Darwendale Dam and African Innertubing

A few weeks ago, in preparation for Chirundu, Chris Shepherd invited me to go fishing with him and his son early one morning at the Darwendale Dam. When Zimbabweans refer to a “Dam” they don’t mean the actual concrete retaining structure, but rather the entire reservoir/lake behind it. About an hour’s drive in total, we had a great time watching the sunrise. Graham, Chris’s son, recently made the All Zimbabwe Rugby team for his age level, and we were fishing in celebration.

Lining the dam are several farms on either side. “All those farms were seized by Mugabe, and look at them. All those fields were completely green with different crops, and now none of them have anything.” As we fished on the boat a few meters off shore, we watched as a herd of scrawny cattle grazed nearby, and kicked up a huge dust cloud.

Darwendale has some of the best Bass fishing in Africa, and local fisherman are trying to profit from it. “Fishmongers” set up nets, and then collect the fish in their canoes everyday. While this is illegal, there is no one to enforce it. On the other hand, no one was checking my fishing license (or lack thereof) when we left the docks.

Most of the fishmongers work in teams while staying in their canoes, but there are other intrepid soloists who lay nets on their own. How to they get around? In innertubes with their feet dangling in the water. If you notice the picture, you see that there is a bic pen inserted into the tube- that’s how he inflates the thing!

The only problem is, not 200 meters up from where the kid is fishing, we saw a ten foot crocodile basking in the sun. When asked about the croc, the kid said, “Eh- I see him all the time. I’m not worried.” Another man said, “Its too cold for them to bite.” The really sad thing is that no one would know if anything happened to these fishermen, and one day all that could be left is an empty innertube floating in the reeds.

“If that were my son,” Chris said, “I would be standing over him with a rifle watching everything. You don’t even know when crocs are there…”