Wildlife

The Zambezi is flanked by some of the most alluring wildlife viewing locations on the entire continent. And as a rule, what distinguishes the Zambezi even more from other African safari destinations is that you do most of your game viewing from the water.

Nowhere is this so true as between Lake Kariba and Cahora Bassa Dam, a stretch of the Zambezi that is flanked to the north by Zambia’s 4090-square-kilometre Lower Zambezi National Park and to the south by Zimbabwe’s 2500-square-kilometre UNESCO World Heritage-listed Mana Pools National Park. These facing parks are dominated by the magnetic presence of the tropical waterway – a wide, shallow maze of meandering forest-lined channels, liberally dotted with sandbars and islands – set below a craggy extension of the Great Rift Valley known as the Zambezi Escarpment.

A canoe trip running downstream through this section over several days has to be the ultimate in Zambezian wildlife viewing. As you glide silently along the river, pods of hippo splutter and yawn around every bed, and gigantic crocodiles slither menacingly through the unexpectedly clear water. Reed-lined islands provide refuge to herds of buffalo and waterbuck, while venerable elephant bulls forage in shady riparian groves, unperturbed by the strange apparition of a passing boat. But the magic arguably has less to with actual wildlife sightings than the exhilarating immediacy of being right there, on the river, with neither an engine within earshot nor a window frame in sight.

Landscapes
Rising in the remote northwest of Zambia, close to the Congolese border, the Zambezi follows a 2754km-long course through Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique before it empties into the Indian Ocean. For the visitor, the scenic qualities along this route are considerable to say the least.

Wilderness and tranquility reign on Lake Kariba, whose shores are surrounded by craggy hills and haunted by the eerie, evocative call of the African fish eagle. For the truly adventurous, there is the Mozambican stretch of the Zambezi, which flows through the remote Lupata Gorge between Cahora Bassa Dam and Tete, then fans out into a vast impenetrable delta renowned for its dense buffalo population.

The most monumental of the river’s many landscapes, and Africa’s sole representative among a CNN-compiled list of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World, is Victoria Falls, the 1.7km-wide sheet of white water formed by the Zambezi as it crashes over a 100m-high precipice on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border. Roughly double the height and width of the Niagara Falls, it is also considerably less tainted by human ornament and artifice than its North American counterpart. Indeed, as seen today from several spray-doused and forested viewpoints on both sides of river, Victoria Falls retain the same wild, unspoilt aura they must have possessed on 16 November 1855, when David Livingstone, the first European to visit the site, suggested that “scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight”.

The waterfall is most impressive during February and March, when it flows at a rate of 500,000 cubic metres per minute, and kicks up a rainbow-tinted 500m-high plume that’s visible from 80km away – a visual and aural overload alluded to in its original local name Mosi oa Tunya (‘Smoke that Thunders’).

Culture & History
The Zambezi Valley has acted as a travel corridor since mediaeval times, when it formed the main trade route between the goldfields of Great Zimbabwe and the Swahili Coast ports of Sofala and Kilwa, with their maritime connections to Arabia and Asia.

Dating to this era, and continually inhabited ever since, riverside settlements such as Tete and Sena became significant Portuguese outposts in the 16th century, and would later be passed through by Livingstone on his pioneering 1850s journey from Victoria Falls to the Indian Ocean.

Despite its lengthy human history, the Zambezi is still sparsely populated for most of its length. In fact, there is only one town – the aforementioned Tete, the down-at-heel capital of the eponymous Mozambican province – that supports a population in excess of 50,000. Most settlements along the Zambezi’s banks are small traditional fishing villages. This has undoubtedly contributed to the river still providing sanctuary to some of Africa’s densest concentrations of hippo, crocodile, elephant and other big game.

Although humans don’t dominate the Zambezi’s banks, they can still steal the show in certain locales. In Western Zambia, for instance, the Lozi people of the Barotse Floodplain take part in one of Africa’s most remarkable traditional ceremonies. The Kuomboka is held annually towards the end of the rainy season –
late March or early April – when the Zambezi overspills its banks and floods the surrounding plains, forcing the Lozi King to relocate from his riverside compound to higher ground. After a day of hypnotic drumming, the king and his wife board their respective royal barges, his adorned with a life-size black elephant statue, hers by an outsized egret-like bird, and several dozen elders, attired in leopard skins and lion manes, punt them slowly to Limulunga, where a second compound is maintained 20km east of the river.

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Tributory Tributes
Chobe River
This river, the first major tributary to enter the Zambezi, actually has three names. Born as the Cuando, it rises on the slopes of Mount Tembo in the central plateau of Angola. From there it flows southeast along the Zambian border before crossing Namibia’s Caprivi Strip. Eventually forming the border between Namibia and Botswana, it then shallows out into the Linyanti swamps and marshes. From here, up to Lake Liambesi in the east, the river is known as the Linyanti. It has its final name change – from Linyanti to Chobe – as it flows out of Lake Liambesi. The Chobe then meets the Zambezi at Kazangula.

Where to visit: Chobe National Park (Botswana)
Made up of the Chobe riverfront, Suvuti and Linyanti marshes and the dry hinterland in between, this 21,000-square-kilometre national park is one of Africa’s greatest. Its elephant population, now a staggering 50,000, is thought to be unmatched in terms of concentration. Lion, leopard, hyena, zebra, wild dog and puku are other regularly viewed species in Chobe. As Botswana’s first national park, its infrastructure for visitors is well established, with three main camping sites and various lodges available at private concessions in Linyanti and Suvuti.

Luangwa River
The third of the Zambezi’s major tributaries is the Luangwa. Although its length tops 1000km, the Luangwa is still one of the most undisturbed and pristine rivers in the world. Unsurprisingly, there is an incredible variety of wildlife along its length. In fact, the Luangwa Valley is home to the world’s largest concentration of hippos. Rising at an elevation of 1500m in the Mafinga Hills of northeast Zambia, the river steadily drops in height as it flows southwest. By the time the Luangwa reaches Mfuwe the gradient has flattened and the river meanders across a 10km-wide floodplain. After the confluence with the Lunsemfwa River, the river exits the Luangwa Valley through a steep, narrow valley. The gradient again flattens before it joins the mighty Zambezi at the town of Luangwa. During dry season, sections of the upper Luangwa can dry out completely, while during the rains river levels can rise upwards of 15m.

Where to visit: South Luangwa National Park (Zambia)
With pure wilderness, first-class guiding and walking safaris, and incredible wildlife, South Luangwa is easily one of Africa’s greatest safari destinations. Covering almost 10,000 square kilometres, South Luangwa is dominated by miombo and mopane woodlands that support herds of elephant and buffalo, as well as a large population of Thornicroft’s giraffe. It is also one of the best places to see leopard, often in the act of hunting. There are thirty or so lodges, most of which cater to upmarket visitors.

Kafue River
The next major tributary to enter the Zambezi is the Kafue, the largest and longest river to have its entirety contained within the borders of Zambia. Almost 1000km in length, it starts as a trickle in marshy dambos just south of the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s not long before the river develops into a large, mature river. However, the stream narrows as it passes through the Copperbelt before widening again into meanders as it passes Lukanga Swamp. The nature of the river changes again before entering Kafue National Park, where it straightens into a sandy dry-season channel. After passing through the Itezhi-Tezhi Dam, the river gradient dies along the Kafue Flats, an area that supports tens of thousands of Kafue lechwe who’ve adapted to wading in the slow-moving water. Following the flats is the Kafue Gorge and its eponymous dam. The confluence with the Zambezi is 20km north of Chirundu.

Where to visit: Kafue National Park (Zambia)
The largest park in Zambia (Africa’s 2nd largest), it covers an impressive 22,400 square kilometres. Much of it consists of savannah grasslands and stands of miombo and mopane trees. However, the most enthralling section for visitors are the flooded grasslands, including the Busanga Swamp and Busanga Plains. Watch lion prides stalk puku along natural trenches on the plains, or leopards in the forested sections. There are a handful of quality camps that offer rewarding safaris for visitors.

Shire River
The last of the Zambezi’s major tributaries to join the Zambezi is the Shire. It flows just over 400km between Lake Malawi and the Zambezi, but if you include the lake and its headstream, the Ruhuhu, the length of Malawi’s most important river increases to almost 1200km. After leaving Lake Malawi, the waters of the Shire soon flow into Lake Malombe, which borders Liwonde National Park. From there, the Shire continues its way south, skirting the western edge of the park before eventually making its way through Elephant Marsh and later Ndinde Marsh. It was the rapids just north of Elephant Marsh that thwarted Livingstone’s first trip up the river in 1859. The confluence with the Zambezi is in northern Mozambique.

Where to visit: Liwonde National Park (Malawi)
This park is a must for any visitor to Malawi. Flanked by the Zomba Plateau to the south and the Mangochi Escarpment to the north, Liwonde straddles the gorgeous waters of the Shire. Although the elephant herds crowded by the river’s edge and the omnipresent hippos bobbing in the blue waters will put a smile on your face, it’s the peaceful vibe of the park – entirely due to the sluggish waters of the Shire and the lush vegetation that feeds off them – that will stay with you. There are a couple of lodges to choose from, but Mvuu, which sits on the Shire’s edge, is your best option.