Zambezi Wild Chaps

Like Sands Thru The Hour Glass.....................

2010-04-26T20:51:00.009+02:00

I'll tell you one thing for free........... Nothing worthwhile happens overnight!! If any of you expected to see a whole bunch of blogging going on everyday for the past 'little' while then you spend far too much time on google and your facebook and not enough time getting what needs doing done!!!

Man, I can't believe it's been two years since a post was posted on this pesky thing. Best thing though is that for the 5 million or so loyal viewers, this is as good as a beetles reunion or the ressurection of 2Pac........Hahahaha, I wish.

Nonetheless,The Colonel & The Commodore & The Dcap, take great pleasure in bringing to you what may be considered the Wildchaps Revival Tour. Starting May 2010, we pledge to bring to you the latest and greatest of the Zambezi Valley. The Ups, the downs, The highs & lows, The Skinder & Scandal. We gonna hold no punches, give it to you raw and unscensored. These are after all , The Days of Our Lives!!!!

Willie WalliT'll be comin out the woodwork too, more wordly and more epically eccentric than ever before. He promises me that he has scoured the continent of Zambia for some of the juiciest little tit-bits and will entrigue us with each and every story.

At the end of the day though, I was going thru some of the stuff I've jotted down over the past while and came across the following little piece that I put together a while ago. It still stands true, and possibly more so today than ever before. Thought It might be worth the read. Hope Y'all enjoy.
Take it easy. If you can't take it easy, play it safe.....and if you can't play it safe.............Buy a Pram!!!

The Commodore;))

THE EVOLUTION OF THINGS.....................

Good old Charlie Darwin & his Cronies spent a whole bunch of months sitting on a boat coming up with the whole theory that for anything to survive in its environment it needed to change and adapt. Well kind of. The intracacies of C.D's whole theory is too taxing on my keyboard co-ords and well, just too intellectual to go into on this little brain vomit of ours. However, just like Charlie and his mates, I've spent a little time on a boat pondering The Evolution of Things. 'Things' generally being 'WildTracks'. And this is where things have led:

It's often difficult at close range, to see whether or not you're getting somewhere with something or not. It's that whole 'bigger picture' or 'wood from the trees' idea. When you eventually take a little bit of a step back, BAMM!! Suddenly it'll smack you up the left side of the head. Today's been kinda lke that. If you spend the whole of a public holiday traipsing about getting yourself in a Tizz about the stoopid pumps that leak and the patchy lawn or 'things' still to be done or better yet the lazy chaps you employ, you can feel.....well, BAD. But! Sit back in the evening and drift past it all on the boat & By Cheesus it's coming on!

It's taken some time, it's taken some effort. But, I think that with an extra bit, it can and will be something! And that's all I have to say about that

Can you believe that with a break from blogging of goodness knows how long, that's just about all I have news on. Over the past months, I've barely had time to wet a line, squeazed a few school groups through & pretty much spent the better part of everyday putting stuff together or on the road. Been fun though!!

The time I have spent on the water has been well spent though. Have taken some killer pics with my new toy(and missed a few too). But although I'll never admit that there are other ways apart from fishing to enjoy an afternoon on the boat, I will say that when the fishing is off, a few snaps are a fine way of amusing one'self.

Just for kicks, here's a little something I dug up from Willy T's archive. Watch out for the Slithering Seprentine Seed of Satan!

Enjoy!!

The Commodore;))

Snake bites girl, 17, in church

By Times Reporter

A SEVENTEEN-year-old girl of Lufwanyama is admitted to Kitwe Central Hospital after she was bitten by a snake which crept into a church building during Sunday worship.
The incident happened in the morning when Mika Washeni of Chief Lumpuma’s area was congregating at a local Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The snake slithered into the hall unnoticed and bit the girl on the hand as she was praying.
The girl screamed and caught the attention of the congregants who immediately killed the serpent.
Hospital public relations officer Gray Chishimba confirmed the incident in an interview yesterday.
He said the girl was taken to the hospital by members of of the Church after administering traditional medicine. He described the condition of the girl as stable.

I Am Not The One!!

2008-04-23T17:27:00.011+02:00

The trick with us Africans is that no matter what goes on, we've always got an excuse with which to shift the blame or 'pass the buck', so to speak. And if there's one thing I've learnt living on the river, it's that there's no excuse too far fetched. As long as you insert some element of truth, you can get away with pretty much anything. So as always, I'll start this off with an excuse proportionately far fetched to explain my extended absence:

''But you see Bwana's/Madame's(tick appropriate), sometime back the rains they came and made incredibo' probrems four us guys here.....They have cause'd everything to four down and we have expended the passing months to make the necessary prans and lennovations of which most are ongoing to this date...These lains have also caused communications probrems with the computa systems. But we have managed to lid these systems of the gremrins and are now ready to continue with our updates. Meanwhile, we were forced to celeblate the festivities of chlismass andi also easter. We are very sorry for any inconvenience we have caused within this period. We are wekkin on the probrem andi will be up and lunning anytime from now.''

So there you have it. Not as creative as some of the excuses I've heard, but suitable I'd think for the extended absence. Take what truth you like out of it, the rest I'll try summarise into this update.

Okay, formalties over, let's get on with it. We have indeed had what one can only describe as nothing short of Biblical rains this season. You wouldn't know it if you came to the valley now though. Man the bush dries out quickly once the rains stop.

So, as most of you who know us will already know, we've had to take down half of the camp and go in a new direction. The replacements for the treehouses will now be Meru tents which'll hopefully be here and ready for installation by the end of next week. The rest of the rennovations will go pamono-pamono and will include, a new dining area, a few more tents and the odd bits and bobs around just to make the place a little more 'lodgy'. But for now, progress is impressive and I'm looking forward to the finished product(not that one's ever happy that you've reached the end-product) very much. We've also gone along with things like the staff quarters, finished off the campsites, redone the back of the kitchen and even managed to fix the saggy roof problem we had on the back of the Boma. There are all the little things too, but then most of you aren't interested in that sort of rubbish. At the end of the day, we've got till the 1st of June to get to operational status. A push at this point, but it has to be done and I believe with a few more of the 8hr 'go-come' trips to town, we will manage it.

Otherwise we've had the usual fun & games that go with River Life. A few staff shorter than I used to be and picked up a few stragglers along the way, have left me wondering about the wise old guy that came up the 'better the devil you know' concept. But that too, will be sorted out as time marches on.

In all the chaos there has of course been the odd afternoon or evening to spend wetting a line or taking a few 'snaps' with the new toy. Most noteworhty of late are the 9 & 10kg Cornish Jack we've finally managed to work out how to fish for. Definitely not the hardest fighting fish, but a worthy quarry on a small bream stick and 10lb line. Add to this the 10 million sqeakers, silver barbel and the odd 'zesco' barbel, and it's not too bad a night out when you have nothing better to do. So the season's not too lacking in fish. That's if you ignore the fact that the Tiger that make the Zambezi the angling destination it is, are sadly lacking!! But then maybe we just don't know what we're doing. Haha, not likely!! I like to think that the rains've messed it all up and the super high water is interfering. Well that's what the locals say anyway(last year I was complaining about low water...will we ever be happy??)

All in all, things on The Mighty Zambezi aren't half bad. Our only real irritation presently is that pesky pontoon thingy. If they're not having lunch or morning tea or breakfast or some other form of break, the damn pontoon is on 'break' or more precisely broken. When it does work, it's pretty extreme!! There's nothing quite like the exhilaration of putting your landcruiser on a half-sinking steel bathtub with tractor engines on it and hoping that it's going to make it to the other side of the river. At the moment we get our money's worth though. The 'seagulls' they've got on it for engines aren't strong enough to tackle the torrent that is the Kafue River, so we end up halfway down towards the confluence. Haha, I had to feel for the poor guys who got their vehicles stuck on it just before easter and ended up moored to the bank 300m downriver for three days when one of the engines packed in.

Well I guess that if anyone has managed to read the through the whole of this ramble, they deserve a pat on the back...pat pat!!!

If you just read the beginning and looked at the pictures and read the end....Good Job, the middle was boring!!

I'll try get hold of something from good old WillyT's archive in the coming updates. For now though, watch out there now!!......The Commodore;))

Try Spinning!!!!

2007-10-05T18:52:00.000+02:00

One kinda hoped that France were holding the World Cup for Slackers instead of Rugby at the moment...Alas they're not!! So, the Wildchaps will just have to wait till it becomes an olympic sport before entering......On that note, I'm truly sorry for the silence. Hey, look at it this way, if it were truly golden, then we'd be rich as &^$%!!!..haha

What the past six weeks have done though is given me an epic tale for y'all...So grab a d.cap.mog, sit back, and enjoy the tales of Africa.

I figure, as always, it's best to start from what's freshest in my mind....

We've just finshed our latest group of kids. Good week!!! This'd be the second year we've done the leadership program for older students and all went off without a hitch. Either they were really well behaved, or just sneaky enough to get away with stuff without us noticing, I'd like to think it was the former. But an awesome week by any means(we've still got the second half of them at the end of the month though???). I did manage to show this lot how to catch a tiger on command though, which impressed them no end.

Speaking of the tiger. Last week got me a season record!!! Alas, it was, as always, below that elusive 7kg mark, but i reckon 6.8kgs and close on 30minutes of doggish fighting is as good as any man can ask for. Sadly, after a fight like that, I was unable to revive the beast but he went a long way to providing us with the tastiest of treats over a few days.

Generally speaking, summer has hit us with a vengeance and it's brought with it some awesome fishing. Plenty is to be had on all fronts. Except of course the Cornish Jack thingy!! We tried again this full moon and struggled endlessly. Between the mozzies and the squeakers, we're not entirely sure who won out, but it sure as hell wasn't myself or the neighbours !!!

Going back to the week gone by quickly, we had rather a disturbing experience. Something I can't infact joke about!! Anyone who's ever spent time on a boat in Zambia(or freshwater for that fact), knows that very few poeple wear their 'kill-switch'. But, mid-week, I discovered what it's there for. To cut a long story short, we had to rescue some zimbabweans from the water after they came off their boat. Relatively harmless sounding??? Until you see the violence with which a boat goes round and round and round and round without anyone controlling it. Pretty hectic I tell you!!!! But at the end of the day, we were lucky to get everyone involved out of the water safely and they even managed to get the boat back after it eventually ploughed into an island somewhere downstream. Needless to say, I have a new respect for the little red rope I'm s'posed to put round my wrist when driving!!!

As far as other things go, we've abandoned the previous builder(I won't comment on here) and I'll be doing the buying next week in Lusaka for the new guy. After that it's full steam ahead with the renovations and stuff.

Haha...Renovations??? How about rebuilding?? At the moment it seems that everything I look at needs to be redone. We won't talk about the thatch yet cos that's coming soon, but the other day we discovered that due to the staff's 'ingenuity'(i.e. laziness) in deciding not to put the leaf trap in the weir of the pool(cos the filter has one?????) the intake pipe got sooooooo blocked up that we had to dig the whole thing up and pretty much re-do the piping. Idiots!!! I s'pose I should've pre-empted it...but then one can't micro-manage everything??

Mmmmm...hahaha, the list of things that've gone on recently is endless.......take for instance last weekend's trip to town. All keen to do the shopping and not so keen for town I thought I'd leave on Saturday morning at 7am and be back on Sunday afternoon......All well and good?? Until the water pump on the cruiser packed up just after the Kafue Bridge. Stupid thing!!! That put a 3hr delay on my trip which meant a:) I missed the bank, b:) I then had to fight with shoprite to let me pay by check and c:) ?Just a rubbish trip to town........Wake up Peter!!! You Live in Africa...nothing ever goes as planned!!!

Haha, just thinking about Kafue........A couple of week's back, late as usual, I managed to once again have myslef arrested for 'extremerry' dangerous driving. The best part of this experience is that it took the 5'0's all the way to the road-block to catch up with me for an offence I allegedly committed in Kafue town(10km back.....they did phone the raodblock though and I had everyone waiting for me in full uniform, hi-viz, gloves and all!!). Looking back, the only sin I'd committed was passing(a truck going 15kph) on a solid white, not a curve as the fuzz claimed. But then at 17h00 one is not exactly in a position to argue. Ultimately, the most amusing part of the 'negotiation' was when the officer asked me if I would be 'comfortable' if they jst put me in cuffs as an act to show they'd arrested me?????

Man, I'm starting to realise why blogging on a regular basis would benefit me in the long run....this here thang is turning into quite a novel??? And for that reason, I'll fill you in on the other amusing things that've happened(the croc ppl's arrival, Kairara,etc.) when I can over coming weeks.....for now though, it's onto forthcoming attractions....

October is here!!!!! And that means one thing......'Friends only'....As it stands it seems the 'Wildchaps' team, will be only Two ( Myself & Captain Kevin ''mos' deadly'' Macaulay) but I am most confident that we will, as local boys, put on a mighty show and teach the Baha Men from 'the other side' a lesson. We will have to wait and see though, last time I promised potential, we failed miserably. But, come the 20th, we will be M-en O-f S-erious I-ntentions!!!!

Once again my friends, I'm truly apologetic for the slackness, I will indeed try harder in coming weeks to fill you in...

For now though......Rock the boat.....The Commodore;)

Gearing up!

2007-08-20T21:59:00.000+02:00

In amongst the preparations for this fortnight's two 5night school camp's, laying water pipes and prepping the new croc site for power & lawn and then of course the obligatory d.cap mog soaked, meaningful, solve all the problems in the world by 2am on Saturday morning, conversation with the bwana, I finally made it out on the water on Sunday afternoon for a test run of the new 'seaclet weepon'. After some not so professional fishing and bloodshed from a wayward cast which caught the wrong side of a rather thorny tree, I finally got serious and tempted this bull of a fish to come out from behind a stump for a tasty treat. Funnily enough, the cast itself was into a hole a croc had just come out of. The fifteen odd minutes that followed had me wondering at times if what I had on the end of the line was in fact a croc, vundu or anything other than 11lbs of tigree. This cheeky bugger stayed well out of sight till just before we netted it. Not a record, but certainly an excellent fight that had me thinking that if it was a tiger, I was finally going to break that elusive 7kg barrier I've come so close to but just can't seem to pass. Whatever size it was, this one and the other strikes I had for the afternoon proved that come the warmer weather and upcoming 'challenges', my new rig is going to devastate the tiger and the competition.

I wasn't the only one to take a noteworthy Tiger this weekend. In fact, when all was said and done, mine was a full pound less noteworthy than that of the Bwana. His 12lber was taken right in front of the lodge on Saturday afternoon and I watched on in horror and jealousy from the boma as it was hauled onto the deck. My only retort to this outrage is that the 12 was taken on a bait whereas the 11 was some classy presentation of a carefully prepared artificial lure, the nature of which I shall not reveal until it is too late for the 'Okavango Okes' to do anything about.

I'm looking forward to spending a bit of time on the water on Saturday afternoon once the latest group departs, honing my skills and seeing what excitment the warm weather and clear water will bring for us.

Moving away from the fishing now and onto the lodge, it seems for now the jumbo have given up digging the water pipes up and are content to just mill around on the property looking for natives to chase or crops to destroy. That's not to say they won't get bored of that and come back to annoying me soon. My latest scheme is to pipe water into a favorite rainy season hippo wallow just outside the campsites to try give them something else to amuse themsleves with. But with the lights and power going into the camping areas this weekend, they should behave a bit better from now on anyway. We'll see!!

Haven't heard much from the builders of late. But they should be or should I say will 'hopefully' be in close to the end of the month to do the long overdue renovations and maintenance on the buildings. Once that's done, we'll be on the right track and better equipped to handle the latest surge in popularity we're having.

For now though, we plod along with the usual routine....Adios Hombres;)) El Commodorrey

The Okavango-Zambezi Challenge

2007-08-13T10:51:00.000+02:00

It's been talked about for a long time, but it seems that the boys from the Okavango Delta may finally make it up to the Zambezi to experience some real tigerfishing and to take on the Zambezi Wildchaps at their own game. Will they succeed?

There's been some big talk from the 'Okavango Okes' (their own moniker) but the time is coming when they will have to put their money where their mouths are and show us whether or not they can actually cut it when it comes to chasing those elusive striped water dogs on a real river, or does swamp fishing just entail sitting on an Aliboat, drinking St Louis and waving sticks in the air?

So who's in the challenge?

The Vrdoljak brothers from Team Wildchaps have not been seen on the river together since January, but will still be a force to be reckoned with. The drift fishing technique honed by Pete has proved extremely effective in the past in generating plenty of strikes and some decent sized tiger in the boat. They do of course have home ground advantage, but will this be enough? It could be a tough challenge for the Wildchaps, as there's a lot of pride at stake here.

The Okavango Okes are all ex-members of the crocodile research group in the Okavango and have all spent many hours on the river in Bostswana. In amongst their hectic research schedule they also (allegedly) found some time to develop some fishing skills too.

It's also been a while since the Okes were all on an Aliboat together, so hopefully they haven't lost the touch. Sven 'Grandpappy' Bourquin is finally making the big trek from the Cape to the river this year after many months in front of his PC. Vince 'Vincemate' Shacks is the only team member whose had a chance to keep his hand in with weekend expeditions in the delta, but has he been using that time to practice casting or lifting a beer can? Big Kev Wallace will have spent a bit of time at his new home on the Zambezi, so he may be able to provide the Okes with some valuable Zambezi intel, or at the very least knock together some comfy furniture for the team with his carpentry skills developed during his sojourn in the UK.

What's it all about?
It's all about the tigers of course, and who can get the biggest in the boat! No idiot bait-fishing though, any monkey from Mungwe point can drift down the river dragging a fillet while blasting 'Who let the dogs out?' to all and sundry. House rules are strictly lure-fishing only and catch and release.

December is not exactly prime fishing time as the teams will potentially have to deal with extreme heat, dirty water and wayward Zimbos on the river on top of the usual challenges of chasing tigers, but if everyone is as good as they say they are this should just add some spice to the competition. At the very least December fishing in the past has provided some good times out on the water and in camp, so it ought to be a goody! This will hopefully be the first encounter in a continuing series that may see the Wildchaps trying out their skills in the Delta some time in the future.

We'll keep you all posted!

Looking back....Moving Ahead!!!

2007-08-11T08:27:00.000+02:00

If the passing of two full moons counts as many, then it has indeed been 'many moons' since the last update from the river. And under those many moons, much has happened! The silence then due to this increased activity, and not, as some may suspect, in fear of commie spies picking up on sensitive info which may be passed in code from the wildchaps to our army of followers.

The great trek down the Leopard's Hill Road has come and gone. Much sweat and surprisingly few tears were shed over the 50 gruelling kilometres and two nights.

The first night was spent just below Mfundashi mountains in a secluded grove of trees off the road, next to a small river bed. Giving the cyclists a much needed sleep before the up & down of Mfundashi the following day.

Day two's camp was a little less impressive in some sparse mopane woodland somewhere on the valley floor. But it did the job. A Rhombic night adder of size, gave that little extra excitment when making camp.

Day three saw the cyclists doing the longest yet easiest leg back to the camp. Much needed showers and comfy beds were well recieved by all.

The expedition was a roaring success, topped off with what I am told was a magnificent two nights on various islands down The River by canoe. Definitely something that is worth another trip or two in the future!!

Onto all things lodgy. Things have plodded along merrily for the past while. An increase in weekend activity and the odd school group or two has kept everyone on their toes. In amongst all the hubbub, we continue with our endeavours to try get somewhere with maintenance and improvements. The builders have been down to have a look and hopefully all things going according to plan will begin their part within the next few weeks. I've also met with a thatcher who once again is trying to con me into paying insane amounts of money to rethatch the camp. I understand it's going to be expensiv anyway, but the costs we are looking at at the moment are going to force us to explore other avenues, at least for the treehouses anyway. The rest of the camp we'll just have to swallow hard and get it done. Another rainy season with the 'sieves for roofs' we've got at the moment, will not be pleasant.

Most exciting, is the arrival of the 'Earthwatchers' end of the month. They'll be spendingat least two years with us as a base of operations for their croc research. We're definitely looking forward to having them here. If nothing else, at least there'll be some regular company as opposed to the usual touri who breaze in and out.

On the fishing side of things there's been precious little time to actually get out on the water and fish. The time I have spent out there is time with other people and having to dodge flayling Effzets and untangle lines or land fish leaves little more than a cast or two for myself when the 'Effzet Ninjas' have given up flayling. That's not to say there haven't been fish. A few nice 8-10lber's have been boated of late so there is still hope for a good cold season. I'm hoping to hit the water tomorrow afternoon an mount a serious assault om some of the runs just down from the camp where the Ninjas have been losing out on some good strikes.

Sticking with all things Wild for a bit. Our recent plague of Jumbo in and around the camp, is showing no signs of letting up and every night they seem to get a little bolder. Their latest trick is to frollick in the water below chalet I in the early evening before they move off into the campsite for some fun & games trashing trees and fiddling with my water pipes. It's great to have them here, but they can be a bit of a menace at times. Had an incident on Thursday morning with a youngish bull who decided the cruiser wasn't going to pass untill he'd done enough shouting at it for it to know that he's the boss.

Ah, most exciting news!!! Yes, I have my cruiser back. The old tank is looking spiffing with her 'maluti white' paint job, flat black chassis and chrome flicker unit. Alas at the moment, the pimp flicker is only one, but just as soon as the other arrives and I find some time to have a new bull-bar fitted, it'll be pimped out and ready to cruise the Lower Zambezi, head held high. It is nice though to have the practicality of the cruiser back and be able to cart insane amounts of sand for the bank again.

Upcoming events include the annual Kairara Gova festival in early September which this year is being held for three full days to celebrate the Chieftainesses 20th year of reign. We've also got the first hosting of 'Friends Only', a fishing compo to be held in October. That one should be a goodie!!!

So for now, or for as many moons as it takes for me to get round to filling you all in again........Take a leaf out of Team Member Sven's book(above) and Take it easy...The Commodore

Under Pressure!!

2007-06-15T20:14:00.000+02:00

I am most disgusted (as I'm sure most of you are) that I don't have a picture of the jetty in all it's glory!! For the endless months and harping on about it, you'd expect me to have hundreds of them. Alas, I have only the unvarnished product, but I'm sure you can envisage the finished version. I will try remember to pop down tomorrow and get some of it.

Things have been ploddong along merrily for the last week or so. The most recent group of kids, had (or at least led to me to believe they did) a wonderful time. It was refreshing to have such a small and interactive group.

School's out for a bit, so it's giving me a spot of extra time in camp as opposed to being on the road or roaming around Manda Hill doing the shopping. And excting things are happening!! Today (and I don't know why I'm so excited about it but I am!!), we managed to install the 'uber'-pressure pump, which has been a roaring success (for now??) and boosted the water pressure phenomenally. I'm still waiting for the blowout and frustrating aftermath though cos the installation was a little tooo smooth. But fingers crossed it'll all stay as is and present no further problems. This does of course mean that we are in a different league to other lodges (well at least according to The Madam's philosophy) as we are now a lodge without, or at least with very few water problems....Haha, I hear ominous music and drumrolls followed by 40days and 40nights of burst pipes, no water or some other frustration concerning H2O...

Other Excellent news is that last weekend was well spent sitting in the empty pool trying out all manner of Pratley products on the cracks. For now(and that's a big FOR now), the pool is not leaking....at all. So now that we've already crossed fingers for the 'Uber'-pump, it's time to cross toes or something for the pool and bank movement.

Does it sound like I've had any time for fishing?? I'll admit that although I've been 'lus' to put the boat in the water, I've been lazy!! Not only that, I've been feeling a bit downtrodden having destroyed 4 rather costly fishing rods in as many weeks. Granted three of them were as a direct result of 30tonnes of cement, and the other succumbed to the jaws of 'The Hound', but it has nonetheless dampened my fishing spirit. It's somewhat encouraging though that the afternoon boat for this week's camp lost 5 good fish in two hours so I've tentatively set aside Sunday afternoon for some Simply Wildness and going to launch a Diabolical assault on the Tigrees.

In parting, here's something a little something I dug out of Intrepid WW's stash, I'm not entirely sure if it's been in before. My apologies if it has.....

For now, Under Pressure, The Commodore;))

Suspected thief blinded

AN instant justice mob of Mupata village in Mpulungu on Tuesday night beat up and pierced the eyes of a suspected thief from the same village after he allegedly attempted to steal from the house of one of the villagers.
A check by ZIS at Mpulungu police station today found the unnamed man lying in pain with a blood-smeared face as a mob of angry youths chanted slogans in solidarity with the action taken against the man at a distance.
One of the youths spoken to expressed satisfaction at the action of the villagers saying the suspect was known for his thieving activities.
He said the action would also serve as a warning to all those contemplating thieving activities in Mupata, a village notorious in theft cases.
The suspected thief was only saved by patrolling police officers last night and police say they have launched investigations in the matter.-- Zana/ZIS

The Tough Get Going!!!

2007-06-03T21:10:00.000+02:00

Right!! In an attempt to get back into the habit of blogging on a regular basis, I have decided to try come up with some worthwhile news of the weekend past.

In light of the last couple of weeks/months, the weekend was gloriously quiet. Almost uneventful infact. That is of course if you ignore the fact that Super-Changwe has once again worked his magic around camp. 'The Biggest Jetty in the Valley' is now looking smashing. All that's left is the lighting and gangplanks. His two week stint has lifted morale and finished up some well overdue work.

Speaking of 'Super-Changwe', it seems his departure may be somewhat delayed. The 'uneventful' weekend was interupted this afternoon, firstly by a visit from 'His Excellency' the Ambassador of France(completely off the point but it's nice to name drop), and then a phone call from the neighbour to ask for a lift. Yup, the great new speedy pontoon has ground to a very expected halt and thus my afternoon of really very RUBBISH fishing was pleasantly disturbed by a trip to the pontoon to fetch the neighbours. Optimists say they'll have it running by tomorrow afternoon. Realists, are banking on about a week. I'm hoping for somewhere in the middle. Let's say Wednesday or Thursday.

Other than the excitment of bombing up the River at 85kph, we soldier on. The great winter swimming pool repair seems to have been a bit of a disaster, but we'll right that before the next trip up to town. If worse comes to worse, we'll be using the Leopard's Hill 4X4 adventure road more often than expected from now on.

Just for fun, I dug up something Willy brought in a while back. Something my neighbour's been struggling with for the last month or two...

Till next time, in the words of Billy Ocean, 'When the Going gets Tough....'......:)) The Commodore

Siavonga harvest under threat from jumbos

By Times Reporter

THE Catholic Commission for Peace and Justice (CCPJ) in Siavonga district has said people in the area will continue depending on relief food if elephants destroying fields are not cropped.
Lusitu CCPJ branch coordinator Robson Simweemba said people in the area worked hard to ensure that there was enough food for them but the harvest was under threat from the elephants.
Mr Simweemba said the elephants were now destroying crops which survived the recent floods that swept away maize, millet and sorghum early this year.
“Elephants in Lusitu area of Siavonga district are destroying crops. What this means is that if they are not cropped then even this year there will be hunger in the area,” he said.
Mr Simweemba said the animals were not only threatening food harvest but also human life.
He said last month a young boy was almost crushed to death by an elephant when it found him scaring animals using an empty tin.
Mr Simweemba also said sorghum seeds which Care International gave to peasant farmers were not good for regions like Lusitu because they were the late maturing type.
The branch coordinator said people needed fast maturing crops because the area did not have a long period of rainfall to last up May.

Heavy Going!!!

2007-05-31T20:46:00.000+02:00

My friends!! Too long it has been since you last heard from us at The River. For this I apologise!! Things have been beyond insane for the last month or so. Rather than start at the beginning, I think my mind would better recall things if we worked backwards....so from the end to beginning, here's the last month and a bit of news!

We've finally made it up the Leopard's Hill road all the way to Lusaka. Man what a drive!! Absolutley awesome! The graders have been up and down at least once now so although one doesn't feel as pioneering as before, it is still a 4X4er's paradise and the first 40 odd km from our side is just breathtaking as far as scenery goes. Completely unspoilt. Pure magic!!

As for the River Lure Competition we were looking forward to so much..haha!! The Wildchaps stumbled upon some rotten luck...It's not that we didn't catch fish, we didn't even make to the competition! This, thanks to a 30tonne truck which managed to take me out on the road to Luskaka!! Yup...to cut a long story as short as it can be cut, a stalled truck with no trailer-brakes, a jacknifed trailer, a landcruiser & boat and a rather steep hill will never end happily. Luckily though, by the end of the sliding, graunching of metal, shattering of fibreglass and just general mayhem, Colonel Mustard and I were still able to scramble out of the passenger window, over the boat to safety.

The accident is only the beginning!! When you live in a country where the police have no transport and you have an accident 50km from nowhere, good samaritans is all you have. Luckily, Zambia/The Machinga escarpment isn't short of these. I think the isolation is what does it. Kind of like the fact that when you go on holiday you feel obliged to say hello or wave to everyone! Every car that passes stops to make sure everyone is ok. Some frantic 'I'm okay, send help!!' message sending and then hitch-hiking later, we made it to Chirundu to give statements and find my too generous neighbour to help with the next step of investigation.

The saga is ongoing but 'Lucky-strike' is now just a shadow of her former self, a skeleton stuck somewhere on the Machinga escarpment. We managed to salvage pretty much everything we could from the boat and what we left has since been scavenged. The cruiser on the otherhand is fixable...at a cost!! Ultimately, walking away was first prize. Makes you wonder if someone really is watching?? How we recoupe the material losses from the other party's involved is a novel unto itself!!I've driven past the 'scene' at least twice on my own since it happened and sweaty palms still haunt me. But each trip is getting little easier.

In comparison, the weeks of children prior to 'the incident' were easy and very successful. The weekenders have also picked up which is always a good sign. Since the last time I blogged there's been little time for anything else except 'customer relations'.

The fishing front..haha..since the Easter drop in water, things have suffered (even the locals are suffalling). A rapid temperature change has also affected things. The moon's first quarter 10days ago did however bring some promise. I'm hoping once we get past the full moon this week we'll get into the 'Big' winter bite. The super-high water at the moment is also a good sign as the big tiger will hopefully move up into the shallows during the day for the warmer water. Better access on the good 'ole Effzet yeah!!

Willy WaliT, for all his slacking, is the one person whose been bugging me to blog for the last month. He claims he has a few 'goodies' for us?? I have decided that with the mental schedule at the moment we are going to abandon Article Tuesday and I'll just post whatever Willy brings me.

Untill tomorrow....Keep Keepin on...The Commodore;)

If at First You Don't' Succeed!!!

2007-04-19T08:49:00.000+02:00

The Shear magnitude of what we did yesterday is lost in the photos, but to call Leopard's Hill a road would be a gross over-representation. As a 4X4 trail though, Absolutely magnificent!! Steep inclines, Super-steep hill descents(whoever built the road worked on the principle of the shortest distance between two points is best. In other words if there is a hill in the way, go over it, don't wind, go straight over!!), awesome dry riverbeds to cross(the road just drops away into them), three wheel rock walking, thick unspoilt bush and awesome views made the 6hour foray into the unknown one of the coolest things I've ever done!! Sadly, 3hrs and 30km into the journey, efforts to make it to Lusaka were brought to a rather unceremonius halt by a grader stuck in the middle of the road, on one of the hillsides. The only signs of the driver were fresh footprints in the dirt and the warm engine. An hour earlier would've seen us get past. But with a bank on one side and a shear drop on the other, the only way past would've been to move the blade. Since I know nothing about grader operation or if it is even possible to move the blade when the thing is broken down, the only option was to turn around(interesting enough) and return along the track we had come along.
As it stands, we've made two attempts at the route and have doubled the distance each time. Third time will be the charm. Fo' Sho'!!. And the fourth is from town to the river by bicycle, motorbike and support vehicle later in the winter. If the fish traders can do it, so can we..hahaha!! Sadly though (and at the risk of sounding like I built Africa), by the end of June, they say they'll have revamped it so although it'll be exciting, it'll have nothing on what we have already seen.
Willy still hasn't shown up to give me an article of note, so I have routed around in his stuff and managed to pull one out for you. This one was clearly just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Castrated officer on mend

A WATER affairs officer who was castrated by his workmates in suspicious circumstances in early September is reported to be out of danger and is recovering steadily. A police source told Zana that Francis Musonda had since been discharged from Kasama General Hospital and is currently recovering at his home in Mporokoso.Police said even the two officers suspected of having castrated their colleague have been put on police bond.He said the case is coming up in court on November 19, where details of how the whole episode occurred, will be disclosed. On September 26, the castrated officer was invited for dinner by two of his workmates who consequently pounced on him and castrated him.-Zana

Xterra-rised!

2007-04-16T09:12:00.000+02:00

It seems that the Xterra was all that it promised (or threatened) to be - and 'gruelling' would not be a bad word to describe it - at least the bike section that is! Saturday turned out to be an awesome day for racing in Grabouw - blue skies and sun, but not too hot.

The first leg of the race was up to our specialist swimmer Sven 'Tango' Bourquin, who was one of the few brave souls who hit the water in a Speedo amongst all the other wetsuit clad competitors, and was outstanding in the swim - not only because of the 19 degree water. Somehow he managed to evade our photographers, but you may be able to pick him out somewhere in all the chaos. After being hit with a surprise 800m dash over open ground from the water to the transition area, he passed on the timing chip and sent me off on the 30km MTB course.

Things did not go as smoothly as I would've like as after seven kilometres I buckled my rear rim slightly meant that my brakes were binding for the rest of the race - not great on a course that already involved some mad climbs and. The technical difficulties did not stop there as a bit later I fritzed my odometer on an unexpectedly deep water crossing and then lost 1/3 of my gears to bad 'chain-suck' reducing my 27 gears to 18... again not really ideal for a course with some rather hectic ascents. So after a rather long 3hrs out on the course I finally made it back to the transition area to hand over to our runner, Carmen, who did well considering the fact that this was actually an offroad race was only sprung on her at the last minute!

All told, Team Sierra-Foxtrot-Tango did not really pose a huge threat to the big guns. We finished 145th out of 179 overall (35th of 39 teams in our category) with a total time of 4hrs 44mins. The overall winner, Conrad Stoltz completed all three legs in 2hrs 44mins - less time than I was out there on the bike for! Nonetheless, we finished and got the medals to prove it, it was good fun, the beer tasted good afterwards and it is definitely a better way to spend a Saturday morning than moping about the house with a post Friday night hangover!

Stiff Upper Lipping!!

2007-04-15T18:44:00.000+02:00

Tumultuous!! That's about all I can think of to describe the trials that have been the last two weeks, no doubt evident from the notable absence of updates from The River. I won't bore you with the entire list but the more notable travesties include:
A hippo attack on a supposedly 'hippo-proof' boat, work permit anxiety, theft, car-accidents, Theft, general staff malaise, THEFT, and malicious damage to 'the biggest jetty in the valley' by the low water levels. Did I mention theft?
On the bright side though, it's over now, the jetty is almost back to normal, the boat can be repaired(and thank goodness noone was hurt) and we're busy!! According to Jason, if I divide the bad by three, I'll get the number of good things to come???? By my calculations, I'm due at least three:
1. Win the Lotto
2. Marry a Super-model
3. 10+kg tiger!!! Yeah!
You'll no doubt have noticed that Willy has been absent too. Probably just as well. Dealing with his nonsense would've just exacerbated the general mood in camp. But I'll jump on him this week to give us something really special to make up for his laziness.
The change in season has also brought some nasty, Nasty luck with the Tiger. Effzett's and Rapala's are out and even bait(can you believe I've resorted to it) is producing rather feeble pickups. But I'm optimistic that once we get into winter we'll start producing some trophy stuff. Afterall, winter is my favourite time to fish, even if it means having to come off the water almost an hour earlier.
Lookout for these forthcoming attractions in the coming week:
All the pics I can dig up from the April madness, a recce trip up the Leopard's Hill 'shortcut' to Lusaka on wednesday(Two Landcruisers, Iron Mike and the unknown...gotta be fun!!), the return of 'Super-Changwe' to finish off the jetty and as always, the long awaited return of Intrepid Reporter William Wallitoompa.

Keepin on!!!.....;))The Commodore

Xterra-rists

2007-04-11T09:39:00.000+02:00

Given the lack of truculent hippos and magically appearing sandbanks down here in the Cape we have to find other ways to get our kicks - like rushing about the mountains after work on a bike. Unfortunately the long summer seems to be drawing to a close down here and while the vineyards might look great turning all red and orange, the sun is starting to go down a lot earlier. This means one of two things: leaving work earlier to go riding (not really the responsible thing to do) or getting more gear like lights (the biking thing to do - there's a piece of additional gear for EVERYTHING!) So as if cycling kit wasn't steamy enough already now we can bring on and additional element - little flashing lights! Woohoo! I'm more and more convinced that cycling kit is used and designed by people who were disappointed to miss out on the 70s disco scene but have cunningly found a way to wear tight bright clothing without getting beaten up, the same thing applies to golfers who are really just people looking for an excuse to wear sleeveless Argyle jerseys - even if it says Pringle it's still crap!!

Anyway, style issues aside, the reason for post work training? Well, some time ago I got the strange idea into my head that participating in triathlons seemed like a good idea, so Saturday sees my first foray into the world of team endurance events (I'm not quite brave enough to do it all alone yet...there's running involved). So I managed to persuade Bourquin that swimming 1.5 km in a cold dam in Grabouw would be fun, we found a runner for the 12 km trail run and I'm doing the 30 km cycle leg. I thought I had a good deal until I read the route description yesterday:

"...Grabouw offers a variety of challenging terrain from good (if somewhat loose) surfaced fire road, a choice of sandy, rocky or gravelled jeep track, single track climbing, single track descending, pine trees and fynbos to hike-a-bike (yes, you may have that thrown at you) and drop-offs, short steep power climbs to long, teeth gritting and praying it will end soon type climbs! The task I set myself each year is to produce a world class Xterra route that encompasses many if not all of the above challenges. This year sees the Xterra athlete racing along some fire road, as much single track as I can build and clear – both ascending and descending, jeep track and there is one section that most if not all Xterra athletes will have to get off and carry/push their bikes! So the mini challenge is “Can you do it without getting off your bike?” "

So now I'm not too sure... I don't need any extra "mini challenges" all the rest sounded quite enough to me! Then when I took my bike in to get a new back tire, I mentioned the Xterra to the bike-shop man who immediately said that he'd check my brakes too as I'd "definitely be needing those". Should I be more concerned? But at least it's during the day, so I won't have to worry about lights...

Anyway, it should be fun - the first outing for Team Sierra.Foxtrot.Tango - if you need an explanation, "Eeeeeeh, Sorry for that!" I'll post some results maybe some photos of Bourquin (Callsign "Tango") in his Speedo on Monday - don't say I didn't warn you!!

Show me the bunny

2007-04-06T12:02:00.000+02:00

Happy Easter everyone!

Stellies is as dead as, well, a really dead thing. There would be tumbleweeds rolling down the main street except for the fact that they are probably airborne moving, at 60 knots and posing a danger to those foolish enough to still be here. That's right, the South Easter is blowing HARD. Just in time for my next scheduled kitiong lesson. That may sound like a good thing, but I'm not so sure. Last week, I had to cancel due to the Ocean looking something like a very large duckpond and it looks like this week I'll have trouble just staying on the beach. Oh well... maybe the saying is true - be careful what you wish for, you may just get it. Anyway, if something exciting does happen I'll be sure to let y'all know. Otherwise it's off to Kommetjie this weekend, for some relaxation time, maybe a cycle round the peninsula and some kiteflying at Noordhoek, if the wind lets up just a bit. I hope the bunny is good to everyone...

''Qui a Laisser les Chiens á échaper??''.....Again!!!

2007-04-03T09:24:00.000+02:00

All is quiet on the home front. But it's merely the calm before the storm that is the upcoming Easter weekend!! The Baha Men will be out in force. A resounding chorus that will be audible around every corner along a 40km stretch of the river. Boats on the water till nine at night and a general abundance of stupid drunk fisherman on every sandbar and in front of the lodge. Of all the weekends in the year, Easter is perhaps the one I look forward to the least. The Dogs Are Out and they're headed this way!! At least the fishing isn't too bad. Got a nice little 7lber at the Baya Baya slipway the other day. Decided that i don't even need a boat to fish anymore. Could just as easily reverse the cruiser into the water at the slipway and just fish from there seeing as it's the only place we're catching at the moment.

This week has also brought a rather unseasonal period of rainy weather. Somewhat annoying as my newly graded roaded is now pock marked with hippo spoor again. It didn't even last a week!! But the rain has rejuvinated my lawns which were taking a bit of strain in the heat we've been having.

William WaliT also popped in briefly this morning to drop something off before he shot off to go buy Salaula at the Banana Farm market with the rest of the staff.

Happy Easter....;))The Commodore

Two grannies battered over girl’s death

By Times Reporter

TWO elderly women are battling for life in Solwezi General Hospital after an irate mob from Sichisengo village descended on them on suspicion that they bewitched a girl to death.North-Western Province police chief Innocent Kalebwe named the duo as Mika Nyamalia 70, and Chiyezhi Nayakasule 65, both of Sichisengo village in Chief Kapijimpanga’s area. They were suspected of having bewitched Alice Sakashenda, a grade 11 pupil. The incident happened on Tuesday.Mr Kalebwe said the two women were only saved from the mob after police went in and quelled the situation.“Quick action by the police saved their lives as the angry mob did not want to spare their lives,” he said.Mr Kalebwe however said police would continue to investigate after the two recovered.He said trouble started when the relatives of Sakashenda took her body to the place where the two women lived and told them to have the body as that was what they wanted.“When the girl died, her relatives took the body to the house of the women and told them to eat her saying that was what they wanted” Mr Kalebwe said.He said when the other villagers heard about the death, they all assembled at the house and descended on the women.

'Escarpment-al!!'

2007-03-27T23:11:00.000+02:00

Certain things scare certain people!! Bugs for example. They don't scare me, yet others are terrified of them. But there is one thing that I reckon could scare anyone. The road we drive from Lusaka to the lodge will oneday be a thing of legend. Take today for instance, having done what we consider to be the bad section and reached the valley floor, I came round a corner and was confronted by two trucks side-by-side coming towards me. The delightful thing about it is that the truck casually flashed his lights and expected me to hit the dirt at 110kph??? Thankfully, the one thing a cruiser does well though is just that!!....Two gears, a whole lotta brakes and a few deep breaths and 'oh my God's' from Ella later, we were cruising the gravel shoulder and comfortable enough to present the passing offender with the big middle finger out the window. Nothing like a spot of mid-afternoon adrenalin to remind you, you're still alive!!
Not really the right time to admit it but we also managed a new personal best of 2hrs23mins from town to the lodge. Beating the previous record of 2hrs24mins set by the 'blue-bomber' way back in 2005. We even had some time to stop and take some sunset pics on the way!! But the new record is bittersweet if we consider the fact that we now have the new pontoon and the roadworks have made it some 4kms from the driveway. I reckon an early morning run(without water/photo stops) in about two months time could shave another 10-15mins from that. All it really takes is clear road. There's no need for mental driving. Not on that Road!!!

Willy WaliT, as was to be expected, was absent from work aswell. He made some excuse about being on assignment. But we all know that if you don't watch him like a hawk he'll take any chance he can to schive. But I dragged him in by his ear and managed to get another superb piece from him.

Arrive Alive....The Commodore;))

Ndola farmer, 26, tells court ‘evil’ whirlwind killed his granny

By Times Reporter

A PEASANT farmer appearing for defence in a manslaughter case in the Ndola High Court yesterday said a whirlwind with evil spirits caused the death of his grandfather.
Before Justice Muyinda Wanki was Julius Sibanda Masoja, 26, of Masaiti district, who was accused of killing his grandfather he was staying with.
It was alleged that on October 22, 2002, in Masaiti, Masoja murdered Petro Mwelemuka, his grandfather, by beating him with a bamboo stick and a stone.
In his evidence, Masoja said before his grandfather died, he said something bad was going to happen in the village and that he was going to die because he had killed a lot of people.
He said after some time, his friend, only known as Sam died and when he informed the grandfather, he answered him that he did not care.
Masoja said he afterwards saw a whirlwind which blew his grandfather a few metres high and threw him to the ground.
He rushed there and noticed that the body of his grandfather was swollen.
He also said his relatives used to tell him that his grandfather was a wizard.
In cross examination, State advocate Mwape Bowa questioned why two State witnesses who were his relatives said they saw him beating and dragging his grandfather to his friend’s funeral house.
Masoja answered that they were jealous of him because he was comfortable.
In making submissions, the defence lawyer applied that the court should not find him guilty because the prosecution had failed to prove its case and that the evidence from one witness and that from the arresting officer was contradictory.
In reply, Mr Bowa said that having observed the credibility and the demeanor of all witnesses, there was no contradiction in the evidence. He said the State proved its case beyond reasonable doubt and asked the court to convict him accordingly.The matter was adjourned to January 6, next year for judgment.

The Wiseman Built His House Upon The Rocks!!!

2007-03-26T09:08:00.000+02:00

We're two thirds of the way through the jetty and 'Super-Changwe' is going to take a break for the week. Regular breaks are necessary for the Super-Carpenter cos his furious pace puts immense strain on his super-powers and he becomes 'powerless' after about two weeks if he is not given time to eat spinach and recharge. But it's looking good I think.

Definitely a big difference from what it was like two weeks ago

The weekend also brought with it some interesting times with the rising 'floodwaters' around chalet number four. A broken water pipe meant that I got to spend Saturday morning splashing in the mud around the soak away, replacing valves and fittings. Great fun!!
But the weekend was saved by an awesome trip some 26km down the river yesterday afternoon where although the fishing was really bad, we did bump into some awesome elephants. It looks like Sunday is washing day for the jumbos. Out of four different herds we bumped into along the way, three groups were splashing about in the water having a merry old time. The best being three big bulls who weren't so much bothered by us as they were with having a big game with each other. We got a few good pics but if we'd had a better camera we probably could have got some really special ones. It was pretty awesome though to be so close to them and just watch them playing the fool.

The Wonder Years!!

2007-03-23T10:32:00.000+02:00

It's been a long week!! But it's almost done and it's been dead fun. The first camp for the season is behind us and all seems to have gone off smoothly with little or no trouble at all. Although I must say, if OMO says stains have got tougher, I say kids have just got wimpier!! I've never seen so many injuries, illnesses and trips into the first-aid box as I did this week. There is an answer to it though. The kids were being babied by the teachers. When we were that age, if we'd made some of the complaints we heard this week, we'd have been told to shutup and go back outside!! But by the end of the week, the wimps that arrived on Monday were tough as nails and ready for more.....which concerned me cos the bus didn't arrive to take them away till this morning. Not sure how keen I would have been to have them for another day if there'd been a problem with the bus.

The week brought some interesting stuff with it, a nice little mopane snake kept the kids entertained for a good while and the lightning storm and wind mid-week, scared the pants off some of them. I'll admit I was relieved when we didn't get any of the rain that was falling across the river. Can't imagine what the kids would've done if the roofs had started leaking. But the storm did give me a chance to try something new with the 'Madams' camera. Didn't quite get the focus right, but the idea was there.

All in all though, a good time was had by all and bar the castor oil beetles, it went off swimmingly. Some of them even managed to get some impressive little Tigerfish in the boat, the most notable being Blaide's 4kg beast. Hardly surprising that he managed to get it in the boat, he was like a tasmanian devil-'small but fierce' and damn he could fit a pile of food into that 4ft frame. Never seen someone that size eat so much!!!

The Jetty is also almost done!! We've got the deck on, stained and varnished. It looks even better than I thought it would. I'll put the pics of it on tomorrow. Just got the railings and upright to do next week and then we'll add the lights and stuff after that.

Got a visit from William WalliT today who stayed away on Tuesday cos he doesn't like kids. He dropped off these two little Gems from the Times back in 2002!Definitely going to enjoy a D.Cap mog on the river today and the silence is a welcome addition to my day.

Enjoy it......;))The Commodore

Spitting Cobra found in Chipata guest house

A MYSTERIOUS snake was on Saturday found in one of the rooms at Pingurani rest house near Kapata bus station in Chipata.
Both workers and officers at Kapata police post confirmed the incident which happened around 11:00 hours to ZIS in Chipata.
A two -metre long spitting cobra is believed to have been left behind by two Malawian youths who are traditional healers after checking out of the room as they left for Lusaka.
One of the workers, Naomi Mwanza, said she found the reptile which was packed in a ten kilogramme sack under the bed as she was sweeping the room.
Later, police retrieved it and before it could be removed from the sack, officers said the living thing allegedly looked like an animal.
One of the police officers fired about five gun shots at it but the snake could not die until a courageous youth hit it with a big stone to completely shatter its head.
The workers wondered whether the two traditional healers who stayed at the rest house for three days before they left for Lusaka, could have accidentally left the snake in the room or it was deliberately left behind.
Traditional healers, some of them not registered and usually coming from neighbouring Malawi, have filled most streets in Chipata where they conduct their business.--Zana/ZIS

Suspected wizard slain

A MAN was recently axed to death in Chozi area in Mbala by three men who suspected him to be a wizard.Chozi ward councillor Aaron Sichivula told ZIS that the man was killed by three men while he was working at his chitemene garden.The incident happened early this month and the three have since been arrested.Meanwhile Mr Sichivula has appealed to the Ministry of Home Affairs to open up a police post in Chozi area.He said murder cases in the area had increased. ZIS

'Nyama!!'

2007-03-18T11:50:00.000+02:00

It's been an interesting week on the Wildlife front for the Lower Zambezi. At the moment it's 'Quelea' season, so the locals spend their time travelling from island to island, rummaging through the reeds, raiding nests for chicks. Just last week, there was a woman killed by an elephant on one of the islands near Nyakasanga. It's hardly surprising considering the fact that i heard this morning that they were in fact burning the island. Something I don't think an elephant would appreciate??
This morning brought news of another attack. Mr Jackson Zindoga arrived to 'request assistance' to go and search for the body of a fisherman who drowned 0n Friday when his canoe was overturned by a Hippo. Why they wait two days before coming to ask for help I have no idea? Especially considering that in those two days, the body could be anywhere between where it happened to 50km down-stream. So, No!! I am not spending my Sunday traipsing up and down the Zambezi looking for a floating body.The sad thing about all of these attacks is that besides the fact that they could have easily been avoided and the animals are in no way at fault, they will still be shot! And not because they are so-called 'man-eaters' or 'demonic-creatures'. They'll be shot because of their meat.

The neighbour has a similar problem. Baboons are trashing his bananas and regardless of how many times he tells the authorities, they do nothing. But let him tell them that there is a hippo in his plantations and they'll be there in a flash to 'crop the beast'. Or let him take matters into his own hands with the baboons and they'll arrest him for poaching. Go figure?

Still on the subject of all things wild, lunch time snoozes will never be the same after Friday. I don't think there is any ruder awakening than a 3ft lizard crashing around your room. The pesky thing came right in through my door and then got a fright when I sat up. In all the panic he managed to get himself up on my desk in an attempt to push his way through the gauze on my window. But we eventually managed to show him the door and everyone escaped unscathed.

The evenings have been just as interesting with the return of the castor-oil beetles which have forced us to retreat to the kitchen for dinner. The Gerbils have also been up to their usual tricks in 'Mukuyu' but they haven't got bold enough to attempt another toothbrush heist yet.

Quite keen to hit the river this afternoon for a spot of afternoon fishing and maybe we'll get a bit of a sunset now that the rains seem to be coming to an end. It better be good cos I've got to do the outdoor education thing for the week so won't get any time on the water till at least Friday.

Who said life down here's boring??.....;)) The Commodore

'Decked out!!'

2007-03-15T15:16:00.000+02:00

So we're coming along with it, albeit it slowly. But hopefully by tomorrow afternoon we'll have it all on and then we can start taking it all off again for staining, PVAing and then varnishing. We've then also got to drill and bolt all fourteen palettes to the frame. That'll be interesting!! But so far I'm well impressed and I'm getting more excited with every pallette that goes on. It's going to look awesome.

We've also come across some really amusing 'zambianisms' over the last few days. The first, didn't really register until about ten minutes after I heard it but as it turns out, still gives me a good laugh now. It was at the pontoon on Monday, awaiting the arrival of 'Super-Changwe' when I was confronted by a local fisherman whose exact words to me were:

'Bwana, I'm very sorry to interupt your thought process, but do you have a vacancy for me? I am a boat driver and very good in fishing competition'.

Hahaha!! Thought process????

The second I've heard before and seems to be a popular pickup line with zambian men. I left Ella reading in the car yesterday while I was busy in a shop. Keith, the dodgy porn DvD hawker, saw this as an ideal opportunity to tell her that he was very much in awe of her and that she was as he put it,

'Mmm, My size!!'

and that he wished to marry her.

If anyone can tell me what on earth 'my size' means when used by a zambian, it would solve a great mystery of the zambian male and his methods of 'proposing love' to a woman....
Meanwhile, in other news, the river is finally clean and although the sun is not really out, I might drop 'Simply Wild' in the water later this afternoon and head down-river in search of a Tigerfish that is 'mmm, my size!!', especially since I have figured out how to turn off the pesky alarm light for the oil tank that I don't even have.

Final thought....always read the documents....The Commodore;))

'Bombasa'!!!

2007-03-13T08:23:00.000+02:00

'Super-Changwe' has arrived and spirits are high!! Today we start the decking on the jetty, so all things going to plan, we should finish it and be ready for the big party by the time my first school for the season leaves next friday.
I was a bit concerned yesterday though when the 'kapenta' kept phoning me from Chirundu in a state, telling me he was not happy. What on earth that meant I have no idea? But i think his problem was that the taxi to the pontoon was taking longer to leave than expected and he was terrified that I would get cross with him and just leave him there. You couldn't have seen a bigger grin on a circus clown than the one he was wearing when he arrived and saw me waiting on the boat.

Tuesday!!! And Intrepid Willy WalliT is once again here to brighten our week by regaling us with another magnificent tale of treachery. I thought we’d have this one just as a break from the satanic animals that have appeared previously….
Willy WalliT;)

Witchcraft allegations force two teachers to flee

TWO senior teachers in Mwinilunga in the North Western Province have taken refuge at the district education offices for fear of being lynched by angry villagers surrounding their respective schools for allegedly practicing witchcraft.One of the head teachers of Ikelenge escaped from his school fearing for his life after local people surrounded the school accusing him of allegedly having sex with other peoples’ wives using black magic.This was disclosed by Mwinilunga district administrator John Chidata when he presented a report during the provincial development coordinating committee (PDCC) held over the weekend at Changa Changa Motel in Solwezi.Mr Chidata further said that the local people in chief Ikelenge’s area had vowed to lynch the head teacher if he returned to the school.He said that when the head teacher was within the Ikelenge community local women used to sleep with more than five pieces of underwear including “bombasa” (tight-fitting trunks) to protect themselves from black magic sex by the said head teacher whom it was alleged had no courage to propose love to women.Mr Chidata further disclosed that the head teacher was first chased from a school in senior chief Kanongesha’s area over the same allegations.The PDCC members recommended retirement for the head teachers to save the local people from contracting HIV/AIDS since the Ikelenge head teachers allegedly had sex with other people’s wives without using condoms.

Psychobossie? Not really...

2007-03-12T09:26:00.000+02:00

So I can sit back and relax this morning with the satisfaction of having my first Cape Argus Cycle Tour behind me... not to mention the fact that I can sit this morning! All in all I was very pleased with my result, my final time was 4hrs 20'' 20'. According to the website that placed me 16118/28706 overall and 89th out of the 565 cyclists in my group. Not too bad for a first time I think, and about 20 minutes below my expected time.

Everything started rather slowly, with a lot of waiting involved in actually getting to the start - especially as I was in the absolutely last group. I have never seen quite so many bicycles in one place before and could never have imagined that bikes (and cyclists for that matter) came in such a variety of shapes, sizes, colours and forms! The first few kilometers were a bit congested, especially up the hills and there was quite a bit of dodging involved in overtaking - not too mention avoiding some of the other cyclists who didn't always hold their lines quite as well as they should, but things opened up quite well after a while and I got into quite a nice bus of cyclists going down the M3 to Muizenberg, so we really whipped through that section. After Muizenberg things broke up again and it was back to weaving through the traffic.

All the way through the race though there's a really good vibe amongst the cyclists and the spectators, with a healthy dose of good natured heckling, encouragement and 'advice' - like the guys who stole the '100kms to go' marker and then set it up next to their spot at the the bottom of the Smitswinkel climb (which is really about 65kms to go).

So the first half was pretty easy, but what of the infamous Chapman's Peak and Suikerbossie? Well, they actually weren't that daunting, although Chapman's does have an awful lot of false summits and does look a bit scary when you come around the corner after Little Chapmans to see the rest of it soaring above you... there were quite a few walkers by that stage. The 4km of sweeping downhill into Hout Bay does make the big climb worthwhile though.

The exit from Hout Bay did see my first sign of cramp, although fortunately it happened just as I was passing an Arnica massage tent, so all I had to do was pull over and say 'Cramp!' and two lovely yellow clad massage girls immediately set to work with the Arnica oil. What fantastic organisation! So back in action, I hit the dreaded Suikerbossie, which wasn't really all that after which it was all downhill through Camps Bay, and Greenpoint and onto the last flat before the finish. The Arnica treatment wore off about 2kms from the finish, but by that stage I just decided to push on through, and ignore it. And then it was over. Just under 4 1/2 hours on a bike, and actually a really awesome day.

Next year? I'm definitely keen to do it again, and get my time under 4hrs. If I get myself organised, you may see some steamy Wildchaps cycling gear too - that'll get the knees trembling! For the moment though I'm planning on getting back onto the knobblies and off road again for a while though as the next really big events lined up are Karoo to Coast in September (100km offroad from Uniondale to Knysna) the bike section of the Triple Challenge in KZN in November. But I may just take it easy for the next couple of days...

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

2007-03-10T17:00:00.000+02:00

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!!!''

2007-03-09T11:00:00.000+02:00

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!!!

2007-03-08T17:18:00.000+02:00

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!!!

2007-03-06T13:49:00.000+02:00

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!!''

2007-03-04T12:58:00.000+02:00

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........;))

Half Argused

2007-02-26T09:19:00.000+02:00

Pesky pub staff aside, the weekend improved from then on. We certainly haven't been affected by that pesky cyclone Favio, that's been beating the hell out of Mozambique lately, not to mention abusing cell-phones at Wildtracks. Sunday was an absolute stunner of a day and seemed like a good opportunity to head off for a little test ride around the Peninsula to see if I have got what it takes for the Argus now only 12 days, 20 hours and some 30 minutes away. So I pulled on the riding kit, got together the energy boosters, iPod, spare tube and all the other paraphenalia (cycling is definitely a 'stuff' related sport) and headed off to Noordhoek to start my ride. The plan was to do about 60 km of the actual route with an added bonus of starting with Ou Kaapse Weg for a bit of hill climbing practice

All in all, things went rather well with the exception of a puncture in Muizenberg, but it was a really nice ride around the peninsula and totalled 80 km in about 3 hours 37 minutes - which still places me on about a 5 hour Cycle Tour in 2 weeks time, and I'm not even that stiff this morning. I think a dip in the freezing cold water at Noordhoek beach may have had something to do with that though. I do have a rather funky shirtsleeves and cyclepant tan though- in spite of wearing sunblock. Who says steamy riding gear doesn't increase one's cool factor!

A Brazen cheek!

2007-02-26T09:00:00.000+02:00

There's nothing like a good rant on a Monday morning, so I thought I'd get going with that. There's nothing like finishing off the week with a couple of pints at your local on a Friday afternoon, but sadly this simple pleasure has been soured by the management of our regular pub who have taken to sticking little 'Reserved from 6pm' signs on the table... while you are sitting at it! They don't say a word, they just saunter up and stick the little sign on, usually about 15 minutes before the time of alleged reservation and then wander off. I don't know anyone else, but in my book that is just damn rude.

Fortunately, some quick thinking on the part of my colleague, James who has experienced this treatment before saved the day. After seeing the reserved signs going up at other tables, he quickly launched a pre-emptive strike and dashed off to reserve our table, we got our own little 'Reserved until 8ish' sign and everything! But honestly, having to reserve the table that you are sitting at so that it doesn't get giving away by some blackshirted fascist pub manager who suffers badly from a lack of good old fashoined GDFD, I despair!

Norhing's worse than Waiting!!!

2007-02-25T10:51:00.000+02:00

Damn!!! What a rubbish weekend! I suppose it started off earlier in the week with the postponement of the arrival of the jetty. Nevertheless, the delay of the jetty was forgotten when I was told that ‘Simply Wild’ was to be ready for testing and collection on Saturday. A truly exciting prospect!! But alas, excitement turned to bitter disappointment when I discovered on Friday night that the boat was in fact nowhere near completion and that I would only be able to see it somewhere around Tuesday. Delays, delays, delays!!!!
I guess in a way I should have expected it considering the fact that I was very surprised to hear that the job had been completed in a day and a half considering all of the little gadgets that needed to be installed. Besides, it would have been a rubbish weekend to be on the water anyway. We have been blessed with the tail end of the cyclone that hit Mozambique last week, so it’s been a bit cold and wet.
Friday night I saw bigger wind than any I’ve ever seen here. You know the wind is pumping when it can pick up a cell phone off the coffee table and send it skidding along the floor under your feet. I became quite concerned for the boats at one point too. If ‘Lucky Strike’ where to be swamped it’d be more than just a little job to get it out and running again. Hopefully the poor weather will move through by tomorrow though and I can take to the water in ‘Optimax’ conditions on Wednesday when I finally get that beast down here.
Soon as I can I'll post picsof my maiden run on the zambezi......;))

The Best 4X4XMassia Figson by far!!!

2007-02-21T20:47:00.001+02:00

So we’re back to sandbagging. Hopefully by the end of the week we can get another hundred or so into the river and continue our ‘land reclamation’. Have however discovered a disturbing bit of erosion on another part of the bank that is going to need some attention before the next rainy season. I don’t think sandbags are going to be an option though considering the bank at that point is three metres high. A concrete ditch is also not a good idea as the water will just undercut the sides of it (and it’s ugly!!). At the moment I think a bit of chicken mesh and rock is about my best option. But I’m open to any suggestions??

Haven’t had the greatest week with the boys either. They seem to have taken to a go-slow. Don’t think they’re too chuffed with the idea of hauling sandbags. Rampaging doesn’t appear to be the best remedy either as they just switch-off when I go into a spin. So have decided that as a last resort I’ll threaten downsizing and suspension. I have noticed at least some of them picked up the pace this afternoon when I flew into a rage and reversed the car at a million miles an hour with them on the back. So perhaps violence is an option to consider?? ....hahahaha!!

The afternoon did take an exciting turn however when I was summonsed by the neighbour to do some banana truck recovery after the idiot driver took his fully loaded truck through one of the plantation roads thinking it’d be a shortcut and got himself into a bit of a sticky situation. Nothing like a tractor/Landcruiser combo to do the trick!! Did a bit of a number on the clutch at first but some common sense and a bit of low-range 4X4 put a stop to that and we had the 5tonner out in no time. Quite impressed with my winch cable!! I’m more impressed with the maximum roll angle of the truck. At one point it was ‘diff deep’ on the passenger side and the tree it was leaning against was all that was stopping it from toppling over. Big up Mopani!!!

For expert vehicle recovery call 1-800-commodore now…..;))

Floats like a butterfly... stings like a bee-yach!

2007-02-20T18:27:00.000+02:00

There may not be any decent tigerfishing to be had down here in the Cape, but there's still plenty to keep one occupied. Summer is still in full swing and that means plenty of sunny weekends, although the first few cold fronts are beginning to creep up form the south, which has meant some windy days. Since a patch of the pesky 'flu kept me off my bike this weekend I decided to try a bit of kiting - an activity that I have sadly neglected of late. The conditions at Noordhoek beach didn't fail to disappoint the blue skies and a the wind a steady 20-25 knots, so it was with a bit of trepidation that I unfurled the 'Angry Bee' - 4.8 sqm of brute force and not a whole lot of forgiveness for careless flying.

As always, getting it up was not much of a problem, but staying in one spot on the beach was not that easy. Nonetheless, kiting seems to be a bit like falling off a bike once you've done it a couple of times you don't forget and I managed to get in some good skiing and even a few decent jumps, while managing not to take out any kids, dogs, horses and other bystanders who never seem to realise that standing downwind is NOT actually the safest place to be. The session ended a bit ignomiously with an emergency landing in the surf whne the wind picked up and it looked like I may be heading for deeper water, but all in all a good outing. It made me realise though that I think I really do need to get a bigger kite and a board. Skiing on the beach is fun for a while, but the open water beckons...

Two days later, and what I didn't realise just how buggered I'd be. Bloody hell! 40 minutes of hanging on to onto a few square metres of the south easter and I can't even walk up stairs without flinching and I'm certainly not going to be doing any heavy lifting for a while. It just goes to show, one form of exercise is not neccessarily equal to another. I'm open to any massage offers...

Meanwhile, also in the Cape, I wasn't completely crippled and have managed to make some further improvements to the blog. Keen fans can now subscribe to email updates - just fill in the form on the right hand side, above the archive and whenever we publish something it will be delivered straight to your inbox and... cool huh!

Right, I'm off home to have a discussion with my good friend Voltaren... laters.

Meanwhile's, And's & Also's???

2007-02-20T09:06:00.000+02:00

It’s that time of the week again. And today, The Intrepid William Walitoompa has left no stone unturned to bring you this little gem.
Also from a couple of years back, I couldn’t find any follow up to it but it is a fine example of the ‘meanwhile’ article I was talking about where we get two seemingly unrelated stories for the price of one!! The connection here one can only assume was Mr Makuyu.
The best part of this type of article is that the animals are always portrayed as evil villains intent on massacre and mayhem!!
Enjoy….Willy WaliT

Hyenas terrorise East villagers

POLICE and Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) officers have been sent to Simon village in Chief Mpezeni’s area in Chipata where hyenas are reportedly terrorising residents.

Eastern Province police chief Humphrey Makuyu who confirmed this yesterday said that seven people spent a night at a police station on Sunday for fear of the animals.

Mr Makuyu said police and ZAWA officers were now busy hunting for the beasts to ensure that no life was lost and that police were committed to protecting the public in the area.

“I can confirm that we have sent our officers to Simon village where the hyenas are terrorising the residents and we are hopeful we will deal with the situation for peace to return to the area again,” he said.

And a 32-year-old man sustained body injuries after falling from a moving truck in Chipata yesterday.
Mr Makuyu said the accident happened on Kapata road after the man fell from a truck before he was run over by another vehicle and sustained a right fractured leg. His condition had been described as serious.

'Who Let the Dogs Out'

2007-02-19T08:17:00.000+02:00

So after a weekend of ‘Visitas’, it’s a new week…..And Hooray!! The gerbils seem to have disappeared into thin air.

For a weekend of fishing, we did little more than get a tan. Although Friday afternoon was ‘hot’ and promised a wild weekend, things went into a bit of a tailspin after that. That’s not to say we didn’t catch, but trying to follow the boiling water of Furious Friday was a bit of a tough act and we even came off the water early yesterday afternoon out of despondency. I even tried a spot of drift-baiting over the weekend in the hope of enticing something into a bite. But alas!! It was an unpleasant reminder of why I don’t like bait fishing.

On an even more negative note! The Zimbabweans are back!! The only explanation I have for the things they get up to is an utter lack of intelligence or GDFD. Kids squealing and splashing on the edge of a sandbar at sunset accounts for the stupidity part and the carefree, 500dB soundtrack drifting 'a half-brick lob' in front of the boma for most of the day does the GDFD part. The saddest thing is that the day one of those kids disappears off the sandbar, they won't even notice through the beer-haze until it's time to go home. And then, they'll spend the next three weeks shooting any croc they see.

The ‘Elephant Express’ had quite the opposite this weekend. Friday and Saturday, the jumbos were as elusive as only elephants can be, but the weekend was rescued by a young bull who put on quite a show for them yesterday afternoon. I’ll see if I can get hold of a few of the photos, which are well worth a look.

Off to Lusaka again today to finalise things on both ‘jetty delivery’ and of course ‘simply wild’. Pretty excited about both.
;))

Beastly things Gerbils!!!

2007-02-16T11:38:00.000+02:00

Haha…bet you all thought I forgot about yesterday,,,Alas, I spent most of the day in the car. Between the bad road from here to the pontoon and the blasting on ‘the hill’ I’m not sure what’s worse. But, I managed to make it up to Lusaka and back in a day so it can’t be all that bad. The biggest news is that I am now expecting the arrival of ‘The Jetty’ early next week. Awesome!! Timber for the decking is on order so we should be able to have our first Full English on the jetty by the middle of March.

On another most exciting note, I think I ordered a boat yesterday?? That’s right I have finally made my decision and will hopefully finalise everything next week. So pretty soon ‘Simply Wild’ should be jetting me up and down to my favourite spots on the river.

Finally, Help!!! Having experienced minor problems with them before, I am now being ‘terrorised’ by gerbils….Yes, gerbils! The beasts’ population in the walls of my chalet have grown and they have now taken to stealing my TP. Every morning when I go into the bathroom, the toilet roll is strewn across the bathroom. I think they hang on it or something to make it unravel?? Better still is the fact that they shred the end and take the bits they pull off and stuff them into a crack in the wall. What is this world coming to when not even toiletries are safe? Hahaha…the little beasties even managed to cart off Jason’s toothbrush earlier in the year. Poof!! Vanished, just like that!! What are they going to try next?

Sleep with one eye open….The Commodore;)

How to suck-seed!

2007-02-15T10:19:00.000+02:00

I got the final seeding (or lack thereof!) for the Argus the other day... sad to say I've been stuck all the way down in Group OJ - start time 10h36!!! That means winners will have finished before I'm even off the mark. I suppose it's a bad combination of being a first-timer with a surname that starts with V.
I now see the wisdom in doing at least 1 seeding race in the run-up to the main event. Oh well... there's always next year, and if I get a decent time I should get moved up in the ranks for the next one. Should be a jol in any case - 5 hours (well that's the target based on my average speeds so far) on my bike in the heat of the day. Woohoo! But I am looking forward to it.

There's only 23 days left until the big day. Damn, looks like I'm gonna have to cleat up and hit the road big time over the next couple of weeks, I also need to get the ol' Schwinn fitted out with road tyres. After doing most of my training so far off-road and with fat knobblies a little less resistance on the road should see me flying! Look out for me, I'll be the blur of svelte lycra and go-faster shades. Haha.

Sand, more Sand & No Rain!!

2007-02-14T08:48:00.000+02:00

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....;)

Intrepid Reporter William Walitoompa!!

2007-02-13T09:26:00.000+02:00

Have decided that Tuesdays will be a day of respite from lodge or fishing talk. So I have brought in Fearless Reporter William Walitoompa who has in recent times been trolling the archives of various well-known Zambian news publications and has amassed an impressive collection of somewhat hilarious articles that we will share with you over the coming weeks. They appear exactly as they were in print, bar the name of the reporter and the newspaper. As ludicrous as some of them may sound, theee are real articles not fiction I promise!!!
The Commodore;)

Thought we’d stick with a wildlife theme for the next few weeks and get those out of the way before we get onto the seriously strange stuff.
This one comes from a few years back and caused side splitting laughter when I stumbled upon it. Although not the typical ‘meanwhile’ article that I will share with you in coming weeks, the powerfully dramatic writing in this one is brilliant. The mental images that it conjures up are just too much for my warped mind….
Hope you enjoy this one as much as I still am …..William WaliT

Hippos terrorise Kitwe peasant farmers

PEASANT Farmers in Kitwe’s Kakolo farming area are living in fear of marauding hippos that are terrorising them and destroying their crops.

The peasant farmers living across the Kafue river near the former presidential guest house in Ndeke township, were now fearing to go to their fields because the beasts’ population had grown.

Farmers’ representative Dailes Phiri said more than 15 hippos and their young ones had been destroying crops, and scaring the farmers away from their fields.
She said last year, farmers faced the same problem which they reported to the office of the district commissioner.

Hippo Grotto & The Sandbar

2007-02-12T18:53:00.000+02:00

After a great New Year at Wildtracks (see pics at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/hydrocynus) we decided that we needed a bit of time to 'relax and unwind' and a trip downriver in Lucky Strike was just the thing. So after sending 'the boys' home we packed up a coolbox and fishing rods and headed way down to Hippo Grotto via 3 Stump Alley - both sites of previous good fortune with the tigers.

There wasn't too much on offer 'til we hit the bottom end of 3 Stump, where Pete hooked into something big. Whatever it was, it definitely was NOT keen to get into the boat and a good, hot 20 minute fight later, including some manoeuvres around the pack of ornery hippos on the sandbar the fish was finally in the boat - not the biggest ever - it finally weighed in at 10lb, but hooked on the tip of the snout, making it very difficult to turn and giving the fish a bit of an edge in the fight. A good fish, a good fight and a successful release.

Next stop Hippo Grotto, where we were treated to an awesome sighting of a herd of 20 elephants making their way across the river. Very cool indeed! By this stage the day was getting on so we decided to head back via the sandbar near the camp for sundowners, now that most of the Mungwe Point hooligans seemed to have run out of petrol and gone home.

What a way to end the day, watching the sun go down standing on a sandbar in the middle of the Zambezi - it's that kind of thing that makes you glad to live in Africa... and there are definitely going to be some more sandbar parties

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/hydrocynus/Wildtracks2007HippoGrottoAndTheSandBar

Rats, Slack line & The 5-'O'

2007-02-12T09:34:00.000+02:00

Thought we’d go with an update of the off-season escapades today……
The last few days have been more a lesson in catch & release technique than decent tiger-fishing. I have it honed to about 12.3seconds. That’s about the longest I can keep them on the hook before they spit it back in my face. The good thing is there are a lot of fish around so a strike every second cast is not uncommon. Most of it's small stuff, but good fun on my lightest rig when you don't feel like traipsing around looking for bigger ones.
On the whole though, it’s been a good start to the year with clean water, screaming reels and the odd 15pounder on the boat courtesy of the neighbour. Better news still is the fact that we finally have the go-ahead from the wildlife blokes to carry on fishing. So it’s ‘line’s in’ and no need to dodge The 5-O’s anymore…..
On the lodge front, we carry on with our plans for the year’s maintenance and improvements. This year should be an exciting one what with the arrival of ‘’the biggest jetty in the valley’’ in the next week or two. It’s been a long wait but having seen it finally, it’s been worth it.
The completion of the campsites and all the maintenance and improvements on the schools side of things are also on the cards. Then there is the possibility of the Earthwatcher’s arrival later in the year to startup their croc research on the Zambezi which’ll gel nicely with educational aspect of our current program.
First bunch of students in March and then it’s all ahead full for April, May & hopefully through to August with the schools and whatever else comes our way.
And then of course there are the competitions!!!! There’s The River Lure to look forward to on the Kafue in May. After my poor showing last year I’ve been chatting to The Bwana and we’re looking to maybe enter a Wild Chaps Team and give it a serious go! This puts pressure on whether or not I’m going to go ahead with buying that boat I've been thinking about for months now.
October sees us hosting the ‘Friends Only’ competition between Zambia and Zim. If last year is anything to go by that one promises to be a cracker both on and off the water. There’s also hope for our own friendly invitational around September which’ll showcase some serious talent…hahaha!!
Will Keep Y’all Posted….The Commodore;)

Humble Beginningings

2007-02-11T09:14:00.000+02:00

We’ve come a long way since the days of throwing ‘Snoekies’ at Sodwana Bay with one of those Shakespeare kiddies kits. Or the varsity days of spending endless afternoons come rain or shine on a particular Bass dam, known for its ability to provide a strike on every cast.
These days it’s all about throwing an Effzet or Rapala into the Mighty Zambezi and hauling it back to the boat about as quick as the spool will take it……Well kind of!! But once you’ve caught a big Tiger on a small bass outfit, there is little in the world of freshwater angling that will ever match up.
We are the Wild Chaps and this is what we do…well at least what I do!! As the team member based on the Zambezi, I get to hold the fort and keep track of the Tiger.
If I can get to it everyday, I’ll do my best to keep the going’s on at the lodge and on the river up-to-date. If I don’t it means the fish are on the bite and I can’t tear myself away from the action.
Peace Out, The Commodore;)

Zambezi Wild Chaps goes live

2007-02-10T14:54:00.001+02:00

So the first post on Zambezi Wild Chaps (ZWC), well kind of... there seemed to be a few publishing problems at first, but now its a go.

So what can you look forward to on ZWC? Well clearly Pete is racing ahead with keeping everyone updated with news from the river. Jason and I will have to think up some exciting non-Zambezi news until the next time we get up there, but forthcoming attractions include:

Photos from our recent expedition to Hippo Grotto and the Sand Bar
Pete will soon be receiving the biggest jetty in the valley
News of plans for up and coming fishing compos to be held at Wildtracks

So keep on dreaming of the Zambezi...