The following morning we reluctantly said our goodbyes to Kanyemba and set off by river down to our next destination of Baines' River Camp, situated just opposite to Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools. The trip down by boat was very interesting, with hippo around to entertain us, although keeping well out of our (9-seater) boat’s way. We passed several other lodges on the way down, which we guessed were aimed more at the local, rather than the international market.

This was certainly not true of Baines' River Camp though. This is a very smart lodge (), with air conditioning (!) in all of its beautifully furnished rooms (), internet availability and so on. It was named after the famous artist and explorer John Thomas Baines, and offers a wide variety of activities including specialized photographic workshops, birding weeks and fly fishing clinics, each hosted by internationally renowned expert guides who are passionate about the African bush.

In the afternoon Jack (naturally) returned to his fishing, while several of us took a canoe trip (), which involved taking a motor boat to the start of the Nkalangi Channel, and then canoeing along its length, with very few hippos around this time, to the other end of the channel, where we were met by the motor boat once more. After some very welcome sundowners we then sped back to camp in time for dinner.

Over dinner we were told of some guests recently who had developed the habit of taking an early morning dip in the main river! Since all of these Lower Zambezi camps are situated on the river’s edge, there is nothing to stop you doing this – except common sense. Maybe the guests had never heard of hippo and crocodiles (). As a tour operator it makes me shudder: I would never have thought about warning guests not to do this.