(excerpt from my book: "Safari Africa 2011" )
…. downriver we reached an island,
which Kel had chosen as our first overnight camp.
We beached our canoes and unloaded
everything we would need for the night's stay.
The first impression I had was that
there were a number of very large foot prints of an elephant.
This did not fill me with a great sense
of confidence.
We collected driftwood, some of it so
large that it made a wonderful fire, first to cook our meal and then,
later, to ward of any curious animals.
Lis'beth and Otto disemboweled the
bream and prepared it with spices brought along.
Some radish like
vegetable, thinly sliced and potatoes baked in the hot sand completed
a wonderful meal.
I extended my tripod to its fullest
height, draped my mosquito net over it, tucked the ends of the net
under the roll up mattress and put my Safari hat on top of this work
of art.
Everybody constructed his own mosy-net
protected sleeping place.
Then we sat around the camp fire and
stared into the descending night.
Stars appeared and the moon rose.
I could not believe that I was actually
there.
Kelvin asked: „Does anybody know the
legend of the Nyaminyami“ ?
„I don't even know how to spell it“
I replied.... everybody laughed and finally only Kel knew not only
how to spell it, but he actually knew the legend.
Kelvin told the story of this river god
and his wife .
The Tonga people who lived along the
river and built their houses on stilts believe in this fable
religiously.
The fable goes like this:
Unfortunately at this point I fell
asleep tired from sitting in a canoe most of the day, from paddling
and mostly from the sun beating down.
I slept the whole night through and
when next morning, John told me of the grunting of the hippos and
the distant roaring of a lion, I knew that I had not only dreamt
about it.
In two soft sided plastic buckets Otto
brought water from the deep flowing river.
Enough water for tea and then enough
for everybody to wash the sleep out of their eyes.
After breakfast of bacon and scrambled
eggs and tea, we pushed the canoes into the water and once more we
floated down the quiet river.
On the shores of the Zambezi
.... the first impression I had...
the "mosy-net" draped over a fully extended tripod..
Overnight camp site.
He must have been the one who left his foot prints.
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