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Old Drift Lodge

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

By Jon Mountjoy

January 15^th, 2023

On the banks of the Zambezi

I had an truly amazing time staying at Old Drift Lodge near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, at the beginning of 2022. It's a lodge situated on the banks of the Zambezi river, which provides for some great opportunities to see land and river animals and birds—and to hear the hippos snorting at night.

I received a very warm welcome from all the staff on arrival, and not only because I was one of the first post-covid international visitors. Everyone seemed genuinely happy to see me, which made the trip even more wonderful.

My "tent" from the outside. Wooden walkways connect the tents and the main lodge.

Outside my bedroom is a little patio, and the Zambezi river.

My "private" pool. I shared it with a herd of elephants.

The main lodge is super comfy - a nice lounge and plenty of places to sit and enjoy he views and sunshine.

Oh, and I had an outdoor bath too (and indoor shower)

Jabulani Made (JB), was my primary guide for my time there. JB's keen eyes, patience, and good humour were so important to me being able to capture what I saw - and all of the photographs here are a testament to him. Also important are all the staff that helps make a trip like this possible, including the day managers: Lessley, Farai & Bright, the lodge managers Annie & Brad, the other guides including Musa, Richard & Fahnwell, the magnificent chef Gabriel and helpers Malingha, Alex, Ian, Harry, Richmond, Tabiso and the fabulous Prisca, also Sunny & Admire and the cleaning staff, including Prospelin. A special call-out goes to Wilma Griffith for helping me organise everything, and Wild Horizons.

Kingfishers

I traveled to Zimbabwe for the birds, primarily, and was richly rewarded in Old Drift Lodge. Each day I would either be cruising along the river in a boat, or along the roads in a land rover. With the boat, you can sometimes drift quite close to a bird if you spot it from the distance, and this often happened with kingfishers - perhaps because of their colours. Especially the beautiful beast above - the malachite kingfisher.

I was very happy to see the half-collared kingfisher, woodland, brown-hooded, pied, giant and (possibly) striped kingfishers as well.

Striped kingfisher, or possibly brown-hooded.

Herons, egrets and jacana

I do like the stillness of a heron, and enjoyed seeing the green-backed, squacco, goliath, purple, black and black-crowned night herons. I'd also never seen the great egret with its green breading stripe before, and it's always nice to spot a jacana tiptoeing across the lillies.

Taking breaks

Safaris take time, and taking a break for a mid-morning snack, or late-afternoon G&T, is always appreciated. Here are a few photographs of those breaks, and some of the transport.

JB preparing a mid-morning snack. We'd just seen a bateleur.

One of the three boats we used to go out

Cuckoos

I don't often see or hear too many cuckoos, so this was a real treat. We saw a few Levaillant's cuckoo, Diederik & Jacobin cuckoo. Once, on a drive, I heard and saw the African cuckoo, which I got a shot of, albeit from a great distance. A few weeks previously, in South Africa, I saw Klaas's cuckoo, and a week after spotting this beautiful Jacobin, I managed to see the African Emerald Cuckoo in Elephant Camp as well. An asylum of cuckoos!

Jacobin cuckoo. Identified as such in the field, but Levaillant is a close call.

Pranticole, council and more

I was pleased to see my first pranticole (a rock pranticole), sunning itself on a rock overlooking a few nasty crocodiles. Also seen, a white-browed coucal (it take ages to get this shot, while bobbing up and down on the Zambezi - and unfortunately the bird was quite far away), a beautiful ring-necked dove, several Southern ground-hornbill, and a common sandpiper.

Camaroptera, roller, oriole, barbet

Seeing the names of these wonderful birds brings back great memories. I enjoyed seeing each of these birds, albeit some at a distance, and sometimes in the damp between rain showers. I really enjoyed catching the fleeting camaroptera, and always enjoy seeing a crested barbet, who always gives the impression of putting on the makeup in the dark.

Keeping the energy levels up

Old Drift Lodge has some fabulous folk in the kitchen. They kept me well fed and watered - they really did look after me. It was a joy to sit down to eat and drink.

Ospreys, eagles, harrier-hawks & kestrels

We found some fabulous raptors, who had the decency to sit still and pose for a video or two. You can feel these raptors watching, looking, for prey. We managed to grab the Western banded snake eagle, Western osprey, Ayre's hawk-eagle, African harrier-hawk, Dickinson’s kestrel & African fish eagle The talons on the osprey are quite something. We also saw a bateleur, but my shot of it isn't as good as this one from a few years ago. Also spotted, a fabulously chic African harrier-hawk and yellow-billed kite.

Starlings, tchagra, pytilia and doves

Meves's starling really stands out, unlike the brown-crowned tchagra which kept hiding away. I love the colours on the green-winged pytilia. Also spotted were the dark-capped bulbul, black-backed puffbacks, a truly marvellous emerald-spotted wood-dove & water thick-knees.

The Victoria Falls

While staying at Old Drift Lodge, I also visited the Victoria Falls, both to look at the falls, and to find Schalow's Turaco. Visit my Victoria Falls Gallery to see much more.

Bee-eaters

I do like a bee-eater. We saw plenty, including the little bee-eater, European bee-eater, and white-fronted bee-eater.

Swallows, spurfowl, prinia, cordon-bleu & pipits

I love this shot of the barn swallow. It looks like the idealised image of what a swallow should look look. We also found a single red-chested swallow (rufous-breasted swallow) in the rain, lesser striped swallow, wire-tailed swallow, as well as African pipit, tawny-flanked prinia, southern cordon-bleu and Swainson's spurfowl.

Wire-tailed swallows (on the road to Victoria Falls)

Red-chested swallow (rufous-breasted swallow)

Shrike, robin, indigobird, firefinch, babbler & parrot

Also spotted were many red-backed shrike (here a female), white-browed robin, my first magpie shrike, and a many village indigobirds and red-billed firefinches. A beautiful arrow-marked babbler landed near my patio one day, which I managed to shoot. Meyer's parrot was spotted from a vast distance, and I'm very happy with this shot of it.

African finfoot, Allen’s gallinule & a pearl-spotted owlet

Sometimes we would spend hours looking for a bird, or trying to identify a bird. The African finfoot was very difficult to find - we tried finding it on 3 or 4 boat trips. Eventually we spotted it. It was incredibly difficult to photograph in the water - and it kept creeping around on land, very fast. I had the definite idea it knew I was trying to get a good look at it. Eventually it settled, and I was very glad to see it.

Allen's gallinule was a bird we just came across - but we weren't quite sure what it was. We think it's not quite in full plumage yet, which is why it's a little odd looking.

The owlet was another serendipitous find. It took us a long time to see it - as first all we heard was its little cheep. I recall getting bitten in the dusk light while we kept manoeuvring around to see if we could get a shot of it.

Puku, banded mongooses, squirrel, zebra, crocodile & more

There were, of course, many other species. I saw crocodile quite often, and a singular puku hiding on the far bank of the Zambezi. Also spotted, banded mongooses, zebra, a tortoise or two, squirrel, kudu, and warthog lounging in the mud.

Giraffe, elephants & hippos

I have a soft spot for giraffe, hippopotamuses and elephants, so I get to show more than one photo of each of these species.

Once or twice we were prevented from returning to camp by these lovely beasts. All you can do when this happens, is just to switch the engine off and wait, watching the herd eat and play. It's fabulous.

I was having a nap one afternoon, when I heard a branch snap, and looked up to find the herd walking around my tent. I got to take photographs of elephants from the bed - which is certainly a first for me.

I saw many magnificent hippos - often from my tent. I could also occasionally hear them at night. One evening in the pitch dark, I went to the loo (as one does) and while there, I heard this deep unearthly grunt. It was very close, very deep, and very scary. All the hairs on my body stood on end, as some prehistoric sense of self-preservation kicked in. A few seconds later the thinking part of my brain realised I was safe and sound, and so I just crept quietly back to bed, impressed both with the hippo and with the usually dormant fight-or-flight senses deeply wired into my body.