The Lower Zambezi: Nature's Playground

THE LOWER ZAMBEZI…

Nature's Playground

Writer: Sarah Kingdom Photography: Royal Zambezi Lodge

The Lower Zambezi National Park is located in southern Zambia, with the Zambezi River forming the boundary between Zambia and Zimbabwe. This is an area known for its abundant wildlife, with everything from herds of elephant to fish eagles and everything in between. The river itself is home to hippos and crocodiles and the coveted tiger fish. To the north of the 4092 square-kilometre park is the steep and rugged Zambezi Escarpment.

Most visitors arrive by boat or light aircraft. However, not having either of those means of transport at our disposal, we decided to drive. Five hours after leaving Lusaka, three of which were spent on dirt road, we reached Baines’ River Camp. A slight ‘issue’ with dirty fuel and a clogged fuel filter had slowed us down just long enough for me to, single-handedly, eat all the ‘snacks’ I had packed for our road trip…something I was to regret deeply when we arrived at camp to be greeted with a bountiful and delicious lunch! Game Management Area (GMA), with spectacular views over the Zambezi. Named after Thomas Baines, the famous 19thcentury artist and explorer, this small and intimate lodge really captures the feel of a bygone era with its classic colonial-style buildings and casual elegance.

Straight after lunch we were off onto the river and it was wonderful to reconnect with all the sights, sounds and smells of the bush around us. Our boat ride took us downstream into the national park, past elephants with babies and pods of hippos, to the spot where our canoes were ready and waiting on the river bank. Leaving the main river, we headed off down a channel fringed with overhanging jackalberry and Natal mahogany trees. We would re-join the main river after seven kilometres. This was some of the easiest canoeing I’ve ever done. I had paddled for all of five minutes when our guide, Luke, informed me that I could put down my paddle, as he would steer and the current would carry us through the channel…so much for getting in any exercise to burn off all those ‘car snacks’ and enormous lunch! We spent a tranquil afternoon drifting downriver, past banks teeming with birdlife, stopping briefly on an island for a drink and to watch the sun go down on our first evening in this beautiful park. Just as the sun was setting, we heard the hum of an aeroplane approaching, and were perfectly positioned to see the regular patrol flight of the Conservation Lower Zambezi (CLZ) ‘plane passing directly over our heads. The park is home to lion, hippo and wild dog, who are all listed as ‘Vulnerable’ or ‘Endangered’ under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a result of poaching and the illegal trade in wildlife products. To counteract this, CLZ, a non-profit NGO (non-governmental organisation), was set up in 1994 to work to preserve the wildlife in the national park and GMA (a total area of approximately 9,000 square kilometres). CLZ provides technical advice and support to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), administers an environmental education programme targeting over 2,500 young scholars a year, and runs a community support programme focusing on human/wildlife conflict mitigation in the neighbouring GMA. After 20 years of working with local wildlife authorities in the Lower Zambezi valley, CLZ is now one of the oldest, most well-established and well-recognised conservation organisations in Zambia.

In the morning we awoke to a river as smooth and shimmering as shot silk, stretching out in front of us across to the

opposite bank. Mist was rising off the water and the air was crisp as we set off in the boat, rugged up in blankets. 20 minutes and 30 kilometres later we reached the park boundary, stopping briefly while our driver went to sort out entry formalities. A little while later we disembarked from the boat and into our waiting vehicle, setting off for an early morning game drive.

Within minutes we heard the roar of a lion and saw its footprints on the sandy road. Around the bend we heard baboons raising an alarm call, warning the rest of the troop of a leopard in the thicket. Carrying on we found, in quick succession, the spoor of hyena and then wild dog… we knew we were really back in the bush.

A myriad of birds surrounded us; 378 species have been recorded in the park. Red-billed and yellow-billed hornbills swooped through the trees like clowns with their oversized beaks, black crakes flitted on the river bank, a woolly-necked stork preened itself in the shallows, and one of my personal favourites, ground hornbills, strode across the landscape as if heading to an important meeting. Luke pointed out what was new to me, but apparently not uncommon locally, a pair of collared palm thrushes.

Rounding the bend in a dry riverbed, we stumbled upon a lioness sleeping in the deep wheel ruts left behind in the sand by previous vehicles. The guides knew her and said she had two young cubs that she must have hidden out of sight nearby. We watched and waited for some time, but aside from some tiny lion footprints in the sand, we didn’t see a trace of the babies; clearly they were obeying mum’s orders to stay out of sight.

Spotting some vultures swirling high in the sky we headed in their direction, eventually reaching the spot on which they seemed to be concentrating. The trees were weighed down by lappet-faced and white-backed vultures, but we could find no trace of any fresh kill. We did however find the ripe-smelling, month-old carcass of an elephant, rather curiously alongside an equally desiccated crocodile carcass. Luke filled us in on the story. Apparently, a month earlier, the elephant had died of natural causes. The crocodile, attracted by the promise of a feed, had walked from the river to feast on the elephant meat, only to meet his own fate in the jaws of a leopard.

The rest of our morning was a journey through the picturesque riverine landscape of ebonies, leadwoods, acacias and fig trees, past Natal mahoganies, ilala palms, winterthorns and battle-scarred baobabs, until we reached an oxbow lake, luminously green with water hyacinth, where we stopped for a bush breakfast. We were watched by a pod of bobbing hippos and we, in turn, watched an old, lone buffalo chomping his way morosely through mouthfuls of the unappetising water hyacinth.

Saying goodbye to Baines’ River Lodge we shifted a little downstream, closer to the park gate, and took up residence at Royal Zambezi Lodge, a picturesque, thatched lodge situated at one of the broadest points of the river. Setting out from the lodge, a sedate afternoon boat cruise soon turned into an unexpected game-viewing opportunity: we found seven lions resting on the river bank; five sub-adult males and two young females lazing on the banks of the Zambezi. Two of the young males lay right on the edge of the overhanging river bank, watching us intently, not remotely shy or timid. These were a group, the guides told us, who had swum across the river from Zimbabwe, looking to claim new territory.

Worn out by the ‘rigours’ of safari life, I decided to take the next day off from boats, vehicles and early morning wake-up calls. Waking at 5.30am, just long enough to push my husband out of the door and off on a fishing expedition, I allowed myself a sleep-in, a cup of tea in bed and a leisurely But a day of relaxing did not mean a day devoid of wildlife. Whilst I may have decided not to go to the animals, that did not stop them coming to me! A precocious young vervet monkey staged an ambush, helping itself to my unattended bread roll while I was distracted at lunch. After lunch, I retired for a nap on the daybed located on our private verandah that jutted out over the wide river bank. An enormous monitor lizard surprised me by suddenly appearing from underneath the verandah. Not remotely intimidated by me, it took its time thoroughly investigating the area before ambling off. Once ensconced on the daybed I had a rather pleasant nap, only stirring to check what was making the rustling noises beneath the deck. This turned out to be two huge extended families of warthogs, with three large elephants close by. As the sun went down I watched three malevolent-looking crocodiles ‘fishing’ in the river in front of our room, lying motionless in the water with their mouths slightly open, waiting for a snack to simply swim into their welcoming jaws.

Our last night in the Lower Zambezi was definitely one to remember. Driving a short distance downstream from the lodge, we arrived in a clearing where a long, lantern- lit table was set up for a bush dinner under a full moon, the sky above us like a blanket of shimmering stars. Lions roared across the water and we were serenaded by an ‘African choir’ of lodge staff. Half way through dinner we heard splashing behind us in the water and turning saw a lone elephant wading across the river, heading our way, a silvery stream of reflected moonlight in its wake— I had visions of diners scattering in all directions. But the elephant reached a deep channel in the river and disappeared under water. Resurfacing, he changed direction, heading downstream and leaving our dinner undisturbed. It was a magical end to a magical trip.