Zambia / Zimbabwe

6 to 26 February 1993

Journal

Saturday 6th February 1993

I left my house at about 04h00 in order to get in along day's drive.

I crossed the border into Zimbabwe around 09h00, and so was able to reach Kiledo Lodge near Chipinge before sunset.

 

Sunday 7th February 1993

I spent the whole day bird-watching around the lodge, which was set in a beautiful valley, with a small indigenous forest right in front of the lodge. Broadbill and Gorgeous Bush Shrike were regularly heard calling, and both were easily seen.

 

Monday 8th February 1993

In the morning I drove (using the direct road through the adjacent farm) down to the Vimba forest, and then on to the Haroni-Lusitu junction. I spent most of my time around Vimba, before driving back to the lodge in the late afternoon.

 

Tuesday 9th February 1993

In the morning I drove over to the Chirinda forest, and spent the day bird-watching there before returning to the Kiledo lodge.

 

Wednesday 10th February 1993

In the morning I again drove down to Vimba, and spent most of the day in the very unproductive Haroni forest, crossing the river with a guide - there were landmines in the area. I camped at the Vimba forest, finding Pel's Fishing Owl quite easily.

 

Thursday 11th February 1993

I spent most of the day in the Vimba forest, before returning to the Kiledo lodge in the late afternoon.

 

Friday 12th February 1993

Spend a quiet day relaxing and bird-watching around the lodge.

 

Saturday 13th to Sunday 14th February 1993

In the morning I left and drove to Harare, where I stayed with friends.

 

Monday 15th February 1993

Leaving Harare in the morning, I drove north to the Zambian border at Chirundu, and crossed over without problems. The roads were quite a lot better, but even so I decided to stop off at the Eureka campsite in the early afternoon.

 

Tuesday 16th February 1993

Leaving early and so getting through Lusaka before the traffic was too bad, the road was OK at first, but once I headed east, the road became very bad, and the drive to Kasanka was hard work, taking about 8 hours to cover 200 kilometres. I stayed at the main camp with David Lloyd and his assistant.

 

Wednesday 17th February 1993

David provided a guide and I set off to drive up to the Shoebill Island - this time it was the rainy season, so I would have a better chance of finding a shoebill. However, it really was raining, and the whole drive was very difficult due to the wet and slippery conditions. At one point I almost slipped of a narrow bridge, and only just kept the vehicle balanced as one of the front wheels started to go into a ditch - but in the end I got through OK. We reached the World Wildlife Fund offices, where we were able to park on a nice sloping piece of ground - they expected the vehicle might be hard to start the next day.

We then took the Kasanka boat and poled our way through the reeds to get to the Shoebill camp. Within minutes a Shoebill was found. We stayed in the shelter at the camp - and it continued to rain. The road we had driven into the camp on in the dry season was now under over a metre of water.

 

Thursday 18th February 1993

In the morning, since it was still raining so hard, we left quite early and took the boat back to the Landrover. Already the landscape was very different, as the water level in the Bangweulu swamps (which are probably about 1000 square kilometres in extent) had risen by almost 6 inches in the day! In addition, all the roads were along causeways, and these had been breached by flowing water in many places, so we would have to drive back along the flooded plains. This was actually quite fun, as they were dead flat, under about 18 inches of water, and there were plenty of Lechwe around. However, driving was obviously slow to ensure no water got into the engine.

Once we crossed the flats, we reached the woodland areas. Here we did not feel like trying to return on the same road, as there was little chance we would get across the bridges. I thought there was what looked like an old track, and so set off down it, with the guide not having a clue where we were or where I was going - just the same as me.

After about four hours we came across two people, who assured the guide this used to be a track (many years ago) and in the end we would find a tar road. An hour later we reached a better dirt road, and soon thereafter we got onto the tar road - but it was then over a hundred kilometres to get back to the camp. Afterwards I discovered David did know of the road, but hadn't tried driving it before.

 

Friday 19th February 1993

I left Kasanka the next morning and agreed to meet up with the assistant at the Andrews Motel in Lusaka - he was going to be riding his motorbike there. We did meet there, but he wasn't in such good condition, with several broken teeth. A truck had driven him off the road and wherethere is only one "path" through the pot-holes, smaller vehicles are well advised to give way to larger ones!

 

Saturday 20th February 1993

In the morning I left and drove south then east to reach Lochinvar. This wetland was well flooded and there were lots of ducks and other water birds. I camped outside the still abandoned hotel.

 

Sunday 21st February 1993

In the morning I decided to take the "direct" road to the Kafue National Park. The main road would have taken much longer, so it wasn't such a bad idea. However, in the rains it proved harder than expected, and it took me all day (including a ferry crossing) before I reached the David Sheppard Camp - which was situated on the banks of Lake Iteshiteshi - which is not marked on most maps, but is actually a huge lake.

 

Monday 22nd February 1993

I spent the day exploring the northern part of the park (as far as was possible in the wet conditions).

 

Tuesday 23rd February 1993

In the morning I left the camp and drove south to explore the southern part of the park. Tsetse flies were very bad in the area. I camped near the southern gate.

 

Wednesday 24th February 1993

Leaving quite early - but driving slowly - I drove south to rejoin the main road to Livingstone. Here the Victoria Falls were very dry (curiously, the falls are at their weakest during the rains - it takes many months for the water to make the journey from the Source of the Zambezi - and the main catchment area doesn't get much rain till December at the earliest.) From there I crossed over and drove south-east to Hwange National Park.

 

Thursday 25th February 1993

I spend the day bird-watching in Hwange, but got very annoyed when I wasn't even allowed to look out from my roof hatch - the park rangers would hardly allow a window to be opened. This made bird-watching very difficult, so I gave up in the afternoon.

 

Friday 26th February 1993

Starting as soon as the gates opened (sunrise) I drove straight back to Johannesburg in one go - arriving back there at about 22h00.