For my honeymoon my wife and I travelled along the Zambezi in a canoe on the Zambian side opposite Mana Pools.

It was only a three day canoe trip as part of a five week holiday including a seven day plains game safari.

We were very lucky in that I booked the trip from Australia and it was supposed to be a party of ten. The other group of eight dropped out, and the company decided to honour our booking and not cancel, so it was just the two of us.

The first day we arrived by landcruiser/safari car at the main camp and had a guided game walk. This was a private property. Elephants among numerous other game. Hippos fed right among the tents at night (safe?) but didn't care. This camp had a resident insane elephant that used to harass the residents chasing them around from building to building. Sometimes sneeking up to the dining area in the dark and then racing forward trumpetting to scatter the humans. They wondered what would happen oneday if the elephant ever caught someone.

A days canoe trip from that camp seeing elephant, bushbuck (a lovely trophy one too), crocodile, hippo, other game.

Travel by speed boat to another location and more canoeing.
We could see canoe trips across the river at Mana Pools.

The river guide whom was an out of work Zim PH f@#$ed up by forgetting to bring the life jackets and my wife can not swim (dickhead!). So we stayed closer to shore.

Another camp was on an island in a Zambian National Park. All the guide had was a .44 Mag pistol for this part. They weren't allowed rifles unless they brought a Nat Park Scout. The first trip they had one and he had an AK-47 wth no sights and one bullet

. So they did with out.

On this island we had dinner under a thatched roof with a herd of buffalo feeding right around us some only 20 metres away. The long 200 metre walk in the dark along a winding path to the tent wasn't as funny as one could have bumped into anything. The guide did not walk us there. I didn't mind but I think he was not worth it. That night a pride of lions roared on the same island we were on then became silent as they hunted for game. Didn't see them.

We certainly enjoyed it as it was an intimate little canoe trip. Fantastic views on the Zambezi including a mountain behind. Walking in high grass after buffalo. Spotted a small hippo calf ripped by a crocodile but it fled into the water. All up a very nice end to out honeymoon before returning to Harare and home.

This represented my sixth visit to Zamba (work that one out