Adolf and Sonja have just returned from a Private ZMa16 Zambia & Malawi Livingstone Trail and Sonja had the below to share, in her own words, after her first trip down the Mighty Zambezi and Kafue Rivers.

Our first big adventure on this tour was a canoe trip on the Kafue and Zambezi River. Just arrived at the Gwabi River Lodge each of us got a white bucket to put the valuables in we wanted to take with us in the canoe the next day. After a leisurely breakfast at the lodge and the safety briefing of our river guide we were ready to go! The first 6 km on the smaller Kafue River was a good training to get used to the canoe before we entered the mighty Zambezi! Africa’s 4th largest River.

On the canoe, you just glide by; we passed a herd of elephant including babies drinking quietly by the bank. We were no more than 15 metres away and yet the elephant was not agitated or disturbed. Further down the river, between a sand bank and the bank, we surprised a group of impala. The beauty of these antelopes running a few feet away from us in the water is a memory which will stick in your mind for some time.

 

We knew that we would encounter hippos all along our route, both on the river and the land. The Lower Zambezi National Park is particularly abundant with these amazing beasts. But we did not expect to witness such a spectacular scene. As we were paddling quietly on the mighty Zambezi, once in a sudden a big hippo male started to bulldoze through the water; just 10 metres away from our canoes. He looked quite over excited about something we could not see instantly. But after a while we could see, that another big male was following him trying to chase the intruder away from his females and the youngster. Both of them submerged and continued their race under water. You could only see some disturbance on the surface of the water, just guessing were they could appear next. Luckily all the river guides know the Zambezi like the palm of their hands. That’s why we could watch this impressive scenery from a safe distance but still close enough. What an exciting and thrilling sighting.

 

We continued our paddling for the last few kilometres of the day, accompanied by African fish eagle and plenty of kingfishers, before we reached Elephant Bone Island where we set up our wild camp for the night.