Day 93: Fishing in Lake Kariba – Caught Six Fish!

We woke up totally on edge. Ants were everywhere. Lobsy was nervous about the game drives. Teddy and I, who get along so well, were short with each other for I think the first time this whole trip! Ha!

I wrote our travel agent for Africa a note telling her about the baboon and elephants, and asking her to give our next safari stop a heads up that a nervous grandma was coming, and to please give us a guide who 1) over-explained everything and 2) showed us game from a comfortable distance whenever possible.

We also requested a second guide in the truck to ease her nerves. She quickly jumped on it and made the request.

She also mentioned that where other countries have two guides per truck, Zimbabwe doesn’t require it because the country has by far the most rigorous standards for guides and they’re so good they don’t need two.

We did some school and then enjoyed a wood-fire make-your-own pizza lunch on a lower terrace of the camp, which overlooks Lake Kariba.

When we went to our room to prepare for the afternoon activity, we dealt with our 19th total ant infestation and multiple giant spiders in our room.

“This place is losing me,” Teddy said.

A positive: As we had our afternoon tea up in the main area, we did notice that the vervets and baboons were conspicuously missing. When we asked multiple staffers about it, they shrugged passively and said, “They just aren’t hungry today,” or “I don’t know, sometimes they’re here, sometimes they’re not.”

But as we pulled away in the truck with our guide, we put the question to him. Without batting an eye he replied, “We sprayed.”

Ha! Pretty sure word got from my email to the travel agent to the management.

Lobsy, still on edge, opted to sit out the afternoon activity.

So the four of us went with Ntando to a pontoon boat on the lake, and captain Eddie took us out for a ride and some fishing.

It turned out to be a magical, fun afternoon, and we were totally at ease and in awe of the beautiful surroundings.

We hugged the shore and saw herds of elephants on lands and pods of hippos in the water. We also saw a giant crocodile.

James, Willa and Teddy baited up and fished for breem. Willa caught one and James caught five! He also snagged a tiger fish, which are carnivorous and have sharp teeth — apparently a very rare catch, so the guides were going crazy with excitement. We had to release that one after some pics, but the rest came back to the chef, who fried them into fritters.

It was a laugh-filled, memorable afternoon. At one point I turned to Teddy and quoted “Dumb and Dumber:” “Then you go and tooooootallly redeem yourself!”

The afternoon put us at ease and left us in a much better place.

We hopped back in the truck after that and were driven to a cool little setup by the shore with a bonfire and bar and snack with folding chairs and blankets. The other hotel guests were there. It’s too bad Lobsy missed it.

When we got back from the activity we had a quick video chat with Jon and Amelia back in Brooklyn. Always nice to see/talk to friends.