Viewing the animals and canoeing on the Zambezi

Included in the room rates is a choice of short walking safaris (dependent on seasons and the length of the grass), evening “booze cruises” on the river and canoeing safaris. We joined the evening cruises on Friday and Sunday evenings and went out in Ryan’s boat on the Thursday evening. The organized cruise goes in a circle around the island that is about 5km long, and there is always a variety of game to view, and how close you get is a matter of luck..

In spite of our better judgment four of us decided we would go on the canoeing trip that on the morning after the wedding

The guided canoeing trip left at 06.30 with a planned duration of about 2.5 hours.

The canoes are towed behind a boat up stream about 8km to an island and then we drifted/ paddled downstream, mostly through wetlands looking at birds, impala, crocs, elephants and hippo. Some were as close as about 10 meters. 

Everything went well in the beginning, but we had a late start and for the last 45 minutes or so we battled winds that kept pushing us sideways and into the reeds and grass. Al shared the boat with our very knowledgeable guide Stafford and Mary Anne and I was with her partner Costa, a friend of the groom’s parents.

It was a unique and thought provoking experience. You are essentially at nature’s pleasure. Crocs are not generally problem (when they are it is a BIG problem! but hippo are large, remarkably agile and can spoil your day in a big hurry. Certainly true in a canoe, and to mostly the same extent in a larger boat, as we discovered the following week at Hippo Lodge. In general animals in the wild only react when surprised, or when they are hungry. With sufficient notice of your presence they would rather get out of the way as we saw time after time. Having said all of that the adrenalin gets going as you drift within 10 meters of them as they control the stage.

After a couple of hours I saw Stafford on the radio coordinating our pick up and we were back in camp for a late breakfast and to observe the walking wounded from the previous evening’s revelries.

 Inside an anthill that had partially collapsed in the river. Highly structured including multi level "parking" below left!

Sunday evening we all took the last “booze cruise” in a couple of boats and enjoyed seeing more animals in their natural environment. 

Elephant are truly incredible animals and large but graceful. Why anyone would want to shoot one is beyond my imagination.