| In September
1995, I spent three days at Ruckomechi
camp on the west side of Mana Pools National
Park on the shoreline of the Lower Zambezi
River. Ruckomechi is four-time winner of
Zimbabwe's "Best Safari Camp" award. It's
major draw cards are the view of the river
and Zambian escarpment, six different vegetation
types including acacia and mahogany forest,
diversity of wildlife including lion, leopard,
and a large elephant population, morning
and evening wildlife drives, wildlife walks,
canoeing, fishing, bird watching on pontoon
boats, open bar, three meals, cottage with
bed, private bathroom and shower, and the
bathtub on the river bank. The bathtub comfortably
fits two and has a spectacular view of the
river. In just three days, I saw 18 different
mammals including elephant, large herds
of buffalo, impala, waterbuck, and zebra,
and smaller numbers of baboon, bushbuck,
eland, hyena, jackal, kudu, nyala, sable,
warthog, wildebeest, leopard, and lion.
A male lion was spotted eating a fresh buffalo
kill. At night, a female leopard hung around
the camp stalking impala. During the day,
a herd of elephants came into the safari
camp to feed on the orange seedpods of Acacia
albida. I also recorded 118 bird species
including numerous aquatic birds and bee-eaters
nesting in shoreline cliffs. Fishing on
a catch and release basis was by speedboat,
all tackle and bait provided. I caught several
2-6 pound tigerfish
(Hydrocyon vittatus), one of Africa's
premier game fish. Tigerfish look like a
barracuda with the teeth of a piranha, only
the teeth are larger. It is not surprising
that piranha and tigerfish are in the same
family Characidae. Later that day, we received
instructions
from the guide and proceeded to paddle our
canoes along the Zambezi. There was a close
encounter with a lone male hippo that moved
unpredictably toward the riverbank and missed
the first canoe by a meter. A male hippo
injured in a territorial fight with another
male or a female with her calf are extremely
dangerous. Nevertheless, you should not be deterred
from the three night, 65 km canoe trip from
Ruckomechi along the shoreline of Mana Pools
National Park to Chikwenya
camp. |
