There are very few places in the world where destination anglers, in search of bucket list fishing, could be happily accompanied by their non-fishing wives or partners but I’ve just returned from somewhere that ticks every box. Situated on the mighty Zambezi, just upstream of the national park, in an area famous for trophy sized tigerfish, Baines River Camp is an angling and wildlife paradise combining adventure with luxury in the heart of Africa.

The Zambezi is Africa’s fourth-longest river flowing east along its 1500 mile course into the Indian Ocean. It rises in Zambia and then enters Angola for a short while before forming the borders between Botswana and Namibia and then Zambia and Zimbabwe at the site of the world famous Victoria Falls. Our venue was the Lower Zambezi National Park situated between Lake Kariba and the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique. Here the river resembles a large, 3/4 mile delta flowing between sand and grass islands upon which can be found elephants, hippos and all manner of water birds. Baines River Lodge nestles into the bush alongside the river a few miles upstream of the entrance to the national park which starts at the confluence with the Chongwe River. The whole area benefits from conservation policies with only catch and release fishing allowed in the park itself and only indigenous fishing in the wider Game Management Area upstream. Hunting is forbidden in both areas and as a result the wildlife is simply abundant and never more so than in the dry season when the animals flock to the river to drink the water and graze on the remaining foliage.

Tigerfish have been on my bucket list for a long time and with my wife Natalie looking to celebrate her 60th birthday by seeing elephants in the wild, a trip to a bush lodge in the Zambezi Valley offered the perfect opportunity. Particularly as it was to be led by my friend and angling guide Dave Lewis who is possibly Britain’s most well travelled fisherman. Dave now runs escorted trips with Spoilt for Choice Travel who organise expeditions to some of the world’s top angling destinations with impressive efficiency. The flight into the Zambian capital of Lusaka takes around 13 hours from London on account of having to transit through Doha but with a time difference of just one hour jet lag is not a problem. We were met off the plane by a representative of Skytrails, who operate light aircraft journeys into the bush, and were soon enjoying the 25 minute flight over the mountains before a breathtaking view of the Zambezi opened up beneath us. We were given an early taste of African wildlife as our first landing on the jungle airstrip had to be aborted due to elephants on the runway!

The Lodge

Natalie and I were part of Dave’s group of nine people who had come to fish and discover the wonderful wildlife in this area. My friend, fishing writer and regular traveling companion Keith Elliott was there with his wife Riva and the other couple was Del Elliott and his wife April, who we had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. John and Ewan made up the rest of party and both were experienced and widely traveled anglers.

We stayed 8 nights at Baines and we all absolutely loved it. It is beautifully situated and nestles amongst the trees overlooking the river. The rooms are air conditioned and very comfortable and the staff can’t do enough for you with a choice of activities available every day. Basically, there was a guide and a boat available for each couple anytime you wanted it and you could chose from fishing, game drives, bush walks, canoeing or just enjoying the bar and pool back at the lodge for either a whole or half a day.

Dinner at night in the African bush is a pretty special experience

The food was delicious. Different every lunchtime and evening, with lots of fresh meat, veg and fruit. How they served up such a fare in the middle of the bush was a mystery to us all. On our last night we were treated to bush dinner with full table service in a woodland clearing lit by lamps and with a bonfire to deter uninvited guests. It was a truly memorable experience and an indication of just how special this place is.

I really can’t praise the lodge and its team more highly. It was the trip of a lifetime and I’d highly recommend Baines River Camp to anyone who is lucky enough to visit Lower Zambezi Valley.

Luxury and adventure in the heart of Africa

The Wildlife

We all went on some truly memorable game drives, both on land and water, with our friendly and highly knowledgeable guides. We saw everything from elephants to egrets and, on one drive, Natalie counted more than 25 species of animals and birds including lions, leopard, zebra and the extremely rare African wild dogs. We even saw elephants, hippos, baboons and monkeys in the grounds of the lodge, right near to where we were eating and sleeping. Fortunately the guests were escorted back to our rooms by security staff once night fell just to ensure we were all tucked up safe and sound.

At Baines River Camp you are never far away from all manner of amazing wildlife

I’ve always been of the view that you get to see best of nature by being in the right place at the right time. Then the animals and birds will reveal themselves and this was certainly the case for us as we drifted slowly past flocks of brightly coloured bee eaters darting in an out of their bankside nests and all manner of other birds from storks and waders to soaring fish eagles and hornbills. Crocodiles basked on the sandbanks in the sun and almost everywhere you looked elephants would appear. It was if all animal life was concentrated in front of us and I’ve never seen anything like it.

It was amazing just how close you could get to these beautiful creatures

The Fishing

We were primarily targeting hard fighting tigerfish weighing anything from two to twenty pounds on either cutbait or spinners. Double figure fish are an achievable target here with the chance of trophy size specimens of 15lbs and above. Tigers are legendary for their leaping and ability to throw the hook so we were prepared for losing as many as we hooked, particularly on spin gear.

With a 15kgs luggage limit on the final flight tackle had to be selected carefully. Luckily the excellent daily laundry service meant that clothes required very little space in the cases. I opted to take a medium spin rod (20 to 50gm) and a heavier (50 to 100gm) version which I figured would double for bait fishing. As an afterthought I also packed a bait casting outfit. The reels were 4000 and 8000 Shimanos with a modest selection of spinners, spoons and a few favourite lures to complete the armoury. This all felt rather under gunned in comparison with most of my overseas trips but we were soon to discover that very little tackle was actually needed.

The lodge had recently acquired some top quality Daiwa Megaforce bait fishing rods and baitrunner fixed spool reels for use by guests so there was no need for us to bring any of the heavier outfits. However, the guides were still using stiff piano wire as traces which I really don’t think work properly on circle hooks so I was pleased to have packed some of my own knotable wire traces in 30 and 40lbs. I also brought some 3/0 to 6/0 circle hooks for bait fishing which was done either at anchor or on the drift using just a couple of swan shot or a small drilled bullets to get the bait down.

I packed a couple of shallow diving and surface lures but most anglers seem to catch on either mepps spinners or copper and silver spoons with upgraded hooks. For some reason, while plugs and poppers are successful on the Upper Zambezi above the Falls, they are less effective on the lower river.

I also took some 1/0 & 2/0 in line hooks as some anglers find that these hook up the tigers a little more effectively than trebles. But I soon found out that they can jump off almost any hook known to mankind! 

Dave Lewis with a nice 12lbs tigerfish caught on a spinner

Apart from catching the bait fish, usually the bream-like chessa, the other fish most likely to make an appearance is the vundu catfish. These were made famous by John Wilson when he set about catching them on a bar of soap in one of his early films and smashed a rod in the process. The vundu are generally caught on bait in the slower, deeper spots and can reach 100lbs plus, although fish in the 20 to 50lbs range are more the norm. Now I fully admit to being a bit of a snob when it comes to these ‘water slugs’ or indeed any type of catfish. I like my fish to look good and these things might pull like hell but they ain’t going win a beauty contest anytime soon.

Luckily I managed to avoid them for most of the week save for the penultimate day. However, a number of our group were pleased to catch them to 55lbs and even larger specimens were lost in the snags.

Just a few of the many big tigerfish landed by our group of lucky anglers

Keith and I eagerly volunteered to fish on the first afternoon while our wives went on their first game drive. We quickly realised that most of the fishing would be with bait from a boat and tried to get used to drifting down with the current while avoiding tangling each others lines. The trick is to remain in touch with the bait with the bait runner on to ensure minimal resistance to the taking fish. Whether through tiredness or incompetence we didn’t quite get it right first time and returned with just a couple of dropped runs to show for our efforts.

The next day saw us drifting along the Zimbabwe bank and after one missed run I finally connect with a decent sized tigerfish. Unfortunately, Keith’s line became wrapped around mine and the fish took advantage of the resulting slack line to make its escape. A while later I was into another before it leapt skywards and spat out the hook. Welcome to tigerfishing!

Natalie joined us for a bush lunch and as we made our way back upstream to the lodge I was pleased get off the mark with a small but obliging tiger that made it all the way into the boat. It was now time to stop messing about and catch the trophy fish we came for.

The next day I was due partner Dave and we started by spinning the edge just inside the park entrance. We were soon getting the odd hit on mepps and spoons with the inevitable jump offs. Luckily for me a nice fish of around five pounds decided to stay hooked along with a couple of smaller specimens. After a while we came to a fallen snag tree which provided a good deflection in the current. A perfect spot to fish at anchor. Swapping the spin rods for the lodge’s excellent bait fishing outfit I pitched a large lump of chessa into the the stream and paid out enough line to enable the bait to trundle round and settle of the edge of the flow. Now all we had to do was wait and hope.

Some 20 minutes in I had a sharp tug and soon after the bait runner began to tick as a fish steady took line. As the rod loaded up I was determined to get this tiger to the boat. Playing it firmly but carefully with the rod kept low I managed to avoid any of those hook spitting jumps. Hardly surprising since the culprit turned out to be a rather unpleasant electric catfish!

It was clearly time to take a break from fishing and enjoy a game drive.

Finally a tigerfish stays on long enough for a picture!

On day three my luck finally changed. By now several of the party had landed tigers into low double figures with all the biggest fish coming to bait rather than lures. Dave and I had organised a short afternoon session with our guide Jimmy and we again began by spinning the edge a mile of so below the Baines River Camp and close to Royal Zambezi Lodge. No hits were forthcoming and I had just rigged up the bait rod for a spot of drifting while Dave continued spinning. All of the sudden he was into a small tiger that inevitably fell off. Jimmy steadied the boat enabling Dave to cast into the same area and immediately his rod crunched over as another lively tiger smashed into his mepps. For some reason I had this instinctive feeling that maybe a bigger fish might be lurking nearby, attracted by all the commotion. Tigerfish are, afterall, renowned cannibals. So I pitched my filet of chessa a couple of yards beyond Dave’s hooked fish and before I could engage the bail arm line started peeling off the spool at a rate of knots. There’s never any need to strike with circle hooks so I just let the rod load up and it became clear immediately that we were into something special. A big tigerfish is an immensely powerful beast and this one was no exception. The initial fast runs became deep surging power dives but the tackle held firm and after a few anxious minutes we could see the shape of a very large tiger a few yards from the boat. Predictably it launched itself out the water in a final attempt to shake the hook but it was such a heavy, thickset fish that the jump lacked the aerobatics of its smaller cousins. It landed with a thump more reminiscent of a baby cow falling off a cliff that a leaping salmon!

A couple more short runs and it was all over as Jimmy expertly scooped up sixteen and half pounds of Zambezi gold into the landing net and two very happy anglers began a slow ride back to the lodge grinning from ear to ear. Although we didn’t know it at the time we had just landed the fish of the week.

I took a break from serious fishing for a couple of days and enjoyed some spectacular game viewing and very satisfying two hours catching bait fish with Jimmy.

The fish of the trip – sixteen and a half pounds of hard fighting Zambezi tigerfish

My next proper session saw me back on the boat with Keith on a day when the weather changed and blustery wind got up. Whilst this was a blessed relief from the searing 40 degree heat it did present problems for us anglers with drifting now completely out of the question. We got a couple of small tigers on spinners early on before settling into a favoured spot behind a high bank and a fallen tree which provided some shelter from both the current and the wind. Keith was first away with a lovely 12 pounder – his second double figure fish of the trip. A little while later it was my turn and I found myself playing another big fish just as Keith latched into a smaller specimen. This clearly had the potential for another almighty tangle but our guide expertly dealt with Keith’s fish before freeing us to drift away from the snag tree so I could play the big one more easily. Unfortunately, wind was now pitching us around quite severely. Although I got what we could clearly see was another double figure tiger almost to the boat, the rod angle on the fish was bouncing in time with the waves and the hook hold went before it could be netted. I wasn’t too bothered as I had had the best of the fight she was a little smaller than the big one of a few days earlier.

Classic Angling editor Keith Elliot with one of his three double figure tigerfish

By now the party was racking up an impressive haul of both tigers and vundu. Everyone had doubles to their name with most coming to Del and John who also both had 50lbs plus vundus – although to be fair these were the guys who fished the most sessions. Riva weighed in with a 14 pounder, April had had a couple and Dave managed a 15lbs fish on bait and a 12 pounder on spinner which was quite an achievement. Ewan, who struggled at first came good in the end with a couple of crackers. I think our final total was around 25 doubles with plenty of back up fish, shared amongst eight anglers. Although there were quiet days for us all it was a week of stella fishing in anyone’s book.

John and Riva with their vundu – a fish loved by some but not all!

My final couple of sessions were eventful for different reasons. Dave and I opted to fish our last two short afternoon / evening sessions upstream of the lodge in the Game Management Area which has less angling pressure than the national park. Up here there were fewer features in the way of bankside structure and it was more a case of targeting drop-offs from the sandbars and current confluences around the islands.

Jimmy took us to a nice mid river drop-off and anchored us alarmingly close to a pod of hippos. Apparently the small fish feast on hippo poo and the tigers are eventually attracted to party. Anyway the theory worked as Dave was soon away and landed a decent sized tiger before my rod absolutely tore off. At first I thought I was attached to the mother of all tigers, particularly as all the braid disappeared from the reel and I was down to the mono backing on the first run. Jimmy lifted the anchor so we could follow it downstream and recover some line. My heart sunk when he announced it was probably a vundu although I suppose the absence of any jumping should have been a clue. The thing was obviously knackered after it’s first thunderous charge and I was able to bring it aboard with too much further fuss. These are not a fish I’ll ever fall in love with but I do accept that a 50lbs plus vundu would give any angler a fight to remember and I can see why they have a following.

Dave and I returned to same spot on the final evening and after a while Dave had a run which failed to hook up. My turn came a while later and for the third time I found myself attached to a specimen tigerfish. All was going well and I got the fish close enough to the boat to see that this was at least 12 pounds if not more. As Jimmy prepared the net – yes, you’ve guessed it – the fish gave one last, rather tired jump and promptly spat the hook. Now this did piss me off but my perspective soon returned as we sped upstream watching the sun set over the valley and the elephants coming to drink at the water’s edge.

The Lower Zambezi is indeed a very special place and Baines River Camp will give you the trip of a lifetime whether your passion is fishing or wildlife, or hopefully both. I shall be back there very soon