Our trip is drawing to a close and we are at our final stop: Bumi Hills Safari Lodge nestled atop a cliff overlooking Lake Kariba in Northern Zimbabwe. Our journey through Botswana, Zambia and now Zimbabwe has been nothing short of breathtaking. So much wildlife and the people are so kind.
Traveling during the rainy or emerald season has pros and cons. The pros include less crowds, more personalized service and more options when it comes to activity. The cons of course is the constant threat of rain. I think in 3 weeks we only had 1 or 2 days with no rain. Fortunately, it rains quickly and usually stops leaving large blocks of time to enjoy nature drives.
Bumi Hills is a lovely safari camp that as I mentioned overlooks Lake Kariba. The lake is the world’s largest manmade lake and now supports both local tourism and the villages through fishing. We have enjoyed three sunset cruises and a bit of fishing as well. There small monkey everywhere and if you leave anything unattended (food, iPhones, etc.), it is likely to be appropriated by the “naughty monkeys.” In a weird twist, we are the only guests in the entire lodge. There are actually more staff than guests, so as you can imagine the service has been impeccable and the chef visits us daily to check-in to ask if we have any special requests.
Due to the rain and easy availability of water, the animals are not as active. We still see huge herds of Impalas, Spring Bock and Kudos, but lions and cheetah are missing. We have spotted a few animals that we didn’t see in earlier camps
Fishing and Sundowners
Every afternoon, we go for a Sundowner on the lake and even work in a little fishing. I know, a strange activity on a safari, but as I mentioned the lake is huge and supports catfish, Bream, Tilapia, Tiger, sardines and plenty of hippos and crocodiles. During the day the lake is practically deserted, but at night it comes alive and looks like a small city due to all the fishing boats using their lights to attract the sardines to their nets. Here are a few highlights from our fishing excursions. We quickly discovered it is more fun to watch fishing while drinking than actually fishing. Eunjae did catch one but it slipped the hook before she landed it. I was skunked as the only fish I caught it was no bigger than a goldfish, so it doesn’t count. @Mason – you would enjoy fishing here and can teach us proper technique.
Final Thoughts
A wondrous trip through the heart of Africa. So many kind people who brightened our day in each camp. So many pictures to edit and save; we are probably over 3000 by now. We really appreciate all of the positive feedback on the blogs, and we are glad we could share this experience with everyone. We are back in Serbia shortly and already planning our 2026 vacation schedule; Indonesia is high on our list and we plan to take friends to Vietnam and Cambodia as well.
