Kariba Magic

Carrie Hampton had always dreamed of taking a houseboat down the length of Lake Kariba in northern Zimbabwe, and when the invite came with only a few days notice and a travel book to finish, she hesitated for only a split second before packing her bags and leaving the deadlines behind. She says this was the right decision, but she’s now so hooked on Kariba’s magic that she wants return.

Lake Kariba must be one of the most peaceful places to truly chill out, particularly on a houseboat heading from one end of this inland sea to the other.

There is nothing much to do but to relax, and that’s what this bunch of journalists did armed with ice-cold beers, the occasional fishing rod and a variety of cameras. We were on Flame lily holidays' boat, the 8-bedded Lady Jacqueline.

A classy dame with a wide beam, enabling much sprawling around on deck and two at a time in the little cuddle puddle (a large bath-tub sunk into the deck). Owner, Brett McDonald had invited us aboard to fill his empty leg from Kariba to Binga, where he had to collect his next clients.

The Lady Jacqueline cruised sedately, at a pace that allowed us to appreciate the magnitude of this enormous lake that is 285kms long and in places 40kms wide. We moored up at a different spot on the lakeshore each night and on queue, nature’s theatre put on its best-selling long-running light and sound show; Deep Purple followed by the Electric Light Orchestra. Or in other words, a sunset of many colours with a short interval before cataclysmic explosions of thunder and great shards of lightening.

Nyaminyami - Lake Kariba River God

Days drifted into timelessness and not once did I feel the need to check the time – it was irrelevant. There was a kind of magic to Lake Kariba that had everybody mesmerised. Perhaps Nyaminyami, the Zambezi River God was feeling at peace.

Nyaminyami is held responsible for the 1958 once-in-a-thousand-year flood during the damming of the Zambezi to create the massive Kariba Dam. People who claim to have seen the River God, say it looks rather like the Loch Ness Monster, with a snake body and fish head. Nyaminyami totems matching this description are sold to afford protection when venturing near the Zambezi. I had mine tucked into my camera case.