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Post by onlyMark on Jan 4, 2017 15:47:11 GMT
Swimming with dolphins is old hat now. Nothing too dangerous about it. But what about being in a small boat surrounded by crocodiles and hippos? Knowing one small upset will result in you communing in their natural environment? We decided to have a couple of nights on the Zambezi River near to the Lower Zambezi National Park. Rather than do the usual game drive sort of thing I persuaded the rest of the family to try something a little unusual. I don't think they realised what it entailed. I must admit I might have skimmed over the dangers a little. Or maybe a lot. Especially with two teenage girls who are frightened of moths and flies. Fortunately they are good strong swimmers otherwise I wouldn't have even considered it. Sometimes you need to be taken outside your comfort zone to appreciate life a little more. We set off from Lusaka along the main road that travels south to the border with Zimbabwe. At one point there are a series of bends renown amongst the truck drivers. They have named each bend for easy reference to each other. In a car they aren't really much of anything at all, but in a beat up overloaded African truck, they can be quite different. It didn't take long to notice a few who have had brake problems –
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 4, 2017 15:48:19 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 4, 2017 15:52:42 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 4, 2017 15:54:36 GMT
A guide was with us in his own canoe and we split up our provisions, in cool boxes, between us. Provisions consisted of sandwiches each, crisps, chocolate, biscuits and cola zero. We had a bit of water as well just to show some responsibility. And an apple. Even though this was to be the highlight of the short break I was a little reluctant to take too many photos. Partially so I didn't spend all my time looking at everything through a lens, but partially so I didn't drop the bloody thing over the side, nor get it wet. I've done this type of canoeing enough to be comfortable with it. It may not be technically too correct but for a layman like me I split the two types into Canadian type canoeing and kayaking. I've been fortunate to do enough kayaking to be proficient and not overwhelmed, especially in some African rivers and a spell of a few days in New Zealand, the other type, this type, I have done less but enough to keep my hand (paddle?) in. Mrs M and the daughters have never. So I took the daughter who seemed the most scared and after a small familiarisation for Mrs M in some placid water (bless 'er, she adapts to most things), we set off. Hang on a sec, before we did set off the guide gave us a safety talk. It consisted of saying not to get between a hippo and deep water, which is usually where they want to go. If you do fall in, hold onto the canoe and the rest of us will save you. If you fall in near to, or are tipped in by, a hippo, swim away from the canoe as the hippo will go for the largest object. This being the green canoe. It wasn't until later I realised no mention was made of the crocodiles and what to do with them. Yikes. We set off in line astern. This lasted for all of twenty metres until the wind kept catching the canoes and trying to swing them away. Sometimes some hard paddling was necessary to keep more or less straight. I also have been 'blessed' to have a wife and daughters who don't seem to know left from right. If I say to paddle forwards on the left there is either a long hesitation while they work it out or an immediate reaction but on the right/wrong side. No wonder I now have a strained muscle in my shoulder trying to compensate. There was a fair old current as well –
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 4, 2017 15:55:32 GMT
A pod of hippos were close by after not too long at all – Then the crocs on the banks. There were probably some in the water as well nearby but they remained elusive – Another group/pod/whatever you call them, of hippos ten to twenty metres away – We ended up seeing more hippos than you could shake a stick at. At one point we had to backpaddle 'with alacrity' because one had popped up just in front of my canoe. Daughter let out a scream as she was quite a lot closer to it than I was. That was about what it was like all the time on the river. Periods of drifting down, periods of battling a head and side wind, periods of hoping the flaming hippos would let us sneak past without reacting, periods of peace and calm shattered by the loud 'huff' of a rising hippo nearby. The crocodiles never seemed to come to the party and probably hung around in the kitchen out of the way, drinking all the beer and gossiping. Actually I bet the hippos scared most of them off.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 4, 2017 15:58:46 GMT
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 4, 2017 16:00:19 GMT
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Post by bjd on Jan 4, 2017 16:05:19 GMT
Exciting, but better you than me. I like the scenery and the colours but the hippos and crocodiles -- not so much.
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Post by mossie on Jan 4, 2017 20:39:02 GMT
I would be clinging on to the bar for dear life, the whole period of my short stay, do they have Guinness?
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Post by amboseli on Jan 4, 2017 20:56:17 GMT
Wow, I'd love to do that one day. I do like a bit of tension.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2017 22:18:01 GMT
You have really outdone yourself this time, Mark, but using your family as croc bait may have been a bit extreme. However, since everybody survived, I guess it's okay and the pictures are really outstanding once again. The opening scene of the truck cadavers is an eye opener, but the first white truck must have been a very recent accident because I am surprised that it is not already stripped to skeletal remains. We know how African can recycle absolutely everything.
I stayed in a luxury tent like you show in the Massai Mara reserve in Kenya, but that one is better protected. When I stayed in such a place with my parents, there was just a tin roof over the canvas tent part and baboons would amuse themselves by suddenly jumping on the roof in the middle of the night with a racket to raise the dead. Did not make for a very calm night!
Those water lizards are very impressive. They look almost as big as the komodo dragons of Indonesia. I would not try to pet one. even though their claws are not quite as scary as the komodos.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 4, 2017 22:40:55 GMT
Push over, Mossie -- there's enough room at that bar for both of us. Deepest admiration for your daughters & wife, Mark. No way in hell I would have gotten in one of those dinky boats nor even close to the water, for that matter. Beautiful photos and super interesting report, though.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 5, 2017 7:27:31 GMT
Mossie, no Guinness, no sorry. But you "know it's good for you". Thinking about it, you can get it in a certain pub in Lusaka but that's about it. There are local bottled beers - or more accurately, lagers, and there is a locally fermented illegal gut rot, but I'm sure we'd find you something to prop the bar up with.
amboseli, try it one day. But keep your balance. Take bjd with you. Bixa and Mossie can stay in the speed boat.
k2, no doubt if I go back down that road again the white truck with just be a pile of old metal. There were a few baboons in and around the camp but the staff seem to keep them well away from the visitors. For good reason usually, the thieving little shits (the baboons, not the staff).
bixa, you and mossie would probably not be the only ones at the bar. There were several families there at the same time as us. We noticed maybe one member would go off and 'do stuff' whilst the rest ate, swam, hung around in the bar relaxing etc.
I doubt I'll be doing anything quite as adventurous for some time, the thing we would like to do are some walking safaris, but they need a bit of organising and time to do them. In saying that though, Mrs M and I may well go back to the Zambezi and do a canoe trip for a couple of days or more rather than just for a day. Overnighting on the banks in tents and with meals cooked etc.
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Post by bjd on Jan 5, 2017 11:54:52 GMT
Well, I do know how to paddle a canoe -- did so for the last time 2 years ago in Canada. The only problem is the relative lack of strength in my arms, so whoever was behind me had to switch sides from time to time so that we could continue in a straight line.
The lodge looks nice. I stayed in a less fancy one in Masai Mara but it was something I really liked. No big lizards around though.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 5, 2017 13:24:02 GMT
My daughters don't have the arm strength of The Rock either. Plus it was advantageous to me to swap round regularly though I do prefer paddling to the left.
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 6, 2017 10:38:45 GMT
So good...........
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Post by tod2 on Jan 7, 2017 10:54:32 GMT
Mark - What a wonderful adventure! I'm with Bixa and Mossie....no way Jose` would you get me in one of those canoes! I think you got away with loads of luck on your side. Hippos as we all know are not to be trifled with. One could have come up under a canoe and once you are in the water it would snap you in half. Crocs are far more pleasant to come across in the water. On land -NO! Well, it all turned out great for you, with lots the girls can tell the friends back at school.
I think the photos of the camp/lodge show well kept grounds. Maybe not in the style of an English motorhome/camp ground, but no litter, grass not overgrown, and buildings in a fair shape. I can see some thatching to be done in the future but that shouldn't be a problem.
I was shocked at the debris of vehicles on the roadside! Too much power under the bonnet, too little skill in handling it, and probably too much texting while driving. That scrap would be dismantled and taken to the scrap yard here - lots of value there.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 7, 2017 13:56:52 GMT
The trucks have probably all gone by now.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 8, 2017 8:37:35 GMT
The magnificent Monitor Lizard - Other names for it are Liguaan which comes from the French l'iguane: the Iguana, through Dutch and Afrikaans the name is Likkewaan, pronounced Lik-a-Varn. As far as I know they are protected but still being caught by Witch doctors for medicinal ingredients.
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Post by onlyMark on Jan 8, 2017 9:08:08 GMT
Thanks for the name. There is still a big thing about traditional medicine and witch doctors here so I suppose those lizards do go missing from time to time.
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