LAKE KARIBA, ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE!

The greatest adventure is what lies ahead…

My most enjoyable holiday ever, where both water and terrestrial animals featured prominently, was a houseboat holiday on Lake Kariba on the Zimbabwe side.

We went at the end of April, beginning May. The weather was superb, no mosquito bothers and we had a glorious time from sunrise to sunset, every day.

A houseboat cruise is a group holiday. We were five couples, and although children were welcome on board, I’m happy that we had none on board. The staircase could be a high risk to children. Similarly, it is also not ideal for guests who have difficulty walking.

Animal life

Lake Kariba is the largest man-made lake and reservoir by volume, in the world. It is between the Zambian and Zimbabwean borders, 1,300 km upstream from the Indian Ocean.

The closest I ever came to elephants was on this holiday. A hippopotamus came to greet us. He had the entire dam to himself but decided our tiny safari boat was far more interesting. He came real close, like right next to us. We had an excellent game hunter in charge of the boat so we were relaxed. Yeah right, I think I stopped breathing at that point! Nevertheless, it was SO worth it! Only in Africa!

Lake Kariba is over 223 km (139 miles) long and almost 40 km (25 miles) wide.

There is plenty of opportunities to spot different bird species, photograph elephants, zebra, buck, and do some fishing. We feasted many afternoons on freshly caught sardine-like, kapenta.

I strongly advise against swimming in the lake because of the house residents, i.e. the Nile crocodiles and the hippopotami.

We did not get to view all the game species but were more than sufficiently happy with the zebra, buck, hippos, elephants, and birdlife.

When enough is not enough…

Our five nights came to an end way too soon! In retrospect, it was the perfect length of stay. I don’t recommend less than three nights.

A houseboat holiday on Lake Kariba comes highly recommended for groups. Invite your friends, colleagues, and/or family and spend quality time together. This is slow travel at it’s very best!