Fr8liner
AH veteran
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2014
- Messages
- 182
- Reaction score
- 139
We had the fortune of spending our 2016 Christmas on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe for Christmas with my family.
The adventure started with ten of us cousins, wives and children heading out on the 22nd bright and early to avoid the road blocks. After the traditional stop at Lions Den for coffee, bacon&egg rolls and a biltong top up we were back on the road for the final leg.
Just before the Mukuti hills, I had to slam on brakes severely for the guy in front who had done so for a small dog. I heard a crack behind over the squealing tyres and saw the boat lift up and start to come past the left rear corner of the Cruiser. It continued through the drain and proceeded to cruise next to us about 15m off the road, coming to a stop about 200m later.
All was okay and my cousin ended up pulling the boat the last 100km.
If it had happened any later than that spot on the road the boat would of been down the mountains in small pieces.
Suitably named she survived and gave us five days of fun.
The rest of the day went ahead with no further issue as we boarded, loaded and headed for Tashinga where we hoped for some game viewing.
House boats are a very relaxing enviroment so not a lot was done on the second day. We watched the elephants come down, the impala pronking, the hippos going out and prayed for lions.
The kids caught a few small fish in the shallows but the day passed under our eyelids.
The next day the dads agreed to at least try fish which was a petrol burning waste of time that saw us back at the boat in time for late brunch and the usual afternoon kip.
The kids needed to burn off some energy so it was agreed they would go on land, supervised, to run some laps between the mooring ropes - the extend of your legal land extrusion in the Matusadona.
This done and then safely aboard we started afternoon tea and were blessed with a pride of 8 lionesses that joined us till night fall.
The next day we decided to move to better fishing, which found us in Elephant Bay, an evening of exploration found a bottle in a tree which gave us the idea that this was a marked fishing spot to try the following day.
Christmas Day started with the usual presents before departing for the fishing spot which commenced with a hand size bream that lead to nothing.
After 20minutes and a decision to move the first pan size was caught just as the ropes were untied. Next the bite was on which saw us fill a keep net before heading in for an encredible Lunch of ham, chicken & mince pies.
The afternoon of fishing was divided as cousins versus cousins to see who could catch the most on each boat, with the kids inventing a scoring system for species. We lost......
The weather to this point had been very hot with mild breezes. Clouds building up but the rain being all about and not on us. At 0000hours on Christmas night things changed
We awoke to the wind whistling - I really mean whistling through the mosquito nets on our top deck. Indecision caught us still sitting in our beds as the rain came. And in it came almost horizontal, we hunkered down and tried to hide behind a mattress barrier but we were thwarted and conceded defeat.
In the cabins below decks we got as comfortable as possible with no dry bedding and few mattresses to wait out till morning. The captain reckons one of the worst he has seen.
The rain finally broke to some sunshine which allowed us to get everything dry and squeeze in a tough morning of fishing in the choppy waters. We did quite well considering.
We moved for our final night to Gordan's Bay which would put us within 3 hours of Kariba for our homeward trip.
This last afternoon was spent cruising, chilling and with a bit of swimming for the kids on a huge sand bar which made crocodile monitoring easy.
That night the two older boys 13 and 11 put out their usual night lines using steak fat and biltong fat. Just before dinner the first started to run, cousins 13 year old strikes and cranks which raised a fair size vundu to the surface but pandemonium failed to get it on the boat.
The tension was up as my son needed a big fish.
Dinner finished saw the lines come in, baits checked and recast in opposite directions for luck. 2130hours adult bed time came and it was agreed the boys could wait till 2200hours. We lay in our beds listening to them whisper about ' I really hope you get one too Justi ' whilst recounting episodes of River Monsters.
Ten to ten the whirring began and roused us from our slumber, bam strike it hard - Justin was on.
Pull and crank pull and crank over and over never ending, next it runs with the drag screaming, little boy holding on in desperation resting his weary arm. Stop!
Pull and crank 'oh how it hurts my jewels ' he squeaks as the rod is jammed in his groin.
Runs again but son reckons he can feel it is tired so he keeps cranking some more.......
'Wowee' his cousin cries ' don't lose it Justi boy!'
Crew come running to help but the net is too small, hand in the mouth it will have to be. Splash Flop
Well done my boy ! The captain reckons possibly 20kg but maybe it could get to 30kg as he was struggling to lift it, but hey who is weighing. What an what a trip what an experience what a memory.
Shimano 2500FB Bait runner using 12lbs line on a Penn Rod.
The adventure started with ten of us cousins, wives and children heading out on the 22nd bright and early to avoid the road blocks. After the traditional stop at Lions Den for coffee, bacon&egg rolls and a biltong top up we were back on the road for the final leg.
Just before the Mukuti hills, I had to slam on brakes severely for the guy in front who had done so for a small dog. I heard a crack behind over the squealing tyres and saw the boat lift up and start to come past the left rear corner of the Cruiser. It continued through the drain and proceeded to cruise next to us about 15m off the road, coming to a stop about 200m later.
All was okay and my cousin ended up pulling the boat the last 100km.
If it had happened any later than that spot on the road the boat would of been down the mountains in small pieces.
Suitably named she survived and gave us five days of fun.
The rest of the day went ahead with no further issue as we boarded, loaded and headed for Tashinga where we hoped for some game viewing.
House boats are a very relaxing enviroment so not a lot was done on the second day. We watched the elephants come down, the impala pronking, the hippos going out and prayed for lions.
The kids caught a few small fish in the shallows but the day passed under our eyelids.
The next day the dads agreed to at least try fish which was a petrol burning waste of time that saw us back at the boat in time for late brunch and the usual afternoon kip.
The kids needed to burn off some energy so it was agreed they would go on land, supervised, to run some laps between the mooring ropes - the extend of your legal land extrusion in the Matusadona.
This done and then safely aboard we started afternoon tea and were blessed with a pride of 8 lionesses that joined us till night fall.
The next day we decided to move to better fishing, which found us in Elephant Bay, an evening of exploration found a bottle in a tree which gave us the idea that this was a marked fishing spot to try the following day.
Christmas Day started with the usual presents before departing for the fishing spot which commenced with a hand size bream that lead to nothing.
After 20minutes and a decision to move the first pan size was caught just as the ropes were untied. Next the bite was on which saw us fill a keep net before heading in for an encredible Lunch of ham, chicken & mince pies.
The afternoon of fishing was divided as cousins versus cousins to see who could catch the most on each boat, with the kids inventing a scoring system for species. We lost......
The weather to this point had been very hot with mild breezes. Clouds building up but the rain being all about and not on us. At 0000hours on Christmas night things changed
We awoke to the wind whistling - I really mean whistling through the mosquito nets on our top deck. Indecision caught us still sitting in our beds as the rain came. And in it came almost horizontal, we hunkered down and tried to hide behind a mattress barrier but we were thwarted and conceded defeat.
In the cabins below decks we got as comfortable as possible with no dry bedding and few mattresses to wait out till morning. The captain reckons one of the worst he has seen.
The rain finally broke to some sunshine which allowed us to get everything dry and squeeze in a tough morning of fishing in the choppy waters. We did quite well considering.
We moved for our final night to Gordan's Bay which would put us within 3 hours of Kariba for our homeward trip.
This last afternoon was spent cruising, chilling and with a bit of swimming for the kids on a huge sand bar which made crocodile monitoring easy.
That night the two older boys 13 and 11 put out their usual night lines using steak fat and biltong fat. Just before dinner the first started to run, cousins 13 year old strikes and cranks which raised a fair size vundu to the surface but pandemonium failed to get it on the boat.
The tension was up as my son needed a big fish.
Dinner finished saw the lines come in, baits checked and recast in opposite directions for luck. 2130hours adult bed time came and it was agreed the boys could wait till 2200hours. We lay in our beds listening to them whisper about ' I really hope you get one too Justi ' whilst recounting episodes of River Monsters.
Ten to ten the whirring began and roused us from our slumber, bam strike it hard - Justin was on.
Pull and crank pull and crank over and over never ending, next it runs with the drag screaming, little boy holding on in desperation resting his weary arm. Stop!
Pull and crank 'oh how it hurts my jewels ' he squeaks as the rod is jammed in his groin.
Runs again but son reckons he can feel it is tired so he keeps cranking some more.......
'Wowee' his cousin cries ' don't lose it Justi boy!'
Crew come running to help but the net is too small, hand in the mouth it will have to be. Splash Flop
Well done my boy ! The captain reckons possibly 20kg but maybe it could get to 30kg as he was struggling to lift it, but hey who is weighing. What an what a trip what an experience what a memory.
Shimano 2500FB Bait runner using 12lbs line on a Penn Rod.
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. only done the house boats a couple of times and one of those things i keep thinking should be done more!! if anyone on here has time before or after their hunt in zim or zambia i highly recommend trying to get at least 2 or 3 days on a house boat on kariba. well worth it
