A loud knocking at 5.45am brought us both out of a fitful snooze. Our tea and coffee had arrived! We woke up, dressed and walked down to the lodge for breakfast. The sun was coming up and the views of the Zambezi were stunning. The hippo were still groaning away to each other and the baboons were stirring.
After toast and marmite, we jumped into the Land Rover with out two trusty guides, Brian and Basaka, and began our morning game drive. The temperatures are low in the mornings and evenings, so we had our ponchos on to keep us warm.
We had a very good five hour drive seeing a large number of hippo, elephant, gazelle, water buck, impala, baboons and a variety of bird and plant life. We stopped close to the Zambezi for a cup of tea and coffee. The hippo were happy to chill out next to us as a group of elephants walked on by.
On the way back to the lodge, Brian spotted a couple of young male lions, sitting in some scrub. Brian, decided to drive through some scrub to get closer. We sat watching each other for a while. Suddenly one of the lions became alert. A group of water buck had wandered close by and had not seen the lions. For a few minutes it looked like there might be some action. However, the water buck caught a wiff of the lions and left the area pronto.
We arrived back at the lodge rested and then lunched with the other guests.
At three pm, we met our guides as well as Alexandra and her mother, Natasha. We had all agreed to kayak down the Zambezi.
We met our guides down at the quay. Fiona and I and our guide in one, Alexandra her mother and another guide in the other. We floated down the Zambezi for a couple of hours in complete silence, surrounded by everything that Zambia can show. It was weird to think we were floating on top of Hippo and Crocodile. We would see then both in front of us. They would disappear from viedw only 10 metres in front and then reappear behind. In places the water was very shallow but still they avoided us.
After a few hours we turned into a small confluence. Immediately was passed stunningly coloured kingfishers, birds of all shapes, colours and size, crocs from the very smallest to the very largest, buffalo, elephant, hippo (especially a local named Bob) and his mate and baboons and monkeys galore.
After three hours we moored up and were met by the Land Rover and a few other guests. We congregated on the river bank for wine. After 15 minutes, our boat arrived to speed us back to the lodge. Only Fiona and I boated back. The others took a night safari drive.
The boat flew back along the Zambezi in the twilight, a truly magical experience. We flew by Hippo in the moon light and soon arrived at the lodge. Our guide escorted us back to our tent and we showered in readiness for our evening meal.
We had a fine dinner retired to bed.
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