The mighty Zambezi by numbers

Words: Zac Green

Photos: Zac Green &
Addie Bertoni

Zac on the right with Leo

The mighty Zambezi by numbers

My name is Zac Green, and I’m a whitewater kayaker from Ireland. Since I started kayaking around two years ago, the Zambezi has been a major one on my bucket list. I will preface this because this is my first paddling trip outside of Ireland, so I was figuring most of this stuff out for the first time, and I had no clue what to expect.

I flew out on Nov 27th and returned home on Jan 15th. I had been obsessively watching footage and reading articles, trying to figure out what I was in for, but nothing can prepare you for the sheer scale of the landscape, size of the animals, and mainly the river!

My journey out was a long one. It took about 35 hours with about 15 hours worth of flying, so I was thoroughly zombified getting into Jolly Boys at 10:00. A friendly American guy greeted me, asking if I wanted to paddle. So I threw my stuff on a bed, took an old mattress wrapping plastic off my boat which had kept it safe getting here, and hopped into a huge open bed half lorry, half truck, type rig that would be the setting where many hilarious memories would be made to and from the river each day.

Here is a summary of some of my favourites and more sizeable rapids.

Rapid number 2

It’s also called ‘Between Two Worlds’, just under the bridge that joins Zambia and Zimbabwe. This rapid is the smallest numbered rapid by quite a bit, but the reason it deserves a number is just how perfect it is. It’s four or five waves roughly three feet high. At low water, or at least when I arrived towards the end of November, the first wave had the smallest bit of a foam pile, and if you were up to it was possible to flat spin most half slices on.

It needed to be steeper to enjoy it in a playboat as they just aren’t long enough, but the second wave was a bit steeper and much more retentive; it was much easier to ferry out onto the second wave from the eddy. As the water level rose, the process repeated with the wave in front beginning to green out and people surfing further and further back in the wave train.

When I left, the fourth wave was the best surf. We spent every morning taking turns surfing and figuring out kickflips here, as it is the perfect training ground. My fond memory here was one of the first days I was sitting in a front surf with no effort on the first wave with my paddle resting on my cockpit, waving to the lads in the eddy, just grinning ear to ear.

Rapid number 5

The iconic boof line of the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ is one of the most famous moves on the Zambezi. There are two lines for this rapid; you can follow the main flow down a tongue just left of the boof and down into the chaos of the crashing waves below. Or you can push right over a daring kickflip wave and hit the boof with as much speed as possible, leaving you in a much better position to deal with the oncoming waves. The line that follows the primary tongue got easier as the water level rose; while the waves stood up taller, they didn’t become much more powerful or harder to deal with. The boof, on the other hand, got very retentive as the level went up.

The last time I ran the boof was in the middle of December, as the water was rising quickly at that stage. The first time I ever threw a freewheel which is a 180-degree rotation from forwards to backwards through a vertical axis, generally done off a vertical drop, was a good friend of mine’s last day and maybe my third time doing the boof; I followed him and tried to mentally prepare for the inevitable thrashing I was about to receive. I came off the lip, winding up with my body and pushing hard on my paddle blade to bring my boat around. I landed flat and staring into the guts of the pour-over, I put in a few hasty backstrokes and continued down the rapid, beaming at how well it went.

Rapid number 7

Often referred to as ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ are the longest rapid and probably one of the only rapids with a somewhat higher-pressure line with moves that have to be timed well. Number 9 is the main rapid that the Zambezi is often associated with due to reputation. Number 7 is much more drawn out with a few sizeable holes to dodge and a nasty siphon about halfway down on river right, all while the water is seemingly constantly trying to grab the stern of your boat and put you where you don’t want to be. A few very defined seam lines at lower water were relatively easy to deal with but not to be underestimated!

As the water rose, the siphon became less and less of a hazard, but after the last bit of gradient, the water was chaotic and unpredictable, with waves breaking in seemingly all directions. Once I began walking number 9, number 7 gave me the jitters every time without fail.

Rapid number 9

‘Commercial Suicide’ is one of the most famous rapids in the world. I began running it on my third or fourth day in my trusty Jackson all-star and got humbled very quickly. Within the first day or two of my arrival, the main curler line came in, so that was the only line I got to run on it. It was amazing to watch the bottom section, which at first was just a continuously crashing wave hole, which over time turned into this monstrous green wave about five or six metres tall. As it was becoming greener and greener every day, it became predictable, unlike the first move onto the curler between a smaller more retentive hole on the left and a much wider but much less sticky one on the right, which grew to become enormous.

I began walking the first portion and got in just above the wave around Christmas, as I needed to be at the standard to make it between the ever-narrowing gap between the holes. My favourite moment at number 9 was on Christmas Day, when we each brought a bit of food down with us and used a boat as a chopping board to prepare our Christmas Day feast, which was made up of cheese crackers and salami followed by ham, salad and hot sauce sandwiches kindly supplied by the Kiwis I was paddling with at the time.

We mainly took out at rapid number 14, but once or twice a week, we would go down to number 21. This stretch was the much lower consequence, excluding the occasional croc sighting on the flat stretches, but no one was attacked in my time there. They were just perfect wave trains for the most part, except for number 15, aptly named ‘Oblivion’. It consisted of some converging waves and a bit boily then suddenly there was this hole that must be 10ft high and 15ft wide; the standard line was to avoid this, which most people did apart from the top-level guys and girls who would plug it and either tumble out under it or surf out either side. On my last day, I plugged it, and it was quite the ride as a friend of mine followed close, and we briefly ended up in it together before I got sent down to China and resurfaced and rolled up shortly after.

While there, I went on an overnighter down to the proposed dam site. It was much more flatwater, but the Batoka Gorge only gets more beautiful as you paddle further down. We camped at rapid number 25 on a beach on the riverbank and were welcomed by gin and tonics and a dinner provided by a local rafting company. This was one of my standout memories, sitting around a fire surrounded by fantastic scenery and a wide range of people from all corners of the earth, from Canada to New Zealand to Slovenia, Switzerland, and Austria. If you are thinking of going over, I can’t recommend doing the overnighter enough; whether you rent a raft and do it all yourself or pay a bit extra and have a rafting company bring down some gear to number 25 for you, it is a must-do either way.

Here are a few pointers for anyone hoping to go over in the near future

After talking to many locals, the dam project is moving slowly with the current government, and maybe the god of the Zambezi, the Nyami Nyami, has something to do with this, but they are saying another four or five years at least so get out there while you can!

It’s not essential to bring your own boat. Around Jolly Boys, in particular, there are so many people. So there is always someone on a rest day who, if you ask permission and are respectful etc., can lend you a boat if you’re not fussy about paddling a range of boats; you can also rent a huge selection of boats from Saf Par for 20 dollars a day if you are stuck.

There are now many different ways of running a shuttle, whether with Saf Par or a local taxi driver who organizes porters separately. While there, I tried my best to go with locals as much as possible, but Saf Par also takes excellent care of the porters but is 50 dollars all in, whereas, with most other shuttles, you will be paying about 30 dollars.

You don’t have to accept the asking price for nearly anything; of course, this should go without saying that often the vendor needs the money more than a tourist, but taxi drivers or people selling fruit or trinkets and such will often ask triple the price they are willing to accept so don’t be afraid to haggle a bit.

Jolly Boys is the place to stay, while faulty towers are much cheaper with a slightly cleaner pool. Jolly Boys had this constant feeling of friendliness throughout; whether it was full of kayakers, backpackers, or a mix of both, there was always messing and fun. Along with a free meal on Thursdays and cheap gin and tonics! Within a few days of being there, I was on a first-name basis with nearly all the staff, which is hard to come by elsewhere. Also, loads of mango trees are around, so free mangoes every morning!

Bring out some older gear to give away, as there are always eager porters who have no means of getting any gear or instruction but have bags of enthusiasm to learn. At the end of my trip, I tried to help by giving away some shoes or trying to help teach a couple of guys so that they could eventually work on becoming safety kayakers instead of carrying boats in and out of the gorge every day without ever knowing how much fun they can provide.

This trip was everything I could have hoped for, and I look forward to when I get the privilege to paddle the mighty Zambezi in the Batoka Gorge again. I met some fantastic people and am so thankful that I did. Thanks to everyone who helped me along the way; it wouldn’t have gone as smoothly as it did without all the help and advice!