Please Ensure seatbacks are upright and tray-tables stowed for Take-off!!!

You have to admit that even when tied up to the bank it is an elegant piece of machinery!!

But today we got the idea to shoot something special. We decided, out of boredom really(cos the river is dirtier than ever), to get some pics of what a boat that's going 83kph on the Zambezi looks like. I'm not sure what exactly the boat tops out at, because when you're going that speed all you do is ''hou vas'' and hope that you see the dangerous flotsam far enough away to skid off to one side, but when I did get to look down I think it said 84.6kph on the GPS. Damn, it's fun when you trim it all the way up and the nose pops up to tell you that the only thing in the water is that mighty peice of stainless steel that's pushing you along at 5400rpm.

So now you've seen it. 'Simply Wild' in all her glory. I've clocked up about 7 and a half hours on the engine now, so on the next trip to town I'll get the right prop for the job. At the moment it's a little bit too much and doesn't have the hole shot I'm really looking for, especially when loaded. I'll probably drop the prop back to a 19/20pitch which'll help with the pickup but it'll lose me a bit on the top-end. But I'd rather have a boat that has a good allround performance than something that goes like a bat out of hell but can't get on the plain with more than two poeple onboard. Also now got to start thinking about the trolling motor and of course the sound. You can't go winding it up and down the Zambezi without the company of the Baha Men and 'Who Let the dogs Out?' now can you!!

Time for a D.Cap.mog and the sunset on the river......The Commodore;))

''Soopa-Blickie!!!''

The woes of the wet weather continue!! After another downpour last night, it's been all fun and games this morning with the 'jetty men' who clearly think that they're invincible!!
Having told them that it wasn't a good idea to leave this morning, the driver, who is about 108yrs old, thought he knew better and rounded up his mates and set off down the road. All the pics were taken not 250m down the road where they soon discovered that maybe the 'musungu' wasn't talking crap and that maybe the other day he stalled the offloading for so long because he knew that the road is like an ice-rink for about five hours after a rainfall. I don't even think that the best 4x4xMassia Figson could have done the trick this morning. Besides, I think the neighbour has had enough of the antics over the last three days as he told his supervisor that under no circumstances should he allow any of 'jetty men' to even think about coming and asking for help pulling the truck.
Haha!! we even almost managed to get the cruiser stuck and that's saying something. But I'll attribute that to the fact that 'The Man with the hands' bricklayer aka 'Soopa-Blickie'(see pic with guy wih enormous hands single-handedly pushing an eight tonne truck) kept breaking branches off trees and putting them in the road for traction. One such branch then lodged itself between my axle and hand-brake cable bringing a halt to proceedings in a rather sticky patch of clay. Thank goodness for Difflock!!
The morning show culminated in the truck driver's great skill in almost totalling the new gate!! Luckily some sandbags and stone were at hand to regain traction and get them round the gate with only millimetres to spare. But they're out now and determined to get back to Lusaka today. Good Riddance I say. As do my staff! Manson put it perfectly this morning when he said to me with an enormous grin on his face, ''Bwana, these people from town, they think they are very smart!''
We've warned them of a particularly sticky patch just up on the main road which they WILL get stuck in without any winching points nearby. But, they're still going to try. I have also given them strict instructions NOT to call me. If you want to do stupid things, do it in your own time!!!
On a lighter note, we've managed to get the jetty into it's final position this morning with relatively little effort and I've decided that it's going to look smashing once we get all the timber on it. The neighbours agree that seeing as it's got more floor space than some of the chalets in the lodge it's only fitting that we have a 'jetty wetting' when it's all done.

Look out for more fun&Games soon....got a vehicle that needs to get in this afternoon???...;))

I Command you to Let Loose...The Last of the Titans!!!

Right! For all of you who think that all we do here is sit around sipping D. Cap Mogs waiting for the right time of day to throw a line, you're sorely mistaken. The arrival of 'the biggest jetty in the valley' has seen some adventurous times for the wildtracks staff and I. And with some assistance from the neighbour and his generosity and patience in allowing us to tear out his gate to get the behemoth in the water, we have assembled, launched and floated the thing down to its new home on the river. It's fitting that such a mammoth achievement in engineering should find its home on the banks of the mighty Zambezi.

Tomorrow we'll try set it into it's final position. Barring no interuptions from Nyaminyami who threatened the noon's procedings with some omninous cloud cover, we will be able to start the decking on Monday when 'Super-Changwe' the carpenter arrives. On completion we should have approximately 45sq.m of deck space and enough mooring space for all the boats and then some. Still got a good long way to go with it but when it's all done it should be not only the 'biggest' but also 'the best'.

We've struck on hard times lately with the fishing. Some rather late torrential rain has managed to keep the river a very unattractive chocolate brown. It'll be a good few days before I get the chance to pull a decent one onto the deck. Won't be long though. And the arrival of the jetty and the whale of a time I've been having seeing just how wild 'Simply Wild' really is has kept my mind off the dirty water.
More pics will follow as the jetty takes shape and 'Simply Wild' lives up to her name......The Commodore;))

Evil Is Everywhere!!!

After a brief lapse in timely reporting, Intrepid reporter William Walitoompa is back on the case. And in an effort to make up for last week’s absence, I have decided on a double bill for the first instalment of March. I spared no effort in digging up these tantalising tales of trickery for you this week. The first ‘meanwhile’ article, although somewhat tragic caught my eye for its combination of witchcraft, wild beasties and shear stupidity. Although not directly quoted, the implication that witchcraft was the cause of both incidents is certainly there….Oh and where on earth do Egg-bushes grow anyway??
The Second had shades of ‘Ghost & the Darkness’ that were too tempting not show…

Hope you Enjoy them….Willy WaliT;))

Hen hatches baby turtles

A CHONGWE man who picked eggs from a bush thinking they were a guinea fowl’s and put them under a brooding chicken, was shocked when they hatched six tortoises.Kanakantapa village chairman Richard Sakala told Zambia Information Services (ZIS) that the incident happened last week in Shimwengwe village near Kanakantapa resettlement scheme.Mr Sakala said the named man, who also owns a farm in the scheme, was said to have boiled water and burnt the tortoises after noticing they were following the chicken. The village chairman said after hatching the tortoises the chicken ran away. He said the chicken was later killed by the owner.In another development, some villagers in Masansa area in Mkushi were reported ill after eating nshima allegedly prepared with stolen poisonous mealie meal.MMD district chairman Jonathan Kapungwe, who confirmed the incident to ZIS, said the victims got the mealie meal from a house in the neighbourhood.He said in a telephone interview that the incident happened at a named farm in Mkushi farm block.

LIONS TERRORISE CHOMA VILLAGERS

A PACK of lions is reportedly terrorising villagers in Macha area of Choma district.
Macha ward councillor Sylvester Mwaanga says the lions has so far killed two heads of cattle in an incidence that happened close to Nemfwe school in broad daylight.He said the lions were yesterday spotted heading towards the river but soon disappeared into the bush.
Mr Mwaanga said in Choma yesterday that villagers in the area had abandoned gardening and other economic activities fearing to be killed by the rampaging lions.He said school-going children and cattle herdsmen were the ones in greatest fear.
The councillor has appealed to the Zambia Wildlife Authority (Zawa) to quickly rush to the area and protect lives of people and livestock since police indicated they could not do anything about the situation.
He said this is the first time the man-eaters have been seen in the area.

''See that??....Back there!!''

Yes, Yes I Understand it's been over a week since the last big update on proceedings!! And we even missed the latest instalment from William Walitoompa. But this was all due to the huge delays with the arrival of 'Simply Wild'. Finally got the call on Friday and went up to Kafue yesterday to test it and for the big hand over.

And this morning having put a total of 2.5hrs on the engine, i finally got the chance to see what the beast behind me can do!! There is something deeply satifying about flying up the zambezi river at 47mph. I won't have the chance to see it's full potential untill it has about ten hours on it but for now, it might not be simple, but it certainly is wild!!

All else seems to be going along just fine. We've had another good weekend of 'visitas' and now that we have our licenses for the year and the season is back, tigerfishing will go back into overdrive. That is if the river gets a little cleaner. This morning has seen it go a beautiful chocolate brown?? So it'll be a few days before I pull the first tiger onto the deck of the new toy. It'll give me a little more time to figure out some of the fancy gadgets that you need a degree to understand or operate.

We're also certain that the big jetty will arrive sometime in the week, so next weekend will be full of drilling, varnishing and decking if we're to get it all ready in time for my first group of school children for the season.

Lookout for William Walitoompa this week, he'll be providing us with a double dose of evil beasties and bizarre wizardry.

Time to hit the water for a bit more adrenalin fueled fun........;))