Nambwa to Katima Mulilo and Houseboat 17 July 2012

After another cold night we packed up early and headed off to meet our houseboat which we will be traveling up the Zambezi river to the river for 3 days and 3 nights. The boys are very excited especially at the prospect of being able to fish. Its a slow drive out from Nambwa camp, but very beautiful by the side of the river. Lots of different antelope and baboons ( we think) line the banks for their morning drink. It takes an hour and a half to get to Katima Mulilo, the last major town before Botswana. It it on the Zambezi with Zambia on the opposite bank. This is one of the larger bustling towns we have been to in Namibia, but not overly interesting. We stock up on food for the boat trip, check our border permit and find the location of our houseboat. Curt the owner seems a bit stressed, we find out later that they are operating on South African time so we are late in departing. Curt give us a strong talking to about the dangers of hippos and crocs and we are off.
We see hippos and crocs almost immediately upon leaving, but after that it is mainly villages on the zambian side that we pass. Our skipper Daniel, a local guy, is keen to get up river as we have headed off quite late. We enjoy lunch, before heading up to the top of the boat for the warmth and great views. The boys are constantly going up and down. The boat is a bigger version of our car, with the tents for sleeping on top. A seat is also on top for excellent viewing of the world going by. It actually has a toilet and shower and little kitchen and stows our gear easily, it's all very self contained. After a couple of hours Daniel slows the boat down and the boys are able to trawl for fish but don't last long. We pull up onto a massive sandbank at what seems very early, and set up for the night. The boys are in heaven. They fish for dagger fish off the sandbank, although one was nearly caught,nothing got landed and make huge sand castles. Little baby birds are buried in the sand all around and their mothers are squawking over head unfortunately there are quite a few dead. A number of white fisherman speed past in their motorboats, whilst the locals are a lot more sedate as they pole past in their wooden mokoros, dug out wooden canoes. We have what the Africans call a Brie for dinner, traditionally known to us as a BBQ over the fire. The sunset is really spectacular, its all very ideallic. Gas lanterns are put out around us, and the boys fish for what Daniel calls bubble fish, or we know as cat fish using sausage as bait. The bait keeps disappearing but again, nothing is landed. The locals opposite bring down their cows for their evening drink which is really noisy with their cow bells and calling to each other. Again the temperature drops dramatically, but our tents on top of the boat are warmer and more comfortable than the ones on the car.

Location:Zambezi River