After our night at the Shametu River Lodge we continued our eastwards journey along the Caprivi strip towards the town of Katima Mulilo and the Zambezi Mubala Lodge were we were going to stay two nights. We spent the morning travelling and arrived at our next accommodation after a short boat ride along the Zambezi River.
The rooms at the Zambezi Mubala Lodge, which have a rather nautical theme, were of a very high standard and you even get a complimentary half bottle of champagne in the fridge!
Once settled into our room we set out for an early evening cruise along the Zambezi river. We didn’t get any new birds, but it was still a very pleasant end to what was essentially a travel day and we did still get a few good photographs.
On 18 August we had both morning and evening river cruises from Zambezi Mubala Lodge, which gave us a great opportunity to photograph the many birds on the river banks. The undoubted highlight of the morning trip was seeing a large flock of Southern Carmine Bee-eater in one of the large trees on the left bank.
During the morning we also had good views of African Skimmer, African Fish-eagle, Coppery-tailed Coucal, Wattled Lapwing, White-browed Coucal and Coppery-tailed Coucal.
After a rest we had a very pleasant early evening cruise along the river and enjoyed the sunset with a gin and tonic. By this time we were familiar with most of the birds found along the river, but we still got a few shots of interesting new birds.
At the end of a long day birding it was great to enjoy the excellent restaurant at the Zambezi Mubala Lodge that overlooks the river.