june-2012

There’s nothing like paddling a canoe down the
crocodile-infested Lower Zambezi to clarify your position in
the food chain. Especially if you’re under close surveillance by
dozens of bug-eyed, territorial hippos who are spreading out
into a semi-submerged pincher formation just metres away.
Fortunately, guide and guru Ant Elton has a plan. “Over
there, paddle through the gap between that big bull and the
shore,” he whispers. “See those two crocodiles on the far sand
bank? Head towards them.”
Towards those fi ve-metre-long, prehistoric killing
machines?
“Yes. No. Stop!”
On the bank to our right, a hippo the size of a van barrels
out of the high grass and explodes into the water in front of
our canoe.
And disappears.
What’s he doing? Sharpening his tusks under the fragile
frame of our canoe? Planning a two-tonne highjack followed
by a tourist takeaway? Has he gone?
Guide Tanya Blake smiles from the other canoe. “He’s long
gone. You do know that hippos are herbivores.”
“It gets the adrenalin fl owing though, eh?” grins her
colleague Danielle Stewart.
Indeed. More nerve-wracking than a novice bungee jump.
So you learn hippo etiquette quickly in a Zambezi River
canoe: show lots of respect; keep your distance; don’t come
between a mother and her baby; watch out for high-diving
macho bulls…
56 Holland Herald
Musician in
one of Lusaka’s
many markets
Lusaka is a thriving
African capital that
doesn’t make concessions
for tourists. That’s a good
thing, but to understand
the city, you need
someone like Tobia
Tembo, a former street
child who has reinvented
himself as a guide.
Tembe can provide fi rstperson
insight into
townships where children
play in muddy streets,
charcoal markets thrive,
and the witch doctor is
always busy.
Dusty football pitches
provide fi elds of dreams;
murals celebrate the time
Oprah Winfrey came to
visit, and local artist
Misheck shows children
how to make trinkets from
discarded plastic.
But it’s the city’s markets
that blaze their way into
your memory. Thousands
jostle in and out of
hangar-sized buildings
bulging with second-hand
shoes, football shirts,
reconditioned mobiles,
books and baby clothes.
Outside, hot caterpillar
snacks roast in pans;, the
noise is deafening, the
sights bewildering, but it’s
undiluted Africa.
lusakaexperience.com