The Zambezi River 2018

The Zambezi river is one of the finest and least spoiled rivers in the world. The basin has some of Africa’s finest national parks, and many valuable species, ecosystems and wilderness areas survive thanks to the Zambezi river.

Photography on the Zambezi river

Last year I did three trips on the Zambezi river, but just one for photography. This year I went out twice on the river with just photography in mind.

It was a little different this year as the water level was much higher due to work at the Kariba dam. I am not completely up-to-date about that work, but I think it is turbine related. They are increasing the power output as far as I know.

Bird photography

I really like photography from the water. It gives you a different set of pictures and often a good variety. The usual suspect is birds as can be seen in my photo album, but in Africa you will always stumble upon mammals as well. We saw more mammals last year, but had better sightings of Elephants on both trips this year. I didn’t work as much with the Hippos like last year, but instead I worked with them in Mana Pools.

Reptiles from the boat

I have now done five trips on the Zambezi and have always had the pleasure to see Crocs. This year we also came upon a smaller reptile, the Nile monitor. It was a fairly large specimen that actively searched for food on the banks of one island. I suppose it was looking for bird nests as this particular island seemed to be a hotspot for different birds.

Nile Monitor

A fierce territorial battle

It is not often one get to see real fights between animals and in particular not as ferocious as this one. It was of course not any of the bigger animals, but instead birds that made the commotion.

Two male Egyptian geese were locked in a battle that lasted for almost two minutes. They were biting into the neck of the opponent slapping the wings while the females cheered on.

Territorial fights is not uncommon for the Egyptian geese and they can last for up to 30 minutes. This was the first time I witnessed this behavior and it was spectacular in its way. It ended with one of the males being chased away with the victor flying just behind.

Egyptian Geese battle Zambezi river Zambia Zimbabwe

Battle of the Egyptian Geese

Below you find my photo album from my boat trip on the Zambezi river. I have added this to my Mana Pools National Park photo workshop. It will take you out on the Zambezi an afternoon for wildlife photography. You will get a good chance of seeing some of the prolific animals in or out of the water.