“The moment when you first wake up in the morning is the most wonderful of the twenty-four hours. No matter how weary or dreary you may feel, you possess the certainty that, during the day that lies before you, absolutely anything may happen. And the fact that it practically always doesn’t, matters not a jot. The possibility is always there.” – Monica Baldwin

On the Zambezi, that possibility, the feeling that “absolutely anything may happen”, practically always comes true. It’s the way of the wild, of spaces not dictated by the hands of a clock and not even by the height of the sun.

Every morning I awake in my four-poster bed, whether at River or Island Lodge, I look out through the haze the mosquito net casts between my slowly rising self and the sliding doors, out at the view of the reeds on the riverbank and the changing shades of the sky. And rather than turning over, for another minute or ten of slumber, I am pulled by the river.

Before thoughts of breakfast and coffee can arise, I’m at the jetty with one of our river guides, perhaps it is Moses or SK, both of whom know this urge – the draw of the morning – well. It is the finest time of day (until sunset), when the earth is still rousing; the fishermen quietly split the stream with their mekoro as they glide along with a string of early birds. The smell of fresh coffee and biscotti on the boat helps matters, brings me back down to earth, readies me for the day ahead – the promise that awaits…

It’s tough not to be a morning person here. It’s the way of the wild to wake with the sun. We won’t hold it against you if hiding under the covers is your idea of a morning well spent, but give it a try… Perhaps these new photographs from a morning at River Lodge will tempt you.