Zambezi

A photographic record of the Zambezi river, from its source in the plains separating the Zambezi and Zaire plains, through the wonder of the Victoria Falls, and then on to the Kariba gorge where, in the late 1950s, it was dammed to form one of the world's largest man-made lakes.

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The word Zambezi possibly more than anything else, evokes the mystery and excitement of Africa. Even today the river is poorly known, and the purity of its condition is unequalled by any other African river. This book follows the river from its source in the upland undulating hills characterised by vast watershed plains separating the Zambezi and Zaire basins, through the narrow belt of Szygium trees lining the upper river, to the floodplain which forms an inland river 300 km long and 50 km wide. The Zambezi emerges from the floodplain into rocky country which creates the Siona falls. Encountering basalt at Kazangula the river is disciplined as it channels through unspoilt wilderness territory before plunging 100 metres to form the Victoria Falls, and then on to the Kariba gorge where in the late 1950s it was dammed to form one of the world's largest man-made lakes. Downstream of the dam and freed from the confines of the Kariba gorge the river spreads out to explore a wide flat-bottomed valley. This is the epitome of tropical Africa - hot, harsh and untamed - the domain of the wild animal.
Mike Coppinger and Jumbo Williams are both experienced cameramen who have spent many months on the Zambezi filming and leading tour groups on white water adventure holidays. In the process they have amassed a large collection of colour transparencies of the river in its many guises and the people and animals that live along its banks from its source in the Angolan highlands to the swamp-like delta in Mozambique, a distance of some 3600 kilometres.