It seems as though there was an entire pod of hippopotami just across the water from us. Lion were also heard in the vicinity. We were presented with an amazing sandstorm all through the night which kept everyone awake and blew enormous amounts of sand into the tents. It was such a pleasure. It's quite remarkable where sand can end up sometimes!
The paddling this morning was such hard work. The headwind was very strong and we by lunchtime I was in a tired, annoyed state. The morning had one little entertaining factor. Kim stood up in his kayak to adjust his uncomfortable seating and somehow he lost his balance and to avoid flipping the kayak he leaped straight overboard in shallow waters - crocodile land. I found this particularly amusing as it was in calm water and Kim was disappointed, when rafting, that he didn't get flipped out of the raft on grade 5 rapids! It was quite a surprise.
We now stay at Chongwe Camp where the Chongwe River meets the Zambezi River, although in reality, at this time of year, the Chongwe is dry and the Zambezi flows into what should be the Chongwe. We've been warned that there may be hippopotami, baboon, lion or even hyena in the area tonight.
Ian and I will enjoy a bottle of red wine to celebrate our achievement of paddling 60 kilometres in two days. Well deserved I think. Tonight's talk from Paul, in the absence of Douglas, was about hippopotami.
I managed to break my thermarest mattress.
Copyright 2002 Helen Fuller. All rights reserved.