Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Zambia

Hippos in river at South Luangwe Park, Zambia
Safari at Dusk in South Luangwe Park, Zambia
*** Zambia ***

* Vic Falls & Zambezi gorge river board/raft trip *

I spent a few days in Livingstone, on the Zambia side of Vic Falls. I
visited the falls from the top side for a different perspective; and
also went for a swim in a pool above the falls. The highlight though was
an excellent combined river boarding and white water rafting day trip
down 25kms of the Zambezi gorge. The gorge was absolutely beautiful,
mostly at 100m high. But the rapids were brilliant, from small to huge!
They let me river board down half of the rapids, including two
straight-run grade 5 rapids. The waves were huge and for a couple of
seconds I was under water wondering when I’d come out. An exhilarating
experience.

* South Luagwe National Park *

I travelled across the country in two days to reach an excellent
campground on the Luagwe River. The last bus ride was a 100km stretch of
bone-jarring dirt road. We arrived at the camp late at night with an
elephant roaming around which we had to avoid. Setting up my tent 5m up
on a tree platform, I could hear numerous belching hippos in the river
below. Then an elephant screamed - an unhappy camper had nearly walked
into it in the dark!

Early next morning, I went on a guided game drive and walking safari.
Just as we were leaving the camp, there was a herd of giraffes along the
camp’s driveway. The walking safari was great, we saw various antelope,
giraffes and buffalo. We also walked across a dried out camp with
elephant and other animal footprints. We spied on some elephants through
some trees and when they realized we were close, one mock charged us. So
when the guard with the gun ran, so did we! I also went on an
afternoon/night safari and at night we spotted a leopard on the prowl, a
mongoose, a porcupine all flared up and a spotted hyena. We were also
treated to a pretty sunset from an elevated viewpoint over the
surrounding bush landscape.

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