Ultimate African Tiger
Fishing Safaris
1997
Ultimate African Tiger Fishing Safari The sun peaks over the horizon. Blurry eyed we sip at our coffee as the river flows slowly past. Someone remarks how the river is probably over 100 meters deep in front of the lodge. No one replies. We know our time on the upper Zambezi is done and that today we must travel east. As with all good things in life we are sorry to leave but excited about the new adventures that await us on the Lower Zambezi. Everything is packed and we are off. The road seems all the more bumpy at 6:00 AM. After an hour and a half it begins to rain and we huddle with the trackers in the back of the Land Rover under a tarpauline. Minutes later we are cruising aboard Air Zimbabwe at 15,000 feet over the wild and untamed bush which comprises most of northern Zimbabwe. By 10:00 AM we have arrived at Kariba Airport. A lone African with an ancient wheeled fire extinguisher stands in front of the plane ready to tackle any emergency. Our transport is waiting. We jump into the minibus, grab a cold coke from the cool box and we are off. The baobab trees blur past as we make our way up the Matusadona Escarpment. Matusadona, in the local language, means falling dung. It is an appropriate name as the hills are quite steep. The road we travel has been built on top of an ancient elephant migratory route. Engineers found that this route provided the most gentle ascent. Soon we are atop the escarpment peering down into the Zambezi Valley. For as far as the eye can see there is nothing but bush! To our right lies Mana Pools National Park. An hour later and we reach Chirundu, a small border town built on the river’s edge. From here the road continues north across the river and into Zambia. We turn off down a small dirt track and our driver proceeds to get us mired in a huge mud hole. He disappears into the bush muttering only to appear minutes later with long time Chirundu resident and fishing legend Willy Reed in his 1960’s beach buggy! Willy pops out, scraggly haired and all full of stories about the big fish his clients have been catching. Every time a coconut, he describes how last week a guy caught a 9 kilogram tiger by the pumphouse…always a 9 kilogram tiger! Willy eyes the situation, speeds off and returns with his aging Land Rover. Minutes later we are free and make our way the short distance to the boat. We speed down stream. On our left Zambian woman and children bath and wash their clothes, smiling and waving as we pass. On our right baboons and antelope go about their lives. Mana Pools is a wildlife paradise - home to great herds of elephant, prides of lion, packs of wild dog, and the ever stealthy leopard. Each time I visit Mana I see more and more hippo - they are just everywhere - pods upon pods and then more! Dave points left and we watch as an enormous crocodile slides from the bank into the river. This is tiger country and we are all excited by the prospect of catching a good size monster! (The tiger fish of the upper Zambezi are considerably smaller and much feistier than the lower Zambezi tiger as they live in a fast flowing river environment. The lower Zambezi tiger grow larger but, pound for pound, aren’t as fierce). As we race downriver human settlement disappears to be replaced by "MMBA", miles and miles of bloody Africa! We stop for a cold beer and investigate a colony of carmine bee eaters (a small brightly colored bird which makes it’s nest in the river banks). After about an hour and a half we arrive at the lodge’s jetty. Troy, the lodge manager, along with top Zimbabwean guide Dave Christiansen, greet us with huge smiles. With Troy’s wild hair and drooping brown hat and Dave’s unruly beard they look like two hillbillies from Tennessee! We load ourselves into the Land Rover and we are off to the lodge, built on the river’s edge under a stand of winterthorn trees (acacia albida). Elephants along with impala and baboons are everywhere as they feed on the winterthorn pods. We unload our gear, prepare our tackle, and within the hour we are on the river fishing. Along with Troy, our resident guide who has lived on and fished this stretch of river for the past eleven years, we begin to fish. Every cast is taken by a hungry tiger. I cast far to the right and into the main current. As my line settles a tiger grabs - with the drag set very lightly, offering no resistance, the fish is off and running. My line disappears off the reel as I wait. At the end of the run I strike - I have hooked into a good fish…He runs downriver, upriver, straight to the boat and I have no hope of reeling in the slack fast enough. A jump, the gnawing teeth flash, a quick run and he is 60 meters away - this is INCREDIBLE! And then he is off. Dave hooks into a fish, as does Troy. Minutes later Dave has his fish at the boat side and into the net. Easily a 10 pound Tiger…very nice…Dave smiles…this is what it is all about! As the sun sets on the Zambian hills we rejoice with several cold beers. The hippo seem to sense our joy and merrily grunt. Back at the lodge we settle in to an incredible buffet dinner and lots of wine. Desert and coffee complete the ritual. A lion roars in the distance and a troop of baboons scatter through the trees. The hippo continue to grunt as I fall asleep back in my chalet.
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