Sand, more Sand & No Rain!!

Another day, another posting, another update!!!
Mid Feb already and still no rain! At a guess, I’d say we’re a good 200mm behind and only a month or so to go. I’ll get the real figure from the neighbour in a week or two. Why I’m harping on about this is that on the weekend I saw the river lower than ever. Sand everywhere!! Very cool to see but not what one expects for this time of the year. I suspect the Hydro schemes are stalling as much as they can whilst they wait for the water coming from the Copperbelt and the West. I’ve heard Kariba is lower than it’s been for years.
For most places it’s been a bumper season though, with way above average rainfall. Some areas even being declared disaster zones. But here, nothing!
The dry weather though is just what I need. Leaky roofs mean that until I can get the thatch in, I’d rather not see the thunderheads that are so typical of this time of year. The roads having not been graded for two years have also taken a hammering so the less rain we get on them for now, the better.
The staff are hating the dry weather. Not only for the sake of their crops but also because it means work. We’ve put in 150 sand bags into the river so far and have another 1000 empties coming down on the weekend which we’ll fill and put in over the next two months or so in an attempt to stabilise the bank and stop the erosion at the staircase to the jetty. Next week also see the start of the obstacle course revamp which i need to have ready before the middle of march.
Low water spells a bit of trouble for the fishing too. Because I spend most of my fishing time spinning in shallower water, a drop in the river makes finding the right depth to fish a bit difficult. The locals say that low water pushes the tiger into the deeper channels, which is fine for drift-baiting but of course difficult to spin in because it's so much faster. The other problem is navigating the sandbars to get to your favourite spot (Spent an afternoon in January rescuing a stranded boat when he lost his engine after hitting a sandbar in dirty water. Needless to say, I was thankful for GPS when I had to navigate back in the dark without light), even if you think you know the river.
Going up to Lusaka tomorrow to check on the progress of the ‘biggest jetty in the valley’ again. As far as I know, all that’s left now is a lick of paint and then it’ll come down here for final assembly. Once it’s in place, we’ll start decking it and putting up the side rails and stuff. I’m well excited to see the finished result.
Until tomorrow....;)