Teeth

 

Both the tigerfish and Piet showing their teeth, but for different reason. On this stretch of the Zambezi it is strictly catch and release fishery where tigerfish are concerned, but sometimes a few bream are taken for consumption.

At one moment I didn't dare show my teeth. When we were fishing very close to the border with Zimbabwe two park guards came down with rifles. They claimed the fishing boat had landed on the Zimbabwe side of the river a few days earlier and urging us to come ashore threatening to puncture the boat with their guns. Our guide kept cool and just talked to the guys from the boat for 15 minutes until they had cooled of and we continued to fish, keeping away from the Zimbabwe side however.

Flyfishing on the Zambezi

 

Fishing on the Zambezi was great, but a little expensive. The guide and I did a lot of casting under trees and behind reedbeds. We only managed to catch some small tigerfish, but we have seen very decent ones too. I used both the flyrod and the spinning rod.

In love again

 

Gloria, a very light girl to Zambian standards was very intrigued by the white hairs on my arm. We were visiting her mother Brenda, one of Maliwa's friend here in Livingstone.

Zambezi

 

In the background the spray from the falls can be clearly seen.

First fall

 

Along the falls there are several islands and on the end of the dry season not that much water is coming down the falls. We are only a few months in the dry season now, so the falls on the Zambian side still have a lot of water coming down. Later most water comes down the Zimbabwan side.

Honeymooning at Victoria Falls

 

Classic honeymoon picture at the great falls (100 m drop off two km wide). The sound here is massive and I went down the knife bridge also which was a wet and awesome experience.

Honeymooning at Guestmate Inn

 

As we are not yet married the trip wasn't stricktly a honeymoon. To enter Victoria Falls we saved some money however by declaring ourselves married. What better place in the world to do so?

Sunset and a long way to go

 

As I said it wasn't wise to stop at the Kariba Dam. Still a long way to go to Livingstone and the sun is already setting. The last sixty kilometers from Zimba to Livingstone were very bad and covered with potholes and a great contrast to the rest of the road. We found a great place to stay however when we arrived in Livingstone at ten.

When driving behind a gasoline truck we got quite a scary moment when a tire blew and a big cloud of dust was blown from its bottom. Glad my girl stayed perfectly cool.

These guys didn't want to pose

 

Red river again

 

Again a nice pic at the red river bed at our stop at the way back.

Croc up

 

This croc is doing the same as the croc down, also the Zimbabwan side is not advisable to visit at the moment, so we had to return from where we came. At the side we saw a monitor lizard also of about a meter lenght.

Free meals for the coromorants

 

A lot of Kapenta comes through the turbines of the plant and serves as food source for cormorants and kingfishers.

Croc down

 

Sunbathing and waiting for food to come down the dam.

This would have been a nice blog title too

 

Power for Zambia and Zimbabwe

 

When we went on our way to Livingstone, we first took a look at Kariba Dam. This detour was not too wise, because we had a long way to go still. Anyway the scenery is nice.

An enormous amount of "free energy" is generated here. Part for Zambia and part for Zimbabwe. A lot of power is used for Zimbabwe (Zambia sold all generated electricity before). At the moment there are a lot of power cuts in Zambia. The power is shut off for some hours in the evening to save electricity. It would be difficult for both countries to expand their electricity production, because the rivers are used for the biggest part (except for Victoria and Ngonye Falls). In the future Zambia will probably have to use fuel to produce electricity also. Using more solars and Led or tube light can save a lot of electricity also.

Making bricks

 

The hillside is used for making bricks too. I don't know what the soil consists of actually but I have seen quite a lot of brick makers. They don't use an oven though to sinter the bricks, maybe it is something like cement or sandstone, just like in our hills in Zuid-Limburg.

Some fish culture

 

Probably some cage culture of tilapia (called bream in Zambia). Near the fishing village was some on land fish culture too. The main fish from Laka Kariba is kapenta a small pelagic fish like anchovy eaten mostly dried. The fisherman catch them at night using light to attract the fish.

Down at the fishing village

 

Little boy has no trouble handling a canoo. The fishermen were not present at the time, just women burning and doing their washing.

OK, OK I am coming

 

On our way down

 

In the open forest on the hill were a few small plots used to grow maize also.

Exotic Mistletoe

 

This exotic mistletoe gave an excellent opportunity to kiss an exotic beauty.

Trip to the fishing village

During my little walk I had seen a fishing village and a bay down the hill slope. It was nice to have the opportunity to take a little walk. On the way back we got a lift from a pickup driver that brought us to Siavonga again. I was hoping to see some snakes along the way of course, but my partner was not so keen about that. In the end I saw one snake near the fishing village that disappeared into the undergrowth in no time.

Sunset at lake Kariba

 

After checking in at Hilltop Lodge which was not easy to drive to due to the very steep road with some potholes, I took a little walk to have a look at the landscape and see some animals maybe (small lizards and a toad). Lake Kariba is a very beautiful lake surrounded by steep hills. The lake stretches for hundreds of kilometers through the former Zambezi Valley.

Here is his bike

 

Tonga Bull

 

This swimmer was happy to pose for us when we stopped the car at this bridge over a small river.

Small Tonga village

 

This village down the road was in somewhat drier terrain. I just managed to capture a bird in flight also in this shot from the car window.