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.

Kanyemba and the wedding

Kanyemba has about 12 chalets that sleep between 2 and 6 people and is full catering. All they are of traditional design with pole beams and thatched roofs. All the beds have mosquito nets and a nice bathroom with showers and hot and cold running water. All if this located about 10 meters off the Zambezi River. 

There is a bar and dining area where some meals are served inside (well under the shelter but not closed walls, and some outside under the stars. The food was generally a fixed menu (you cannot just run down to Whole Foods) but was excellent.

There is also a tented camp in an island immediately in front of Kanyemba and this was the location for the actual wedding ceremony. The main party stayed on the island and there were boats to shuttle people back and forth.

I think there were about 80 guests for the wedding with some staying in different camps a couple of kilometers away. People had traveled from the USA (us three) Australia, South Africa, and the UK as well as Zimbabwe and of course Zambia. There were also 4 generations represented with Tanya’s grandmother (92 I think, and baby Louise at about 3 months)

Most of the guests arrived during the day on Friday and everyone pitched in to help with the preparations. While the wedding ceremony was on the island the reception was back at the main camp and dining area.

The island has many permanent inhabitants but no permanent people. The main inhabitants are some elephants and they have their views about the invasion of people. While we were carrying over some of the flowers etc for the ceremony one older gray gentleman announced his displeasure and was a little agitated for a few minutes. I think they figured out that the invasion was temporary but the day after the wedding they had pushed over some trees where photos were take and generally announced their displeasure.

The wedding venue is spectacular with views out over the Zambezi and some wetlands in the foreground. 

All the decorations were ferried over in small boats during the day and the wedding was at 4pm. 

 Herman, The bride's dad with his tux hanging from his shirt.

 

All went according to plan and then the guests were ferried back to the main camp for drinks appetizers and soon a delicious dinner that included roast lamb, and some delicious rare roast beef all from Tanya’s family farm. 

Ryan’s Mom had made the cake and decorated it beautifully with flowers made of icing sugar and hand decorated. I know that took a huge amount of time and skill.

The celebrations went on until about 3.30am. There were certainly some walking wounded in the morning but all had a fantastic time.