Doctor Willy, I presume? A Zambia Trip Report

[DrWilly]

and we only missed out on Leopards from the big five game list.

My friends who visited Botswana for a few nights and stayed in tents heard lions in the evening and had footprints surrounding their tents in the morning. The guides suggested that the lions assumed the tents looked like rocks so the occupants were safe... MrsKW replied no effing way!


you're right about early starts, they did see a leopard and it's location had been given away by a bunch of baboons who surrounded the small copse of trees and hooted loudly to let all the others know where the danger was.

This was back in the mid 1990s, so I expect things have been improved since.

or not... it is Africa.

[Switch]

My friends who visited Botswana for a few nights and stayed in tents heard lions in the evening and had footprints surrounding their tents in the morning. The guides suggested that the lions assumed the tents looked like rocks so the occupants were safe... MrsKW replied no effing way!


you're right about early starts, they did see a leopard and it's location had been given away by a bunch of baboons who surrounded the small copse of trees and hooted loudly to let all the others know where the danger was.






or not... it is Africa.

There is a big difference between a few acres and a few thousand square kilometers of habitat!

Governors Camp is now expanded over several wild sites in Kenya. I stayed at the smallest one.

[DrWilly]

Getting back to updating this Africa trip.

Lake Kariba is the world's largest artificial lake and reservoir by volume. It lies 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) upstream from the Indian Ocean, along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lake Kariba was filled between 1958 and 1963 following the completion of the Kariba Dam at its northeastern end, flooding the Kariba Gorge on the Zambezi River

Lake Kariba includes Nile crocodiles and hippopotami.
Gamefish, particularly tigerfish, which was among the indigenous species of the Zambezi river system, now thrive on the kapenta, which in turn encourages tourism. Both Zambia and Zimbabwe are now attempting to develop the tourism industry along their respective coasts of Lake Kariba.
Fish eagles, cormorants and other water birds patrol the shorelines, as do large numbers of elephants and other big game species including lion, cheetah, leopard, buffalo and a myriad of smaller plains game species. The southern Matusadona National Park was once a haven for black and white rhinoceros, but recent poaching activity has dramatically reduced their numbers.

from Wikipedia.

It’s also a darn nice spot for a sundowner, looking over the border to Zambia form Zimbabwe or vice versa.

[hallelujah]

Lovely, William.

I am a green pauper, I am afraid.

Unashamedly so.

[DrWilly]

Yeah no worries.

later that afternoon we hired a boat for a sunset cruise. Loaded up beers and water (not all of the blokes drank). It was scenic. Total price around $50.

[DrWilly]

I’m not saying we were stalked by this zebra, but he was there when we left and there when we returned.

Attachment 111709Attachment 111710

[Stumpy]

Great pics DW. Thanks for sharing. View looks quite relaxing.

[bsnub]

Great thread KW! Looks like it was a great trip.

[DrWilly]

That evening I felt like something light, so ordered a fish burger and chips for dinner. Most of the fish you get in Zim and Zam is Talapia, a type of Bream and that’s the fish they used for the burger, but…

[BLD]

Interesting thread

[DrWilly]

While we were around the Lake Kariba and Siavonga area we managed to go ‘off tour’ for an afternoon. Somehow through her connections my wife got into contact with an Indonesian fellow working in Zam for a fishery. He was in some sort of management position so paid housing, car and full expat package. He invited us to visit the fish farm, which is not open to public. We drove in through security, then had to walk through some sort of wet dip and wash our hands at the bio security gate before getting close to the ponds.

Each of these ponds can hold up to 300,000 fry. Which was irresistible to
these guys who hung around getting a free feed.

we noticed some activity, so wandered over to take a look. Apparently they need to periodically move fish from one pin to another as they grow. So send out a few workers with a net attached to a tractor and gently haul the trapped fish in closer and closer until you can just pick them up with your hands.

[DrWilly]

The cars were searched on the way out, so we didn’t get to take any fish with us. But that’s didn’t stop these birds enjoying a feed in the gutter surrounding the complex.

[DrWilly]

So although we couldn’t take any fish from the complex there were roadside sellers of fresh fish direct from the boats each morning. So we purchased a few…

My wife being Indonesian is more picky than John West and carefully checked and selected or rejected each fish. We selected about 10kgs of fish from this bucket which cost 450Kwacha or about $18

We then traveled back to our new found Indonesian friend's place and backed some Bream, and enjoyed it with some spicey sambal (plus rice and vegetables)*

*stalkers might notice I posted this fish pic earlier on the dinner thread, but it belongs here also.

[DrWilly]

While we were staying in Siavonga we had a few friends most mornings.

We spotted a couple of iconic Baobab trees on the way to the fish farm, so stopped to take a quick pic. I learned that the Baobab tree supplies cream of tartar, used in cooking.

[DrWilly]

I saw this piece on a facebook page today.

CONSTRUCTION OF VICTORIA FALLS BRIDGE!
In 1905, 115 years ago, British Engineers constructed the Victoria Falls Bridge linking Zambia and Zimbabwe. This was part of Cecil John Rhodes mega project of connecting Africa from Cape Town to Cairo via rail.


Note, however, that the bridge was built/prefabricated in England and then shipped to Mozambique and transported to its current location from the Port of Beira by rail for assembly.


The assembly took only 14 months and it fit according to specifications.


Note, that this was 125 years ago before computers were invented. The British Engineers had earlier come to assess the Victoria Falls gorge, take measurements and designed the bridge based on the geology of the gorge, then went to England to build the bridge!


To this day, the bridge is fully operational carrying both trucks and cargo trains - 115 years later.

source: CONSTRUCTION OF VICTORIA FALLS BRIDGE!... - Bagaka Ba Pele TV

[Bonecollector]

^epic bit of history

and poor old Cecil died before it was even started and never even visited the falls! bugger

[david44]

news today, what's like on the ground?

Hunger grips southern Africa as Zimbabwe declares drought a disasterClimate Changecategory · 3 min agoPresident Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday declared Zimbabwe's drought a national disaster and said the country needed more than $2 billion in aid to feed millions facing hunger

reuters.com

[DrWilly]

Found this photo online; Zambians taking Dr Livingstone to see the Victoria Falls.

[Edmond]

Now that's the way to travel.

[helge]

Living stone

Doubt that