As she twists and turns, the Zambezi river can get you up, close and personal with the wild
If I missed a step, not only would I be making a royal fool of myself but I’d also splash straight into the mighty Zambezi, the fourth longest river in Africa, and within seconds become a crocodile’s lunch. I could barely decide which foot to put forward on the boat when Nevson, our captain, revved up the engine. I took a leap on board the river safari. “Welcome to Zambia,” smirked Nevson.

He is used to watching tourists freak out at the thought of the speedboat being open to the wild. To help his guests relax Nevson has a fool-proof plan. He carries a mini-bar and serves gin and tonic in huge glasses. Two drinks down, I was feeling more enthusiastic about the trip and on cue, a shy elephant peeped out from behind a tree. “Elephant!”, all of us cried, adjusting our camera lenses and leaning forward to take pictures. Nevson sighed. “There will be more elephants, so while you are hanging on the right side of the boat, may I point out the hippopotamus couple on the left,” he said. “Hippos!” we cried out in unison and rushed to the left of the boat.

We had reached Livingstone in early September, and that is the best time to enjoy the river, gentle in some places, rapid in others and if you’re in luck, it also allows you to witness animals up close.
The hippopotamus couple dunked themselves in the water, only to surface a few seconds later, eyes and ears peeping. The hippos feed at night and stay in the water during the day, soaking in the river like bloated tea bags. Nevson then took us to a wide opening in the river where two elephants were frolicking, while a third waited on the banks. The African elephant is far more majestic than its humble and deified Indian cousin: they’re larger in size and have really big ears. As we travelled along the many islands that dot the river, we encountered more elephant families. They splashed around, showed off their tusks and posed for photographs until they got tired and walked up to a bank.

... contd.