Zimbabwe October 2014

15th October  - 26th October

I described this trip as an unplanned visit as it only came to fruition about 3 weeks before I went. Tempted by my brother saying we could go fishing on the Zambezi river.

I am not a fisherman - I tried it when I was a teenager at the lakes in Dartford and Sutton-at-Hone in Kent and even more locally at various sites but it was never something that gripped me enough ( I spent too much time in a tangle !) - so now it only ever happens when I visit Tony in Africa.

I flew with Air Kenya, finding that  in theory the route via Nairobi should be the shortest available, and the only slight anomaly being that on arriving at Nairobi they had cancelled the leg to Harare ! - So an extra 4 hour wait and I was on another flight but via Livingstone in Zambia - So eventually arriving in Harare some 6 hours later than planned, but the waiting cold beer soon helped revive the spirits.

The first day was spent just relaxing around the house and visiting friends - my niece Christine and her husband Gareth live nearby and we met them at their house where Gareth has his art studio and Christine is setting up a plant nursery.

one of Gareth's paintings in-progress.

Christine in her plant nursery at home

A limited number of local birds were seen on the first day but included Dark capped Bulbuls, Yellow bellied Sunbird, Yellow fronted Tinkerbird, White-browed Robin Chat and Purple Crested Turaco.

We had 6 nights booked at a camp on the banks of the Zambezi called Shamashanga. There were 3 of us going, Tony, myself and Tony's friend Dino. We left at 5am drove there in Tony's Toyota double cab. A journey of around 7.5 hours with the last 150kms being on dirt tracks.

The first bit of wildlife interest was after we'd turned on to the dirt roads when a group of Zebra ran across the road. This first 30kms stretch of dirt road was quite productive with Crested Francolin, Swainsons Francolin, Bataleur, Southern Grey-headed Sparrow, Cutthroat Finch, lots of Cape Turtle Doves and less frequently Mourning Doves and numerous Red-billed Hornbills.  As we entered the slightly thicker bush there was less on the wildlife front with just White-browed Sparrow Weavers. Even at 11am the heat was well into the 30c's so we kept the windows up with the aircon full blast. As we got within a few km's of the Zambezi we started to see more wildlife again with the first Elephants, several Kudu , Warthogs, Eland and Nyala.   The first Southern Carmine Bee-eaters, Mosque Swallows  and a Broad-billed Roller entered the bird list. We then made a mistake - unwittingly missing the small sign on a tree towards the camp we carried on - about 45 minutes later as the track seemed to be veering inland and towards Mozambique ! we decided we must have gone too far, re-tracing our steps and eventually arriving at Shamashanga an hour after we passed it !.

Soon settling into the camp with a bit of lunch and a cold beer we then started our routine for the next 5 days - which was to go fishing and drink beer .

Our target was the Tiger Fish (a renowned fighting fish found in big rivers and lakes in this part of Africa) - we needed to catch bait first being smaller fish such as Imbere and Chessa. and then we drifted down the Zambezi from sites chosen by our boat skipper for the bigger fish.

This Little Sparrowhawk was in a tree outside the tent.

Hundreds of Hippos were in the river

African Elephants were also abundant. 

The Tents on the banks of the Zambezi

....with views to the River

Tents in the bush

With open air dining.

The first Tiger Fish

Each day on the river seemed to merge together - we were up at 5.30 - out on the river at 6.15am - returned for brunch around midday then out again around 2.30pm . The sun went down at 6pm on the dot so we were in for dinner a few drinks and in bed by 9ish to repeat the same the next day.

The weather was typically hot - probably reaching near to 40c - but the river had a breeze - sometimes a strong wind which meant the heat wasn't uncomfortable.

We saw quite a few animals - mainly Hippos, Crocodiles, Elephants, Buffalo, some Water Buck and the occasional Impala, some Vervet Monkeys and Baboons.

The birds were split between those in and around the camp and those on the water.

The camp was a mini oasis in the rather dry bush so there was quite a bit of birdlife in the area. Most common were the Yellow-bellied Greenbuls and Meve's (Long-tailed) Starlings. Joining the bird groups were Yellow-bellied Apalis, Grey-backed Cameroptera, Black-backed Puffback, African Paradise Flycatcher, Tropical Boubou, White-fronted Bee-eater, Scarlet Chested and White-bellied Sunbirds, Lesser Masked Weaver, Red-headed Weaver and Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling. the surprise was a pair of Eastern Nicators, which normally would be permanently hidden in thick tangles but we quite visible around the camp. both Cardinal and Golden-tailed Woodpeckers were seen on occasion and the Grey-headed Bush Shrike would regularly be making it's squeaky wheelbarrow call. Both Meyers Parrots and Lillian's Lovebirds were seen in the early morning flying over, but they didn't settle nearby.

Also an African Scops Owl called each evening around 7pm for 10 minutes and I found it twice in the torchlight,

Eastern Nicator

Yellow=bellied Greenbul

White-fronted Bee-eater

Red-billed Hornbill

Cardinal Woodpecker

Grey-headed Bush Shrike

My boat birding was only hampered by my own inadequacies with handling multiple pieces of kit - Bins and a Camera are fine and obviously well practised,  but add to the mix a fishing rod and the need to continuously hold a can of beer and I just run out of paws - especially when trying to add worms to a hook or even more rarely land a fish whilst trying not to splash worm juice or fish slime over the optics - I gradually refined the skills required and added a few birds !

The river held a wider variety of birds often in the sheltered weedy bays. Herons and Egrets were represented by Goliath Heron, Purple Heron, Black-headed Heron, Grey Heron, Rufous-bellied Heron Striated Heron and Squacco Heron . Great Egret, Little Egret, Cattle Egret and the smart looking Black Egret. With Glossy Ibis, Sacred Ibis, Yellow billed Stork and Open-billed Storks completing the list of large waterbirds

Kingfishers were less abundant than I anticipated but I still saw Giant, Pied and Malachite Kingfishers. A few African Skimmers were noted and a single Whiskered Tern and Grey-headed Gull. Then for other wading birds along with African Jacana, the noisy White-crowned Plovers were everywhere along with a few Blacksmith Plovers, Water Thick-knee, Wood Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt and Common Sandpipers.

The very smart Southern Carmine Bee-eaters were continuously overt the river along with Lilac-breasted Rollers and both Crowned and Grey Hornbills. Most hirundines were Wire-tailed Swallows with a few returning Barn Swallows, Lesser Striped Swallows and Brown-throated Martins.

Raptors were few and far between but the daily antics of the Yellow-billed Kites kept us amused as they dive-bombed us for scraps. Fish Eagles are always a joy to watch and a couple of Ospreys were on the river. Brown Snake Eagle, African Harrier Hawk and White-backed Vulture  completed the rather thin list of raptors.

Yellow-billed Stork

Goliath Heron

Glossy Ibis

African Darter

Southern Carmine Bee-eater

White-Crowned Lapwings

White-Crowned Lapwing

Malachite Kingfisher

Wire-tailed Swallow

African Pied Wagtail

African Fish Eagle

Yellow-billed Kite

Yellow-billed Kite

Turning for a swoop

In a dive

Taking a snack

More Hippos

Ele's

Young bull looking menacing

and closer still

Buffalo

African Sunset

Tony in Fishing mode

The largest fish I caught was 13lb

Dino decided to have a daily swim in the Zambezi - when the Crocs weren't looking

View upstream from the camp

A final Sunset

So after 6 fantastic nights at the camp and a wonderful time on the river, we set off at 6.30am on the 24th and headed back to Harare.

We saw slightly more game on the first stretch of the drive with similar views of Kudu, Eland, Buffalo, Warthogs and the odd Ele, we also saw an African Wildcat and a Red Duiker and a couple of Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters.

I had a couple of days in town before returning to the UK, which was generally spent relaxing.

I wandered down to the Bore hole at the end of the road a couple of times where the scrub held a few birds seeing Thick-billed Weaver, Spectacled Weaver, Tawny-Flanked Prinia, Common Waxbill, Blue Waxbill, Bronze Mannakin, Red-billed Quelea, Speckled Mousebird, Spotted Flycatcher and Black Flycatcher. The garden also held Kurrichance Thrush, Miombo Double coloured Sunbird, Black-Collared Barbet, Green Woodhoope and a pair of African Goshawks quartered the area. a couple of Spotted Eagle Owls were seen on Lampposts when we were out to dinner.

Headed home to the UK arriving on the 27th after a very enjoyable time.

Speckled Mousebird

Southern Black Flycatcher

Fork-tailed Drongo

The courtyard at Tony and Cathy's house