Lushy Bushy & Hippo adventure

Aaaaah, my computer crashed! What the f**k does it mean? Incredible relief!!! :-) actually on Thursday night, i wouldn't take it. But having finished all that i was supposed to do, leaving the notebook at midnight at reception for IT guy to pick it up, i got ready for a crazy event.
Friday morning, Dong and me packed our stuff and flew to Zimbabwe. Canoeing trip on Zambezi booked at last minute was a mystery for us. We knew only few facts but these were attractive enough - sleeping in bush, canoeing and wildlife watching during the day and having a local guide 24hrs a day.

Already from the plane we saw wonderfully green wilderness. Landing at the smallest airport ever, we had to wait terribly long visa line but then already we met a driver picking us up. Driving along road signs e.g. Beware elephants, etc., feeling the poverty but rich happiness we realized this is really different from South Africa :-)

In city of Victoria Falls, we waited for our guide who came in a huge 4WD car and then set out. Expecting a good adventure.

First we were supposed to drive through a national park (=game drive, i.e. wildlife watching from the car) to the Zambezi river, a majestic borderline between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The day was quite sunny, actually the first sunny day after 2 months of every day rain (summer is in ZWE a rainy season), temperatures 20-30 degrees. And rainy season was to be our mate for entire weekend. Eventhough it was mostly sunny.

We got stuck on the muddy road, swamped down. Three black guides couldn't get the superstrong 4WD car running for an hour. That was tough but we managed. Second puddle was much worse, left part of the car got cca 2ft under the level of the right side. And we were stranded without radio or mobile coverage in a national park with lions, elephants and tons of other beast ;-). Three hours it took us, black guys kept smiling, we will get out of it, ... And we got...

Though, we arrived to the river quite late and missed afternoon canoeing. Didn't matter, the river area was incredibly beautiful. Sounds of nature at every step. And two of the guides said they have to go back to bring some more stuff (like dinner :-)) and they will be back in an hour. We were reluctant to let them go, having seen the terrain on the road. But then we thought they should know what they are doing. And also, i thought we could survive overnight without them, in the worst case... Dong, me and 1 guide stayed on the spot.

At 6:30pm we watched wonderful sunset above the river. At 8:30pm we started worrying about the guys coming back with the dinner. Their radio was out of range. Or out of batteries?...
We learnt from the only guide that overnight we have to maintain a fire to stay safe off lions, buffalos and other animals. He also told us he never stayed in bush overnight without a fire. He was still laidback though, repeating that the guys would definitely come. And we started thinking how to start a fire.

All the wood was really wet. Wouldn't get ignited. So we were thinking about any possible ways of starting the fire. There were couple of flammabables in the first aid kit but none worked. Then we used our repellend as a flame gun. It worked for a while but not really. Where are we gonna wait till dawn?...

On the trees? Sitting or sleeping? Safeguarding in shifts? That's what we were intensively considering. As the night was getting thicker, sounds of nature seemed to be getting closer, making it a real adventure.

Hippo started roaring, in 20m distance, safely hidden in the water.

9:30pm, they came. Hoorraaayyy!

And an incredible hustle began. Let's cook dinner, they wanted. Let's build camp, they pushed for. Let's sit at fire, they hurried. It was so good... They prepared a feast for us, including soups, salads and wine. Imagine sitting in the bush, having just forgotten about its real danger. Drinking wine and singing Zimbabwean songs at the campfire...

We slept really well. The guides accented not to leave the tent if we hear any noise at night. So we didn't go out :-).

And the next day, we were looking forward to canoe, finally! ...

Breakfast was another luxurious experience, the guys were incredible! And then they found they flat a tire and have to change it. Spare wheel was attached from the bottom on a big rusty screw. And they couldn't get it off... After two hours without any progress they decided to have a second breakfast, let's finish it off. We didn't believe they will get out of there. But after the 2nd breakfast, in 5 minutes the wheel was off, they started dancing and we could go canoeing.
Being advised about multiple dangers, e.g. strong sunshine, dehydration, couple of crocodiles oin the river as well as killer hippos on our way, we set out.

Dong and me on one boat, guide Mengezo on the second. We were equipped by life jackets, cameras, lots of food and drinks, enjoying the experience. And then, we started meeting hippos. Hippopotamus amphibius is the most dangerous african animal, it protects it territory, swimming unseen underwater and attacking from bottom. Every 8 minutes it comes up to inhale. Hippos also occassionaly produce extremely load roaring noise making them kings of the in da bush dj sound. They are present in herds at predictable places without strong current and medium-depth. In rainy season (!) though they are sometimes individually (and unpredictably) swimming across their territories. They swim slightly slower than speedy paddling goes.

Our guide was pretty experienced, avoiding all the big herds in 20m distance. As one of the hippos apparently got our smell and start chasing us, we stopped in a shallow area where the hippo didn't want to go. Cool. Still sunny.

Then it rained and got windy like hell. After a short stop weather changed back again and we continued, passing herds of hippos, getting into stronger current and having a lunch on a deserted island. Lovely nap with all the dreams around.

Rapids after lunch... we were learning how to get through, playing a quick paddle game. Before the 3rd rapid, the guide warned to move aside, he saw a hippo. So we were waiting in canoes at a small shallower place with reeds. And just after i got rid of some excessive liquids... 5meters next to us, a hippo came up to inhale. 2ton animal opening it's mouth. It didn't need to roar to scare us off. Guide immediately moved our boats from the spot, we started paddling like hell. River bank was in 50m distance... We made it... of course, otherwise this blog would get deserted forever. That's the feeling "we're alive!!!!"....

After that we were incredibly cautious, saw couple of monkey, a glamorous crocodile and got to the camp, passing some further 50 hippos. The camp was built on an unbelievable spot, including a special hot shower. And there was great dinner, being prepared.

I fell asleep shortly after the dinner, having enjoyed the nature beauties as well as gourmet tastes. The guys were artists!!!

Night was so powerful and revitalizing... after all... And Sunday, we saw couple wild species in the bush, the largest waterfalls ever (Victoria Falls), touristic rain forest, bungee jamping from a zambezi bridge... waited some hours at the airport for a delayed flight and went home.... Looking forward to the upcoming week, good working lifestyle and... next weekend in Ghana - African Soccer Cup finals!...