The fabulous wet season at Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, Gonarezhou, in Zimbabwe….

What a season…we have not seen the vast floods that have engulfed parts of Britain recently, but in our African context, we have had fabulous rains, enough to make the grass leap skywards, birds sing and build nests, rivers flow strongly, washing away the debris of last year’s season…

the flooding Save River at Chilo Gorge

looking up the Save River, the baboon roost rocks are  dwarfed by the expanse of silty brown waters…

view upriver from Chilo deck

A lone baboon barks, and his voice echoes across the water and bounces back off the rocks, causing him great alarm, and he barks incessantly, challenging his ‘Ghost’ voice….

baboon sketches

Chivalila Falls on the Save River upstream from Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, are a raging torrent- a stunning tribute to nature in all her glory.

Chivalila Falls

Watch this homemade video of Clive Stockil at the magnificent Chivalila falls….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfofg6brzYg

Bear Grylls, we need you here! This is an elemental survival challenge……

Clive Stockil at Chivalila Falls

Tembweharta Pan is a gorgeous expanse of water, assorted fish and waterfowl and wallowing hippos who have trekked across for refuge from the raging river…

Hippopotamus- sketch by Lin Barrie

The Chilo Brooke, a mere trickle in the dry season, is a full-fledged torrent among dripping tree trunks, and tumbling o’er steep rocks, rivalling Scottish burns in its beauty!

The Chilo Brooke and Clive Stockil

watch this video of the Chilo Brooke in full spate at Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge….

The Chilo Brooke runs under the bridge at Chilo Gorge

Giant Land snails, bigger than my hand, ooze along pathways, making the most of the wet vegetation, before the dry sets back in…..

Giant land snail feels its way around a twig..

These magnificent molluscs have to find refuges under rocks and in tree trunks during the dry winter months. Some will not last the dry season, dessicating in clumps in their hideaways…..

discarded shells of giant african land snail

Looking downstream, sunrise lights the Save River through the balcony railing, from my  room at Chilo Gorge…

sunrise through the balcony railing , from a room at Chilo Gorge

a hornbill visits the trees outside the  bedroom at dawn…..

a hornbill visits the bedroom at sunrise

view upriver from the Chilo bar lounge…

view upriver from the Chilo bar lounge

view of Strelitzia and Save River at Chilo Gorge…

view of Strelitzia and Save River at Chilo Gorge