The day before leaving for home, after a two and half week overland tour we decided to end our trip with a one day canoe safari with Shearwater Adventures on the Upper Zambezi just above Victoria Falls. The area included in the "Upper Zambezi" stretches from Kazangula (on the Botswana border) to Victoria falls, approximately 80 kilometres away.
Our trip started by leaving our campsite at 6:45 to the meeting place at the Shearwater offices in Victoria Falls. Going past the Elephant Hills Hotel, we were surprised to see a large herd of Cape Buffalo grazing in the veld just underneath the hotel. These were the first Cape Buffalo that we have seen on the trip and this, in the last place we expected to see them. Initially coming up to them, we thought it was a big group of cattle. This was a good start to our day!
We met our guides and the rest of the group going with us at Shearwater's office in Victoria Falls at 7:00. A specially adapted (for game viewing) Landrover 110 Defender with a trailer containing the Canadian canoes took us through the Zambezi National Park for an early game viewing drive to Shearwater's Zambezi River camp. This is a semi permanent camp situated under a grove of well-established ebony trees on the banks of the Zambezi river. Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management only allow semi-permanent structures to be erected in order to lower the impact on the environment.
At the Zambezi River camp we had some coffee and tea while we waited for our breakfast. This was started with cereal and fresh fruit salad followed by a full English breakfast with sausages (beef and pork), bacon, scrambled eggs, baked beans and toast. This was served in a lovely seating area underneath the ebony trees - in a style suitable for a good hotel.
After breakfast and before starting out, the day's activities and safety procedures were explained to us by the main guide, Brian. Again we heard that if a hippo by chance surfaces underneath your canoe and tips the canoe over, you swim as fast as you can in the other direction. Hippos would apparently rather go for the larger canoe than you, so if you stay with the canoe, you might get in the way.
The first part of the trip was done in Canadian canoes, with two people and a paddler on board. A leisurely pace was followed visiting small islands and little coves on the way. The main guides lead the way in their kayaks, scouting for hippos as we went along. Apparently the noise of banging ones paddle against the kayak, make submerged hippos surface, which gives one's paddler the que get you out of there as fast as possible.
During our morning trip we saw a variety of wildlife and birds including a large group of African Skimmers. Guides pointed out plants, birds and other facts about the river which made the morning interesting but at the same time relaxing. They also pointed out large groups of hippos which we admired from afar - apparently groups of hippos stay more or less in the same part of the river and the guides know where these spots are. Later, just before tea, after the main guides and some canoes in our party have passed a particular spot in the river (close to the banks) my companion and one of the other paddlers noticed a very large hippo surface just next to us. The paddler was trying to tell the main guide about the hippo but could only get out "Brian uh - uh, Brian uh- uh" but wasn't very successful. When at last the hippo was noticed by all the paddlers there were a flurry of activity to try and get out of there as quickly as possible.
At around 11:00 we stopped for some tea, coffee and biscuits in a beautiful little cove. The water here was very clear and we were told that it was save to swim in the clear water because one could easily see a crocodile approaching. Most people had a lovely swim while the Canadian canoe paddlers tried paddling in the kayaks (balancing is not the easy) to great applause from everybody, especially when tipping them.
After another 1.5 hours on the river we stopped for a lunch of rolls, cold chicken/beef, salad and cold orange cordial. On the second part of the canoe safari we switched to 'Crocadil' inflatables, left our paddlers and learned to manoeuvre these boats ourselves in pairs. The person in front just rows while the one in the back uses big loops (made with the paddle) to steer the craft. After getting used to the craft we went through some grade 1 rapids, which was a lot of fun. During this part of the trip we mostly paddled on the Zambian side of the river and saw a large herd of elephants. These beasts were spooked by something (not us) and were trumpeting and moving rapidly from the island to the mainland.
After paddling through some small channels, which were quite low at this time of year we reached the end of our journey just above Victoria Falls. We carried our 'Crocadil' inflatables out of the water while we waited for the vehicle to come and pick us up. A one day canoe safari presents the visitor with picturesque islands, open waterways, small hidden channels, small grade 1 rapids and amazing wildlife!
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