canoeing on the lower zambezi

this past weekend (after my rather impromptu day off due to the riots at unza) myself and 7 other people went on an adventure to the lower zambezi. the zambezi is a river that starts in angola, travels through zambia, zimbabwe and mozambique until it reaches the ocean (or at least, that is what i remember from the bradt guide). it is a huge river that shapes a lot of zambia’s landscape. we decided to check it out for ourselves, including trying to see some of the game famous for living in and around it.

we set off saturday morning on a bus to a town called chirundu. despite our car getting in a minor accident on the way to the bus station we arrived and waited for about an hour for the bus to fill up. we arrived in chirundu, which is on the border between zambia and zimbabwe to be greeted by about ten black market money changers (this is my new technical term for them). the zimbabwean currency is experiencing insane inflation (as it has for the last number of years) and exchange rates change multiple times per day. we were given some old notes that expired (again because the value changes so quickly notes have to be increased frequently). i was given two 500 000 bills for free. i now carry around a million dollars in my wallet.

we found two taxis that could take us the rest of the way to our campsite. unfortunately the pontoon we were supposed to take across the kafue river (which later joins the zambezi) had broken down, so we sat on the side of the riverbank while it was being fixed. we finally arrived at our lodge, kiambi, in the afternoon and promptly sat on the ground outside of our tents and passed around two beers between 8 people. feeling happy to be out of the city, we further relaxed and stared out at the beautiful river. the night turned a bit chaotic when some men came to the campground bar and began buying us all drinks for the evening. i retired at 1030, feeling like i had certainly consumed my fair share of red wine and meat from the braai (bbq).

the next morning we all awoke to the sun and got ready for our day of canoeing on the river. after getting a very scary safety talk, including what to do if a hippo attacks your canoe (fyi you swim away from your canoe and leave all of your belongings, apparently they are threatened by the size of the canoe, and not who is in it. however, in swimming away, be sure to avoid the crocs when getting to shore….). thankfully, the scare tactics worked and no one had any accidents. while canoeing we saw hippos, crocodiles, elephants and lots of birds. the scenery was also incredibly beautiful, very lush and you could see mountains in the background. every once in awhile i had to remind myself how possible the same scenery could be found in canada (obviously minus the elephants). by the end of the day my arms were killing me from canoeing and i was quite tired/slightly sunstroked. but the day was wonderful and i quickly recovered by drinking a coke and having a semi-warm shower.

that evening we set out on the difficult task of trying to create a meal from the random assortment of canned food we had brought and the lack of cooking gear. thankfully our neighbours in the campground were quite lovely and lent us pots, plates and spoons. we created quite a meal, finished up the wine we had brought and played camp games (not even initiated by me). eventually we just all lay down and stared at the stars, half asleep.

all in all, the weekend was amazing and i thoroughly enjoyed myself. it is always great to do something new and exciting, particularly when it scares you but ends up being completely safe. i can now  say that i have canoed with wild crocs and hippos… pretty amazing.