July 1-3: Zambezi National Park

After sadly saying goodbye to Mark and Kirsten (Argh!), Nancy and I headed just upriver from Victoria Falls to Zambezi National Park and our exclusive riverside camp (no map included because it is right next to Victoria Falls). Zambezi NP (216 sq. mi.), established in 1979, is a relatively small national park that was split off from Victoria Falls National Park and is, of course, centered on the riverfront along the Zambezi. The River itself this time of year is still in a receding flood stage from the preceding rainy season so the banks are nearly full and the river has multiple channels with lots of tree and shrub islands, and sloughs. Here are a couple of photos to give you a sense of this mighty river:

The landscape here is diverse in terms of terrain and vegetation. The riparian zone along the river’s edge supports a variety of large trees that quickly gives way as you move inland to mopane woodland that in places hosts a variety of tree and shrub species, including scattered baobabs on the drier sites, and gets hilly as you climb a low escarpment. Here are some photos to help you visualize the landscape:

Although the Park purports to have lots of wildlife, we found there to be very few animals. Perhaps we were just unlucky, but we didn’t see many animals on our drives. We had a few giraffe, a couple of elephants, a single herd of buffalo, a few kudu and the everpresent impala and warthogs, but mostly we just saw lots of baboons. While the wildlife viewing wasn’t the greatest, the riverfront setting for our campsite was truly delightful. We had perfect temperatures, a wonderful breeze coming off the river and spectacular sunrises and sunsets, so who’s to complain. Here’s a few shots of our delightful campsite setting:

Our campsite was what they call an “exclusive” campsite, meaning that it is a private campsite in the bush. The plus side of these exclusive sites is the total privacy and solitude. The downside of these exclusive sites is that they have almost no facilities, so you must be a self-contained camper (i.e., supply your own water, table, etc.). The one facility they do provide is a “drop” toilet, but check out the one they provided at our site:

Not only is it like 2 feet wide on the interior (barely enough for me to squeeze inside), it is pitch black, has roosting bats and all their guano deposits, spiders and probably snakes, and who knows what else inside since you can’t see a damn thing. Who in their right mind would enter and use this toilet? Not us, that’s for sure! So, we had to resort to our own constructed pit toilet (i.e., we dug a hole in the ground for a squat-type toilet). So, exclusive sites aren’t for everybody.

Here’s a very short composite video of a couple of wildlife encounters (elephant and giraffe) and a sunset goodbye:

Zambezi National Park composite video (4 minutes)

OK, we are off to Hwange National Park for 6 nights and not sure of the wifi situation, so you may or may not here from us for a while. Cheers.

From the Wildside: