I’ve been on the Zambezi River before, on a previous trip to Livingstone where I saw the marvel that is Victoria Falls and also took a boat ride but the sheer size of the river never really struck me until my recent trip to Lower Zambezi National Park this September/October. I spent 3 nights here and the Zambezi took my breath away, with its magnitude and speed alone… it is huge and it went on forever!
My first proper experience was the boat transfer to Chiawa Camp following my flight in to Royal Airstrip. This was a transfer (rather than a cruise), so we hit some good speed along the river and I was fighting to stop bugs getting into my eyes (I should have put my sunglasses on!) but it was brilliant… I just loved it! Racing along the river surrounded by the most wonderful, vast, wilderness was just fantastic. This wasn’t the only boat journey I got during my stay, I was fortunate enough to be driven up and down the river a few times going back and forth so I could see a number of camps – perhaps it was just the feeling of racing along a powerful river at speed – whatever it was, it was great.