Bert's Travels: On the Zambezi

(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.