I have been lucky enough to do many of the excursions at Victoria Falls over the years (including the white water rafting, bridge swing, ‘flying fox’, the helicopter flip and elephant back safaris) but one of my favourites has got to be Zambezi river canoeing on the upper Zambezi above the Falls…
I first went canoeing here far too many years ago to mention but the magical combination of languid paddling with the occasional shot of adrenalin-inspiring rapids never fails.
The Zambezi river is vast and much of the time you are floating along, looking at the kingfishers on the river bank, silently paddling past grazing elephants and keeping a watch-out for hippos. But every now and then the river divides into a number of tributaries and you find yourself negotiating some small rapids. However the canoes feel very stable and so the adrenalin rush is not tinged with actual fear.
Mostly recently I stayed at Zambezi Sands River Camp where guided canoe trips were one of the many activities on over. I always felt in good hands as we were guided by two expert river guides who were adept at getting us back on track if we had gone slightly off course. (This happens when your partner in the front insisting on trying to steer from the front. Never a good idea in a canoe… but I digress…)
There are plenty of riverside camps which offer this as an activity both on the Zimbabwe side and the Zambian side (Think Tongabez Lodge or Sindabezi Island). However you don’t have to stay at a specific camp in order to to enjoy canoeing. You can easily opt for a morning or full day excursion from Victoria Falls or, even better, a late afternoon canoe trip which ends with sundowners on the river bank. Hard to beat a gin and tonic as the sun sets over the Zambezi…
