Awoke last night to see a fantastic image of the Orion constellation just over the horizon. Looked out of the tent but decided to wait for the faint cloud haze to pass. In the meanwhile I fell asleep again and a sandstorm started. How irritating.
Everyone was up bright and breezy and sandy. The breeze was still blowing and nobody was raring for it.
Partway along, Kim took a nosedive into the river whilst adjusting his seating. We saw plenty more hippo, storks, Goliath herons, crocodiles and water buffalo. Mostly at some distance, alas (maybe that's a good thing).
The wind was pretty stromg today and it was a great relief to turn into Chongwe river (spin [rather than turn] in some cases as the waters joined) and have only to paddle 20 yards to reach the camp. The whole time we've been paddling it's been downstream but into a headwind. Paddling upstream seemed like a bad idea.
Sudsa (maize) and roast beef for tea. Sudsa is the staple of Southern Africa and frankly I can't see why. It may be easy to grow and cheap but that's no excuse.
Saw some crocs loitering in the water -- you get to see them by torchlight reflecting in their eyes.
Chongwe camp S15.71619 E29.33869 Elev. 372m.
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.