Tiger fishing on Honeymoon
It was not long after I had tied the knot with my new husband that we started packing for our first leg of our honeymoon, 7 days fishing on the Zambezi River. Since Rael was from Zimbabwe and knew the lay of the land, I was comfortable travelling there.
From arriving in Harare, at Robert Mugabe International Airport, it was already apparent that having some homegrown talent was coming in handy. Since you must fill in “arrival forms” which were not given out on the plane nor were they available in the Arrivals Hall, my husband had been shrewd enough to take some extras with him from his last visit and photocopy them.
This put us first through immigration and although we still had to wait for our suitcases to come off the conveyor belt, we were soon on our way out of the airport and on the road to Chirundu.
Chirundu is the border town between Zimbabwe and Zambia, located on the Zambezi River which forms the physical boundaries of the 2 countries. We were travelling with some of Rael’s friends by road and the trip was going to take us about 5 hours, not because of the distance (365kms) we had to cover was so great, but rather the conditions.
There are 4 small towns/cities between Harare and Chirundu; Banket, Chinhoyi, Karoi and Makuti, and true to Rael’s prediction a police road block both entering and exiting each one. These roadblocks are generally harmless, with the police commandant on duty trying to make a quick buck by shaking down anyone who is not prepared. Luckily, we were.
Since the roads have not been upgraded since the late 1970’s, it is ironic that the police will shake you down for a broken taillight or anything else for that matter. What is even more ludicrous is the 2 toll gates between Harare and Chirundu, where a young local lad is collecting USD$1-2 per vehicle, and kindly hands over a receipt of your payment. The irony being that zero funds for the last 30 years has been spent on the Zimbabwean infrastructure.
The last town before Chirundu, Makuti is situated on top of the escapement of the Zambezi Valley. It is an unbelievable sight and it is truly something everyone should see in their lifetime. The amazing 10’s of hundreds of baobab trees that stick out like little toad stools in the valley below, cannot be explained in words and neither does this picture (attached) do it any justice. A must to see!
Just before arriving at the border town, we take a quick turnoff and travel for another 5-6kms on a dirt road before arriving at Tiger Safaris, which will be our home for the next week. Tiger Safaris is owned and run by Tim and Michelle Balance.
The chalets (pic attached) themselves are right on the banks of the Zambezi River and although they are not 5* luxury, the chalets, communal pool, and dining area are all very well appointed. It was at that time that I realized I only had one thing left to do, catch more fish than Rael.
Our boat driver, Thomas (pic attached) has spent his entire life in the Zambezi valley, with the majority of his working career driving clients up and down the river guiding them and assisting them to land the “big one.” He is really an outstanding human being.
The river floor is essentially sand and it always moving. You need to know your stuff on that river otherwise you are going to park your boat on a sand bank before you know it. Thomas knows the river like a black cabbie driver knows the streets of London.
We caught over 49 Tiger Fish weighing between 5kgs & 7.5kgs and I feel very fortunate to say that we managed to release about 95% back into the river. For anyone that enjoys their fishing, they should without a doubt experience the thrill of catching and landing a Tiger fish on light equipment, against the elements of the mighty Zambezi River.
They are pound for pound the best fighting fish on the planet. I thought at the time, mixing that with the proximity of huge pods of hippos, elephants swimming from one bank to another and crocodiles sunning on the shoreline, was going to be the highlights of the trip. I wasn’t expecting what was to come next.
Our 6 days of fishing was taken up with continuously trying to find that all elusive “big one”!! We would day after day drift down approximately 35kms downstream during the morning and then during the afternoon make our way back up stream stopping periodically to cast our lines here and there.
Lots of cold drinks and packed lunches meant that we could constantly have our lines in the water and the only thing we needed to be careful of was the midday sun at 45degrees C
On the penultimate day, Thomas showed us some real magic. Perched high up on one of the trees that overhung the river was this most magnificent specimen of the African Fish Eagle. We took a few of the bait fish (Chessa) that we had caught earlier and attracted the attention of the Eagle in the tree.
After carefully tossing a few of the bait fish into the water, I kept the camera rolling on the water where the bait fish were floating. The African Fish Eagle took off from his perch and flew right up close to the boat, whipping one dead treat out of the water. “Yee-haw Rael shouted!!”
If that was not enough, on the very last day, we came across a Yellow Billed Kite that was constantly circling the boat overhead. It was clear that she had her eye on some of the dead bait fish we had drying on the deck of the boat. We were pretty sure she was not going to swoop down onto the boat, so Rael took a piece of the dead baits tail and held it high in the air. What happened next was truly an amazing sight to have seen and we were lucky enough to get a good video of it.
Rael remarked afterwards, “As soon as I held it in the air, I could see that I had attracted the bird. She was extremely smart and put the sun right behind herself, so I could not actually see her dive in. She was, for sure only interested in the free meal, because if she had wanted to, she could have taken half my hand off. I never felt a thing. What a magnificent creature and wonderful experience.”
We have been running a travel and tour company ever since.
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