A Journey Through Mpata Gorge

December 2003

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A Journey Through Mpata Gorge

The boat (barge) is a homemade ‘tent boat’, the hull being three Banana boats fitted together to make a Makora type boatwith a ‘top deck’ and driven by an old Johnson outboard motor. It was built by the manager of a prominent coffee farm. We towed the ‘tent boat’ in a stripped down form on a trailer from the farm through the escarpment to Gwabi. There we assembled it and after about four hours were ready to set off.

Our first obstacle was the cables for the Chiawa pontoon. Because of the height of the boat, we chose to pass over the cables rather than under them and this proved more successful than a previous excursion, where the ‘top deck’ was swept clean of tables, chairs (occupied) and all other lose paraphernalia.

Having successfully ‘made it’, we continued to the Zambezi and turned left. We were towing a runabout boat behind the barge for fishing. After roughly four hours of travel, we decided to go for a fish in the runabout, only to find the motor was completely dead. So, the fishing plan scotched, we found a small camp and left the runabout there.

After two short ‘drink over’ stops at Kaila and Royal Zambezi, we continued down the river, awed by the number of elephant and buffalo to be seen.

Along the river we passed several canoes being paddled by two person teams, They all looked very ‘red’ and very tired.

We pulled into Chongwe, to get park permits etc and this we managed, but only after long explanations of our intended trip and the estimated duration of the same. As we were leaving, the canoeists all appeared around the bend. This seemed to distract the youngest member (60 +) of our crew, since the lead canoe was ‘personed’ by two nubile females and he hesitated, staring. On ‘coming round’ he found the barge some distance from the shore, gave a mighty leap and literally ‘missed the boat’, falling flat on his face in the river. However, undaunted, he swam up to us and climbed aboard.

Some three hours later, having moved to the side under some large trees for some respite from the stifling heat, the canoeists caught up. The lead canoe girls made straight for our boat and asked for cold beers and if they could share our shade. We readily agreed and the one then asked ‘who was the a------hole who ‘rambo’ jumped, missed and fell in the river?’ This made the incident repeatable here. Unfortunately, that was the last time we saw the canoeists for the rest of the trip.

At about 5 pm of the first day, we found a ‘deserted’ island, landed and proceeded to unload the dinner equipment (tables and chairs, pots, grid etc) and then all had a shower. We dined whilst watching a beautiful view of the sun going down on the Zambian side and distant hippos bashing about in the last rays of the sun. We always eat and drink very well on any trip and make sure we have a plentiful supply of ice in a large ice box, thus ensuring fresh meat and cold, cold drinks. Having dined, drunk, yarned and joked, we went to bed. Beds being on the ‘top’ deck and under mozi nets. So endeth the first day.

Having fallen asleep to the lullaby of the grunting hippos and croaking frogs and sleeping like logs, we arose at 5.30 am, cleared away the debris from the previous night and made breakfast. Again superb. Full English breakfast with Woodley boerewors thrown in. Having satisfied our hunger, the eldest crew member went for a walk. He returned very shortly and very ‘smartly’ without pants and rather pale. What he had taken to be ‘ant hills’ in the halflight were in fact buffaloes lying down. They chose an inopportune moment to stand up and obviously gave him a bit-of-a-fright. He later retrieved his shorts, after the buffalo had moved off. So, Zambezi mariners, beware of ‘ant hills’ on islands.

Our journey continues. It is very hot, but the sight of a herd of buffaloes stampeding through shallow water and kicking up enormous sprays kept us captivated. That is until one gigantic animal decided he didn’t like us disturbing them and charged straight at us. Since we were more or less hugging the bank in a narrow deep water channel, we were rather alarmed to say the least. Under much shouting of conflicting orders to the driver and waving of arms, we managed to put about three metres of deep water between us and the bank. Much to our relief, the buffalo stopped just short of the deep channel, tossed his head and trotted off, triumphantly. Had he decided to leap, he would have landed on the boat and this tale might not have been told. Needless to say, we were more wary after that!

At mid morning, we found a sand bank in the middle of the river, ‘beached’ the boat, unloaded chairs onto the sand and sat on them up to our necks in the water, the driver having been told to stand up and watch for any V shaped ripples approaching us. This method of ‘cooling off’ proved very successful and we used it time and again during the trip.

After several ‘groundings’ on sand banks we eventually decided to tie-up for night 2. The river is very wide for many miles along here, sand banks abound, and deep water channels have to be followed. The numerous islands however proved to be too low or too overgrown for us, so we tied up on the mainland. A lovely spot, with lawn-like grass right up to the waters’ edge, and dead level with the lower deck. This made unloading the dinner very easy and once again we had a sumptuous meal and went to bed, only to be very rudely awakened at 4 am by the deafening roars of a lion. Every body on the top deck grabbed their torches since the light given off by our tiny paraffin lamp was merely a glow. There he was! Appearing to be the size of a hippo only 20 metres away. There we were. All naked because of the heat and with only mozi nets as protection against this terrifying, jaw gaping, roaring male lion. We could not reverse the boat as it was tied to a steel peg in the sand and there was, in any case, a snorting and grunting pod of hippos behind the boat. So we just sat, dead quiet, mouth dry, tongue rattled and waited. After a few moments (it felt like hours) the lion decided to wander off. We nervously shone our torches in arcs around the land side and only then saw the five hyenas sitting watching us from thirty metres away.

Maybe it was them the lion was roaring at and not us. Feeling slightly braver, since Simba had left, we shouted and waved the lights. Thankfully, even the hyenas loped away. During all this, the driver and the steward were huddled in the bottom of the center banana boat, virtually unreachable by any animal. No more sleep that night, and a very firm decision never to tie up on the mainland for an overnight stop, buffalo or no buffalo. So endith day two.

A very early start as the hippos had moved and breakfast later on an island. No problems, aside from several groundings and having to walk in waist deep water over large sand banks. Looking for deep channels and then shove and pull the barge to deeper water. I must say that it was during these times that the damn barge seemed to be a mile wide.

We had been told to look out for a small river flowing into the Zambezi, between two fairly high banks, as there was a camp on the one bank. We found this and beached the barge. Shortly two guys came along the wide flat river and headland. Introductions all round and they stayed for sundowners and dinner. Fairly late that night they took their leave, promising to bring the supplies for breakfast the next day. There endith day 3.

After early rising and ablutions, the two guys duly arrived with the breakfast goodies. This however turned out to be a small half tin of Ricoffy. It was then that we realized these guys were in dire straits and it also explained their phenomenal appetites the night before. They simply had nothing and a Land cruiser with no diesel and no boat. After breakfast we left them with what food we could spare and set off with a promise to get them at least some maize meal in Luangwa.

We now entered the Mpata gorge. The change in the river is very sudden. From a very wide slow flow, it narrows down to about 50 metres in less than a mile. The current speeds up considerably and from looking for deep channels we are suddenly looking to avoid rocks.

The gorge itself is fantastic. Some places have narrow semi level banks before the cliffs and others the river flows between nearly vertical cliffs on both sides. The hippos in the gorge are much smaller than those where the river is wide and have lush grazing on the banks and islands. The vegetation is understandably sparse in the rocky steep sided gorge so hippo food is in short supply.

Perhaps worth mentioning is that we surprised a hippo grazing fairly high up a slope. He took off for the water at an angle, tripped and slid down the slope on his chin in a cloud of dust and into the water. It looked really comical and he looked very sheepish.

The trip through the actual gorge is awe inspiring with the grandeur of the cliffs and a surprising variety of game in the slightly wider sections. Having passed the park eastern boundary, marked by a large white stripe on a very large boulder, we arrived at the exit from Mpata Gorge.

This in itself is amazing. The river widens to a 100 metre diameter semi round pool, the outlet of which is suddenly compressed to a 10 metre wide gap between two hills, very appropriately known as ‘the gate’, for this is exactly what it is. A very solid sided, obviously very deep narrow gap through which the entire Zambezi has to flow. Obviously a very very swift current in that stretch of river and we had our doubts about the return trip against such flow.

After the majestic gorge, the section of river down to Luangwa seemed fairly tame. The only incident was a Zimbabwean family, parents and a small daughter, drifting helplessly down stream with a non starting out board. We tied their boat to our barge, sorted out the fuel problem on their motor and they bid us farewell with murmurings of eternal gratitude.

Restocked (what we could find) at Luangwa and started back. Once through the gates – no real problem but very slow headway – we made good time to the lodge run by an acquaintance of long standing – Chingola. The lodge is in the gorge but outside the park. We had a few drinks at the bar and chatted about old times. All very enjoyable until he was ordered in no uncertain terms to attend to his clients and not have a drink with us by his diminutive but very cheeky current girlfriend. All suitably chastened, we parted company and went our merry way.

That night we moved into a ‘backwater’ in the gorge and went to sleep in the welcoming coolness of a gentle breeze. By midnight the gentle breeze had become a howling gale, turning the narrow gorge into a virtual wind tunnel. We rapidly, by the faint glow of our trusted night light ‘battened down the hatches’ and had to tie down most of the loose equipment or lose it overboard. We had no idea that the wind could be that fierce and very nearly lost our canvas roof, which would have been disastrous, it being the only protection from a blazing sun during the day. Again, no more sleep that night, but by early morning the gentle breeze returned.

On the last stretch of the gorge, we were fortunate enough to very clearly see a beautiful leopard, lying on a bare tree branch on the Zambian side. It was completely unphased by our presence and merely stared at us with disdain as we chugged past.

Having swiftly dropped the maize meal and some vegetables with the ill supplied duo, we made rapid progress upstream. We were running out of time, and didn’t stop for cooling dips and lunch.

At one point we were forced to stop. Having seen a large pipe in the water between an island and the Zambian bank. We were amazed when the pipe disappeared, to be replaced by a curved block rock. It turned out to be an elephant crossing from the island to the bank and he alternated his truck and rump above the surface as he moved underwater. On reaching he bank, he only climbed half out of the river and then started to browse.

But all too soon it was over and we were back at Gwabi. Disassembling the craft is another story.