Monday, Sept. 24

We were up early once again so we could go fishing on the Rufiji River. Had brekkie about 7 a.m. and off we went with Maaruf and two other guys - one who was the boat captain, another young man who put minnows on our hooks, which we could have done but that's how it is here in the Selous River Safari Camp. Actually, the minnows were very pretty - they were very silvery and shiny and had bright orange bands on their tails.  Everything is prettier here!
There were a few women already at the river, bathing and washing clothes. Many more would join them because the number had probably tripled by the time we returned around noon.
We went upstream quite a bit. The current is pretty strong, the banks are pretty vertical sand where you can spy hippo slides. Yes, they are about three feet wide and hippos slide down them to get in the water. It's hard to imagine they actually climb from the water and go up the slide since 1) it's pretty vertical and 2) hippos do not seem to be that athletic. They're big and stout and we haven't really seen them move.  They just kind of stand there in the water.
The boat captain tied us up to a limb in the middle of the river, and we were instructed to just cast so we were fishing on the bottom. The sinker was pretty heavy and there was probably about half a foot of line beneath it with the minnow on it. It was totally different than the Zambezi River - this was passive fishing.
They didn't tell us but I suspect we were fishing for catfish and not tiger fish. Maanuf said there are three kinds of catfish in the river.
Both of us got some strikes at the first location but they hit it fast and hard, and we couldn't set the hook quickly enough. The guys decided they were small fish so we moved to another location for the "big" fish.
       I had one - a rather large tiger fish - but the damn thing bit the line and took the hook and sinker. Tiger fish have teeth, did I mention that? But to top it off, the doggone fish jumped out of the water so we could see it. It looked like it was about 16 to 18 inches. Sure wish I had actually caught it and brought it into the boat.
        The young man who was with us caught a medium-sized fish that is kind of like a tilapia. Then he caught a pretty good-sized catfish. They look just like our catfish, and they grunt and groan just like our catfish. They brought it to a woman in the village who was going to cook it for them.
       The one difference between fishing on this river and fishing at home was the fact that hippos were surfacing and crocodiles were lurking in the water. Ha! Don't rinse your fingers off in the river!
We got back to camp around noon, ate lunch then I edited photos and did my blog.
       Our next activity was a sunset cruise, which we thought started at 4:45 p.m. so about 3:45 p.m., we were ready to go take a plunge and a nap when Maaruf showed up and said he was ready to take us to the cruise with another couple.
No plunge, no nap.
       We chose the perfect night for the cruise. We saw yellow weavers, the malachite kingfisher (which is beautiful), bee eaters and their nests in the cliffs (like cliff swallows), baby crocs and hippos. We also saw some kingfishers we've already seen like the pied kingfisher and the giant kingfisher as well as a blue heron.
       We also saw a monitor lizard that was at least four feet long.
       And we saw the locals fishing as well as crossing the river in a dugout canoe because many of the villagers have farms across the river.
       We stopped on a huge sandbar to watch the sunset, and it was absolutely beautiful but the special thing about the evening wasn't just the sunset but when we turned around, the full moon was rising.
       What can I say? 
     

A local fishing from his dugout canoe.

At the end of the sunset cruise when we docked.

A bee eater with a bee!

Beth with her fishing rod. Sorry, no fish.

A calabash monkey (we think it's calabash).

Locals bathing and washing clothes at the river.

A malachite kingfisher.

A Massai warrior helping us launch the boat. These guys sleep by the boats on the shore under blue plastic tarp tents, apparently to keep people from stealing the boat.

A monitor lizard. This guy was probably at least four feet long. He scrambled up the bank when we got too close.

A storm cloud on the river - a storm cloud that produced no rain.

A local woman at the river, washing clothes.

A yellow weaver on her nest.

A yellow weaver.

Our guide and a couple from London who were on the sunset cruise with us.

The sun setting on the Rufiji River.

The full moon rising in the east as we watched the sun set in the west.