As a holiday treat, I took Jake tiger fishing on the Zambezi from Victoria Falls. We only had 2 nights in the beautiful little town, so I booked and paid for this fishing trip long before we left Cape Town. We were up bright and early and taken down the river to meet up with our local fishing guide, Joe.
The Zambezi really is an impressive river. The water that fills it's banks flows from the mountains in Angola. It's Africa's 4th biggest river and I was blown away by the size of it. Looking from one bank to the next, I was already impressed, only to discover when we reached the water, that the opposite bank was in fact an island, as was the next bank - the river just kept on widening up, it was incredible. We departed from where the boats are on the left hand side of the screen, from the embankment of the D'Zambezi Hotel. They'd had 4 lions on the lawns that morning from the Victoria Falls National Park (also unfenced), but we sadly missed those...
The view towards Victoria Falls from on the river. The falls are locally known as "the cloud that thunders" and you can see the clouds rising from the falls in the pic below. Not sure if you can see the little pole sticking out the water towards the left hand side of the photo, marks the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, so technically, we went fishing in Zambia...
A fish eagle on palm tree island waiting for his breakfast...
Another view towards the falls... I told you that the river was big. And there is apparently 1 croc for every 10m2, so we kept our fingers and toes out of the water...
Fishing is a waiting game...
This is one of the bait fish that Jake used...
Joe and Jake waiting some more - thank goodness in a beautiful setting, or I would've been bored...
And finally a hit. All of a sudden, after lots of moving around and casting, the line went mad and Jake tugged back. It was hard work, but all happened so quickly...
Whoo-hoo - Jake had hooked his very first tiger. A very teeny tiny tiger, but never the less, he was pretty chuffed with his catch. And I think Joe was very relieved...
Even this tiny guy had massive teeth and we were warned to keep our fingers well away...
Jake really enjoys the tranquility of being out on the water...
And so does his mom...
Can you tell he was chuffed??
Things started to heat up and Jake caught two Yellow Squeakers, which were hysterical - they make so much noise when you pull them out of the water...
And they're apparently a dangerous catch - their fins flick out and they have very sharp edges - they can even do serious damage to crocodiles...
Moving spots again...
Oh gosh, this boy is growing into such a handsome young man. I adore him and his adventurous nature...
Something pretty - two little bee eaters...
And then we did some more waiting...
And finally, Jake had another strike! Can you see the fish jumping out the water over there? Not only do they have huge teeth, but tiger fish are very aggressive and they put up a serious fight...
Joe helping Jake to unhook the fish...
And then it was photo time - that's a really decent size fish...
Jake took advantage of the opportunity to properly check out the fish...
He was thrilled to actually be able to see a tiger fish up so close and to be able to hold it in his own hands...
Seriously - would you put your fingers in there???
One last shot, before this guy was released back into the water. All catch and release...
Hippos bobbing in the nearby waters...
Thumbs up Jake, what a champ!
Because we only had 2 nights and so one full day in Victoria Falls, we went straight from the fishing trip, to see the falls with the rest of our group. I absolutely loved the Victoria Falls town. It's small, but busy and has some great restaurants and shops for us to refuel and stock up in. The walk from our beautiful campsite in the town to the falls took about 15 minutes. There were lots of animals to enjoy along the way too! Below is a warthog sniffing through the rubbish that the baboons had pulled out the bin (by the way, these are Jake's photos again)...
The baboons walk around pretty much undisturbed...
This photo feels like it needs a star to cover the boy bits, but it's super clear and that face is so perfect...
The very big daddy baboon...
A bee on a flower...
And another pretty flower...
Eventually we reached the falls. They were in full flood and the spray that was coming off them soaked us through in no time...
Jake with Brian and Rafael...
A statue of David Livingstone...
Another angle of the falls...
We were very impressed...
One of the little falls before the main event...
It was unbelievably hot and very humid, so we took plenty of breaks for the kids (and adults)...
My bean pole, walking through the park, with the falls on his left...
The park is so well designed and you can walk the entire length of the falls (1.6km)...
There's Jake and me sopping wet with the falls in the background - the spray totally washes the images out...
Admiring the first part of the falls...
This is possibly the best view we had of the actual falls. Because they were in full flood, we actually saw less then if they weren't flooded...
Can you see how wet Jake is. The picture's not even very good, because we were in a real rain forest...
Walking with Brian and Rafael through the rain forest...
Jake with Nic and Ariana...
There is apparently enough water going over the falls every minute to sustain Cape Town indefinitely. You have no idea what it felt like to stand there and watch it fall over the edge - I wish we could build a pipeline...
Besides the volume of water, the sound is unbelievable. It's so loud...
Another unsuccessful attempt at getting a photo of the falls in the background...
We only too our Welcome photo at the end of our tour...
A sign to show how far away from home we were...
This is a view of the river further down from the falls...
So. Much. Water...
Pretty flowers in our campsite...
That night we went out for a good buffet meal at a restaurant called The Boma...
We were each dressed up in a sarong...
And were welcomed by traditional dancers...
Jake and the boys...
Part of the fun of The Boma is that they serve Mopani worms. The kids had all worked themselves up a bit about eating them. Brian and Ariana had already had them on a previous trip to the same restaurant, but Jake had a few things to prove...
The worms in question...
The morsel selected...
Nic helping to get Jake to do it...
In it goes...
Jake tells me that it tasted a bit like an old bicycle tyre...
Not looking too well, but he got a certificate for his efforts...
Actually, he was very impressed with himself for doing something that he knew his mother never, ever would. He did stop after one, where as some of the kids had 6 or 7...
The next day we began our long trip on to Mana Pools. Below is a baobab tree with leaves on it...
One thing that really struck us, especially driving through rural Zimbabwe, is how poor the country is. There are so many people selling things on the side of the road in the hope of making just a little. This boy was selling baobab fruit that he'd collected on the side of the road for 25c (US) each. That's another thing. Zimbabwe has no cash. I mean none. You can't draw anything from the ATMs and they'll accept USD as payment, but if you get change in shops and things, it's always in Zim Dollars, which are worthless outside the country. I ran out of cash...
Baobabs lined up for selling. Obviously my child bought, because 1. He felt sorry for the boy selling them and 2. He actually likes the powdery, sour fruit inside...
Along the 300km (exaggeration, but not by much) of dirt road, we ran into some car trouble. Well, not us, but Nic. I'm not sure what happened, but he lost his breaks and his front wheel nearly came off. We were really in the middle of nowhere, but found some people, who said it wouldn't be a problem for us to camp on the school fields. It brought a whole new meaning to the word poverty. And it was a good eye-opener for our spoiled children to see where other kids have to go to school. They don't have bathrooms, but have fashioned some cubicles outdoors for boys and girls. They have a few simple mud buildings and some wooden structures to shelter in when the weather's not great.
And here are our four vehicles all set up for the night. Oh, I also forgot to mention that our group had increased to 4 again - the one family that were turned away at the Botswana border crossing due to visa issues, met up with us again in Vic Falls...
And despite the poverty, this is the beautiful sunrise that welcomed us from the school grounds the next morning...
I have loved looking through all our photos and sharing them here! I love how happy and relaxed Jake looks in all of them!
Hopefully the last ones will be up here tomorrow XXX
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