Photo report “Zambezi-The Heart of Africa”.

May, 2012

Days spent: 15

The route went througth Zambezi and Zimbabwe. Expedition numbered 6 persons.

And so we begin our journey! The airport of Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, has fallen behind, and we are getting to know one of the greatest Africa’s river – Zambezi. Being accompanied by our guide, Siziba, we lay our course for the Kafue National Park, named for the Kafue River, the tributary of Zambezi.

Kafue is the largest national park in Zambia, covering an area of about 22400 km2. Here, on the territory of the park, on the riverside, we are going to have our first night stop. Early in the morning, the walking Safari shall be waiting for us, in the company of the local rangers

, also we are going to sail the Kafue River on an unusual “boat”

. We hope, our first acquaintance with the animal world of Zambia shall be very interesting.

Today, we are heading to the south-west of Zambia to Victoria Falls. Being helped by our guide, Siziba, we chose the most complex route, where no tourists can be seen. We have to cover about 450 km on the country roads of Zambia.

It is getting dark and we are still on the way. We camp down in the wild, in the midst of the African bush. As usual, all of us are occupied with setting up the camp and cooking the dinner. The wildlife, great people, excellent South African wine, perfect dinner, so what else do we need to meet a new day in Africa … Today we dedicate the day to extreme. We will fly by on a helicopter above the savannah and the Zambezi River, in the army style. We hope to undergo an adrenaline rush and unforgettable experience of the flight.

Real sensations by far exceeded our expectations! We thank our pilot for the flight and professionalism!

Magnificent Victoria Fall.

It fascinates by its strength and beauty. Its fast-flowing streams descend from a 100-meters-high and leave no one untouched. Only here you become aware of how fragile is the world and how powerful the forces of nature are.

And again Zambezi. Higher up the river we went fishing in the evening. The river is quite and deep here. When you look at its wide banks, its hard to imagine, that this stream of water falls down from a 100-meters-high of Victoria fall into a 100 meters wide gorge.

It’s morning and we have to go on. Today, we have to drive about 900 km to the south-west of Zambia, with a half way overnight stop, to another tributary of Zambezi River – Luangwa River and the South Luangwa National Park. Siziba shall, at our request, choose the shortest and the most difficult route, where there are practically no roads.

Suddenly, not far from the road we saw some people dancing and decided to make a video of them. It turned out that, the Lozi people were dancing one of their ritual dances.

South Luangwa National Park occupies an area of about 9000 sq.km. and is among the top ten most visited national parks of Africa. We are going to spend three days here and we hope see the animals living here.

Today we go on our first safari in the South Luangwa National Park.

It’ getting dark and our rangers offer us to begin looking for the leopard, the most reserved and mysterious inhabitant of these places. At the end of the day we met two lions, which stopped to have some rest after they had patrolled their territory.

Night closed in and we went on another night safari hoping to meet the hyenas.

And here is a new encounter. It’s the African civet. By height it resembles a dog, but it is more like a cat or even raccoon.

This is solitary animal, mostly nocturnal, living on a specific area, market with the secretions of the special glands, located in the perineum, as well as by feces. Seeing it in the wild, and so close yet, it’s a great luck. And, finally we see the primary enemy of the lions, the spotted hyena. So close, at night, we have not had such a possibility to take a picture of them yet.

And here is the main goal of our today’s safari – female leopard on a night hunt for impala.

And, at the end, a hippo, grazing in the night.

Yet another safari finishes our stay in Zambia, in the South Luangwa National Park.

The one hundred and twelve meter high dam, built by the British in the last century, cut the riverbed of Zambezi River and connected the Southern and the Northern Rhodesia.

One of the largest man-made lakes in the world, Lake Kariba, formed here. Morning finds us in Zimbabwe, in a beautiful lodge on the coast of the Kariba Lake.

Finally, we have managed to get enough sleep, brush up and prepare for the last extreme part of our expedition – a three-day canoe safari on Zambezi River and Mana Pools National Park.

The evening comes and the time has come for us to prepare for the night on one of the many islands formed in the riverbed.

Having seen the sunrise on Mozi island

, the name of which meaning the island of mosquitoes, we went further down the Zambezi River.

Today we have to cover twenty-nine km to the next of our camp.

Evening falls and we are getting closer to the place of our overnight stop on the island, where a herd of elephants have settled on.

Our rangers have decided to prepare a festive dinner of the fish caught in the Kariba Lake, and this seems to be an excellent end of the day. Today is the last day of our safari. We have to get to our last overnight camp, where are will spend our last night, in camps in the wild.

Our expedition is completed and it is time to say goodbye. We never want to leave Africa, but let’s hope it will not last long …