background for scenery photographs, so we got out the camera and tried to capture some typical scenes to remember the Zambezi by.
The first photo below, taken at 8:33 AM and looking South toward Zimbabwe, gives a good feeling for how wide the river was at flood stage.
The escarpment with low clouds hanging in front of it.
A few minutes later we took the next shot of some palm trees and jungle right at the river's edge.
Lush growth along the river. Normally these trees would be well above the surface.
With the river at flood stage, what normally were
islands on either side of the main channel were now covered with water and became
shallow places. Ian and Tryson knew the river well enough to be able to follow
the channel despite the lack of usual references, and we ranged back and forth
from one side to the other or sometimes right down the middle. Below is a shot
of the scenery on the Zambia side, taken from mid-river.
Dramatic scenery on the Zambian side.
A village, or a small settlement. The corn in the background is really tall!
We couldn't resist taking pictures of the escarpment since it provided such a dramatic backdrop, especially with the morning clouds hanging low on the top of the ridge.
Really pretty!
As we cruised along at probably 25 miles per hour, several small flocks of yellow billed egrets flew by on either side of us. It looked like another Kodak moment, so we snapped off several shots of them gliding past us.
The first one is looking South toward Zimbabwe. No escarpment! The other one is obviously looking the opposite direction.
A peaceful river scene.
All the birds were heading down river. I don't know what was down there, maybe
a convention.
And one more view of the escarpment in the background with an island in the foreground.
The sun is getting higher. You can see the shadows of the clouds on the hills.
One form of wildlife the Zambezi is famous for is hippos! They seemed to be just everywhere we looked, popping their heads up to see what was making the noise of our boat and outboard motor, then quickly popping back under again, especially if we were close to them. They really seemed to like the fact that the temporarily submerged islands provided them with lots of shallow areas where they could stand on the bottom to keep from being carried downstream by the current, but still lift their heads up to breathe occasionally. It's hard to imagine using the word "cute" to describe these great, barrel-shaped short-legged fatties, but that's what we kept calling them as they would play peek-a-boo with us.
"Don't worry, Maude. They can't see us behind all this grass!"
The picture below is the first of several you'll see of a bird called the African Fish Eagle. It looks similar to our American Bald Eagle with it's dark body and white head. It is the national bird of both Zambia and Zimbabwe. We saw a number of these along the Zambezi River, and were able to get several good photographs of them.
Whose national bird?
Carmine bee-eaters. No bees.
"Look at the funny tourists in their flimsy little boat!"
Like a freight train, you don't get in their way when they're heading for deep
water!
"OK, I'll go on my Slim-Fast diet tomorrow!"
Everywhere we looked, more hippos!
We had now been on the river for nearly two hours, and were really enjoying this mode of sightseeing. There was a constant breeze from our forward motion across the water, and the river was fairly smooth. It was MUCH nicer than bouncing around in the back of a combie over ruts and bumps and pot holes. The only downside was, it was very hard to see any land animals. After our umpteenth sighting of a group of hippos, we began to ignore them in favor of scanning the shoreline for an elephant, buffalo, or even an impala. I kept expecting to see crocodiles on the banks, but Tryson told us that the only reason they lie on the banks is to warm in the sun, and it was still early in the day for that.
The boat slowed as we headed toward the shore where a large thatched roof building behind a huge ebony tree had a sign proclaiming "Kiubo Camp." This was to be our home for the next two days and three nights.
The large tree on the right is the ebony tree. Notice the tip of the hammock
at the right?
We were met by our host and hostess at Kiubo Camp, Niel and Annerita Blount. They were a young married couple from South Africa, who spoke English and Afrikaans (a strange-sounding language like nothing we had heard before). They were very gracious, yet down-to-earth and very easy to talk to. They made us feel like we were old friends by the end of the first day.
We were greeted with cold fruit juice and porters to carry our bags to our tents. As we had been told at most places we had visited, this was the end of the dry season and not too many tourists were travelling just now. We would be the only guests in the camp most of the time we were here.
During lunch we re-told our story to Niel and Annerita that it had been our intention to take extended game drives from this camp and the (flooded) next one, and we were not here to fish or lounge around the camp. Niel quickly understood, and told us he would do everything possible to get us some game sightings. The actual national park near the flooded camp could not be reached by vehicle, so there was no way we could go on game drives there on land. But, he told us, Kiubo Camp (where we now were) was close enough to the park to be inside of what is called a "Game Management Area," and there is still quite a bit of wildlife about. He said he would arrange for several extended "river safaris" by boat, telling us optimistically that frequently game on the river bank could be approached very closely by boat, as the animals didn't perceive the river to be carrying a threat to them.
He also said he would arrange for us to go on a walking safari in (or near) the national park if we liked. It was on one of these walking safaris that the young people from South Africa had said they had been charged by an elephant just a few days ago! That sounded exciting, so we agreed. The plan was agreed upon that we would take an afternoon boat ride (after tea!) that would double as a "game drive" and a sunset cruise today. Tomorrow (Saturday) we would leave the camp early in the morning and be gone all day, taking our walking safari for an hour or so in the morning followed by an all-day river game search with a break at mid day for lunch on the river bank. Sunday we could either fish or take a canoe trip in the morning, then plan on an evening (dusk and after dark) game drive on land in the Game Conservation Area around the camp.
With those plans made, we had plenty of time to "relax" after lunch until tea time. Carol and I walked around the camp a bit, and were again impressed by how clean, neat and well laid out everything was. This camp also had a small swimming pool, and the river was again the focal point. Our tent was the first one on the path from the main lounge and dining area. As the path meandered past another tent, it crossed a footbridge over a creek that ran into the river. Although probably dry much of the year, with the river at its present height the creek now had water in it of an unknown depth and was about 8 feet wide. There were numerous butterflies flitting in and out of the shadows of the trees, and just like in the Gorilla forest of Uganda we were able to capture one on film.
Camp wildlife.
Monitor lizard on the run. At right, a close shot of his head in the shade.