Zambia 2012

You may have heard the expression, " Dr Livingstone I presume", those famous words spoken by Henry Stanley when meeting the explorer in Africa.

We were now in Zambia and specifically in Livingstone, named after... you know... 'him'!

Memorial to Dr Livingstone

Livingstone whilst exploring the entire length of the Zambezi River was the first European to ever see Mosi-o-Tunya ("the smoke that thunders") waterfall, which he named Victoria Falls and from the air in a helicopter, you truly get to understand how impressive they are.

Victoria Falls from above...

...and from the ground

Whilst walking to and along the falls admiring the sheer power they exude, even during the dry season, with so much water around, this was a great location for large numbers of birds.

Weaver building its nest

From Livingstone we flew to a small town then were driven through other small towns to our location for the next few days at Kafunta River Lodge, located on the Luangwa River.

The lodge is sensational with large meeting, relaxing and dining areas overlooking wetlands and the river.  On the wetlands you could always see wildlife either in the form of elephants, deer or monkeys and in the distance we could hear the now familiar sounds of hippos grunting.

Kafunta Lodge reception, relaxation and dining areas with its central wild mango tree

Each of us were shown to our own 'huts' for our stay and to call them a hut is a bit of an understatement.

Our 'hut' at Kafunta Lodge

Having met our wildlife guide for the entire stay, each day we would go on 2 safari drives with him, one starting just before sunrise and another finishing after sunset and whilst here, we also tried a night drive.

Car like ours on its daily drive into to the nearby National Park

Zambia is a relatively new country to wildlife tourist activities and as a result, the wildlife was constant and abundant.  Our guide was excellent as he calmly drove us in our open vehicles to very close proximity to the animals or birds.

Here is just a very small sample...

Cape Buffalo with friend

Yellow Wattled Lapwing

Up close and personal with an elephant 

Yes... I'm watching you 

Yellow billed stork with its catch

Then our time with both the lodge and the river became even better if you can believe it.  We all had to pack up and endure a fairly bumpy 3hr drive down dirt tracks to some new but this time temporary accomodation... the bush camp.

Each year the lodge builds a seasonal bush camp located on the raised bank above the river, with hippos literally right out front. At the end of the season the lodge is all pulled down to stop poachers using it as a base.

First animal we saw after reaching the bush camp

So let me try to explain what is meant by bush camp using the photo below of our actual 'room' taken from the river in front of it.

Our actual Kafunta bush camp 'room'

Each room is raised off the ground, the bedroom has a roof over it but the shower and toilet cubicles were open to the air.  So try to imagine sitting on the loo doing your thing whilst hippos are in the river directly in front grunting back at you.

There were a few very strict rules in the camp, especially at night.  We had to be escorted to our rooms and if we wanted to go to the dining hut, and would ring a bell to be collected.

Each night when retiring to sleep, the staff placed a lit kerosene lamp at the top of the stairs and one at the end of the bed.  It was reinforced with us to never blow them out because these were there to stop either hyenas or leopards visiting.  They can climb stairs!

So this was a typical day in the bush camp.

Wait for sunrise over the river...

...have breakfast with friends next to the river

...board your boat, make that a canoe and pole across the river past the hippos to an island

...start walking, yes walking in search of lions or buffalos or birds or ??

When we were told we were going on a walking safari looking for lions let alone anything else, it did cause a rise in each of our pulses but by now we had been joined by a ranger from the National Park with a rifle... a very large rifle.

During this particular walking safari we did come upon a herd of Cape Buffalo and then marvelled at the flying expertise of masses of Carmine Bee-eaters.

Carmine Bee-eaters in formation

We walked and walked and searched for the very elusive lions, eventuality starting our hike back to the canoe when from a clump of bushes about 20m from us, the growl of some lionesses told us they had found us, a lion cub ducking under the cover bushes.

2 lionesses not too happy to see us

I only managed to get one shot off before the lions quickly left us, so I asked Rob, "did you get any photos?". "No!" came her reply.  "Why not?" I asked and her response was priceless... "I couldn't because I was standing behind the man with the gun and not moving".

We thoroughly enjoyed a few walking safaris and on another occasion when emerging out of some thick scrub we were standing less than 15m from a giraffe staring down on us... just stunning!

But all good things come to an end and we made the bumpy trip back to the main lodge for two more nights and even more safaris with another small sample of the results like...

huge herds of Cape Buffalo..

 young leopard waiting for its mother to return..

 beautiful dragonflys zipping around...

 very colourful rolas... lots and lots of rolas

 majestic grey crowned cranes...

During the very short remaining time we had in this Lodge, we were to experience a final adrenaline rush provided by one of the locals.

Our first taste of what was to come happened during the afternoon in the form of a small herd of elephants with young ones, wandering in around our rooms to eat fallen wild mangoes.

the elephants enjoying mangoes near our friends room

The very simple effect of this was that we were trapped in our rooms until they decided to leave.  Especially with young elephants around they can be very dangerous indeed.

Well they did leave and we all managed to get up to the dining area for a few drinks and time to head back to our rooms to get ready for our final dinner at the lodge.  Two of friends had gone back early.

Suddenly we were advised... the elephants had come back!

So a plan was hatched by our hosts for a guide to take us in single file on a little used track passing the front of each hut, so off we went after a short briefing that in the event that an elephant attacks us (what!!), run and hide under the nearest hut.

Hmmmm...

So the guide, then our friends Rob, Robyn and myself,  snuck past the first hut and were heading to the second when one of the mature elephants spotted us!

Well this elephant took quite an exception to us, spread its ears wide and charged towards us.

The guide was the fastest to leave followed very close behind by Robyn, who quite frankly I didn't know could move that fast, and then Rob who actually jumped over a rear railing onto a deck with the occupants looking on quite bemused.  "Hi, I'm Rob" our friend said to them.

By now with an elephant moving quickly towards us I felt almost alone whilst picking up pace to match the others, not one of my strong suits.  I did manage to put my only head underneath the hut where Robyn was already settled next to the guide, quickly earning the nickname Emu as the elephant in question decided to leave us alone.

Very exciting indeed.

After a relaxing shower, we all found ourselves around a table with the owner of the Lodge for our final dinner in Zambia and Africa.

Enjoying our dinner in wonderful Zambia with great friends after an amazing time

You would have thought that was the end of this post BUT the elephants had the last say. 

I was fast asleep when around 3am a very low rumbling sound woke me up.  After cautiously opening the door to our accomodation, there she stood, only 10m away, her young one close by.

Mum and her baby near our front door saying 'goodbye'

For me this was simply the best way to say goodbye to Zambia, a country in the process of growing its tourism but still clinging to being true to itself.


Africa In General
Before we left for Africa it must be said we were very apprehensive, filled with stories we had heard about crime and personal safety concerns.

We mitigated the risks by relying on good guides and the experience of friends who had visited before us.

Africa is without doubt one of the most amazing continents we have ever visited and yes its more expensive than most BUT if you ever get the motivation or chance to go, you will experience wildlife like no other.

Next are the people themselves.  We found the locals we interacted with, have the most wonderful and mischievous sense of humour and a joy for living, despite being no where near as well off us any of us.

Yes you do need to be careful, but with the right advice and on-site guidance, there is just nothing quite like it, its authenticity and simply being so different.

We will be back!

Below is a link to additional wildlife photos from our entire trip through southern Africa:

CLICK HERE - More Wildlife Photos Southern Africa 2012

CLICK HERE - African Scenery 2012

CLICK HERE - African Birds 2012

Enough waxing about what we experienced but you will never never know if you don't go so go well!