House boating with hippos and crocs in Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe

As we boarded our spacious house boat we were all quick to jump on rooms; Sean and I quickly claimed one of the 'honeymoon' suites upper deck which was three single beds (that can be pushed together) a mozie net, some cupboards and best of all an open corner railing (canvases can be unstrapped in the eve)! It was an open air room and we were stoked to watch the white wash of our boat as we sailed in the massive man made lake. 

Two nights was barely enough on this beauty; we spent our days soaking up the sun on the day beds, eating copious amounts of delicious food prepared by our chef on board, jumping off the decks (only once the boat was out deep enough away from crocs and hippos), fishing..(I caught one of the only and the biggest which was disappointing considering it would barely measure up to my hand), and game boat driving to sight to shy hippos and curious crocodiles. The nights contrasted the days smacking us with a crisp coldness that was hard to escape, however we tried by drinking ourselves silly with games and dancing!

 

The lake's size was almost unfathomable, as we woke in the morning by the sting of the sun we couldn't even sight land in the far! It was a magical two day escape from land and we were all pretty sad to leave behind our floating house, however I left with a present; a big, nasty, relentless cold.

After disembarking Osprey, we were reunited with Mugo & the truck, & shortly on our way to another transit camp for the night. We reached the camp, 'Nitolo Caves' quite late, & it was the creepiest site so far, not helped by the fact the power was out for hours! It resembled something out of a horror film with its bare, twisted trees, pitch black toilet block, & bats flying overhead. After a cool evening of sleep, we were up early, & eager to reach our next major destination, 'Antelope Park.'