Raging Rivers

Days 40 – 44                         27 Oct – 1 Nov

On a hot, hazy morning, we left Hwange and headed north-east, up over the corner of Lake Kariba and then over the hills before dropping down into the Zambezi valley to Rukomechi Airstrip.

Having put plenty of thorn bushes around the plane’s tyres to stop hyena making a meal of them, we drove across the wide, sandy dry river-bed to reach Kavinga Camp, never once imagining that 24 hours later it would be a raging torrent, a swirling dervish of foaming water carrying tree trunks and detritus, and breaking through the banks to cover the plain!

We arrived at Kavinga Camp, up on the escarpment, overlooking the plain and a waterhole below, where elephants and other game and birds were arriving to quench their thirst. 

Beside the waterhole, dug into the ground so that the window slits were almost at water level, was a brilliant ‘hide’. 

With Carmine Bee-eaters diving down to drink, it wasn’t long before Sherry + camera were in situ!

Later that afternoon, still in 40 degree + heat, we had sundowners beside the sand river, watching the elephants crossing over and passing by.

The lodge itself is just a year old, and well thought-out and practical, and although it does not look like your typical thatched ‘eco-lodge’, the rooms are designed for maximum breeze – essential since there was no fan, let alone A/C!  Luckily we had 2 little rechargeable fans with us – a real godsend, thanks to good old Amazon.

As we sweltered that first night, we heard the rumblings of thunder, the wind got up, and at 3 am the first rain since April started to fall, and continued for the next 12 hours.  With the managers, Siraaj and Caitlyn, and the rest of the guests, we all piled into the Landcruiser to go and see what was happening at the river below.

We found it in full flash flood mode, flowing so fast it even had waves on it.  We set sticks to measure the flow but kept having to move them as the water rose and then started filling the tracks we had just driven down.  It was an awesome spectacle and one we shall never forget.

One little problem however………we were now on one side of a raging river, whilst our little aeroplane was on the other!  Fortunately we were staying for 5 nights and by the third day the water had abated leaving a muddy river bed and new channels and pools.  The bank where we had crossed the day before was now 4 ft high.

There was much discussion on how to get to our next camp, ending in a decision that if it did not dry out sufficiently, we would wade through the mud across the river bed with porters to help carry our bags and then walk the kilometre or so to the airstrip. Jeremy tried it on day 3 and ended up with muds up to his thighs in the soft waterlogged sand! Still, as long as the sun came out, it should be dry enough by day 5, we hoped!

In fact, the day before we left Jeremy and Siraaj went off on a mission and came back beaming, having found a circuitous but passable vehicular route to the airstrip without getting completely bogged down.  Whew!!

As with all these safari camps that have waterholes nearby to attract plenty of game during dry season, as soon as it rains all the animals simply disappear in the bush and sightings become very scarce.  This didn’t really bother us too much as we had seen plenty of game in the past few weeks, and we revelled in walking through the bush with Siraaj, learning to recognise the tracks of leopard, lion, kudu, warthogs, mongooses, aardvarks, etc. and finding out interesting facts about the habitat and ecology of the area.

Early one morning just after sunrise, we walking along the river bed to just below a colony of Carmine Bee-eaters occupying the bank, and watched entranced as these winged jewels darted in and out of their nesting holes, feeding their young.

The landscape and scenery surrounding us was absolutely stunning and by our last evening game drive we began to see a few elephant starting to wander back.  A Verreux Eagle-owl watched us from his perch and some Crested Guineafowl were a special treat.

One of the elephants, named Morgan, is a regular visitor to the lodge as he just loves the lemon grass growing right beside the dining room, and he likes to take a quick slurp out of the little plunge pool as well.  He even wanders right into the lodge from time to time.

Another semi-resident at the lodge is a cheeky little squirrel called Kiki (her chatter is kee kee kee).  She is dearly loved by Siraaj and Caitlyn and even allows herself to be petted, fed and fussed over by them.  Recently when she became sick due to a pregnancy gone wrong, they sent her all the way to Harare for an operation after flagging down a car on the main road and persuading the occupants to drop her off at the vet!  This is Kiki at the tea table, quietly helping herself to the blueberries on top of the muffins whilst no one was looking!

The atmosphere at the camp was very laid back and relaxed, the food was wonderful, the managers Siraaj & Caitlyn were brilliant, we made new friends and we were truly sorry to leave.

Next stop – a tented camp at Mana Pools, beside the Zambezi River.