Zam wih the Fam
Well work wise its been a fairly non-illustrious couple of months, but the summers been going at a steady clip. Mostly because of its kick-start with the France break, and a few weeks back a visit from my Mom and Dad. Adventurous enough to tackle “The Real Africa” heh. Decided on an itinerary highlighting the two major draws, animals and Victoria falls, and that’s about it on the tourist path here.
So for wild-life, splurged a bit and headed to the South Luangwa National Park under the auspices of the Robin Pope Safari Company (RPS). Located in Eastern province, the park borders the Luangwa river and is teeming with endemic wildlife. Spent a week out there among RPS’s three camps, Nkwali, Nsefu, and Tena Tena. Each camp, spectacular in its setting , was perched in subtle luxury on the banks of the river. Loved the vibe of the open air-architecture where lazing around your room or the bar could observe elephant crossing, spook a puku tranquilly drinking, chuckle at the hippos grunts, or sense the rustle of the trees as a herd off giraffe passes. Daily life started at sunrise, then a morning drive, lunch feast, siesta time, tea, sun-downer and evening drive, then dinner feast. Recycle and repeat with options for walking safaris with a heavily armed Zambian Wildlife Authority scout, or catered lunch in the bush for maximum enjoyment. In brief…
-Game viewing saw most of the biggies of the region…Warthog, Elephant, Buffalo, Monkey, Baboon, Zebra, Thornicraft Giraffe, Bushbuck, Puku, Eland, Porcupine, Kudu, Genet, Mongoose, Civet, (sparring) Impala, Hyena, Lion, Crocodile, fleeting glimpses of Leopard, and tons and tons of Hippos. O and the scenery….EPIC!
-Most of the food was imported from Lusaka but I sure didn’t recognize it after the cooks worked their magic. I grabbed some of my favorites from the shelves when I returned to Lusaka…mango pickle chutney mmmm.
-Who knew birding could be so addicting? By day 4 was staring hopefully at the water hole for a plover sighting, raptor, egret, stork, or other colorful plumage. Anybody got a copy of Birds of Southern Africa I could borrow?
-So with the drives/walks being just my folks and the guides, got spoiled silly, individualized safari experience. From vivid, humorous, interpretation of the sights and sounds to actual, bonafide , tracking. On our final day the guide honed in on a buffalo kill by triangulating the position using perching vultures. Plunged off-road into the thickets and boom there is was being devoured by a lioness. With hyena waiting in the shadows. Came back at sunset at the buffalo was stripped to the bones. Amazing.
Impossible to top all that, but we were going to try anyway with one of the natural wonders of the world, the smoke that thunders, where angels fly, etc etc, Victoria Falls. Regrettably the bus ride down there was more brutal than expected, the stretch from Zimba having been completely torn up by the last rainy season. Still made it with a relatively good sense of humor, and was informal rehearsal for the challenging return journey. Least we saved some money heh. On the return my brave folks also got to experience bus-preaching, awful loud Nigerian films, and admire the docility of Zambian toddlers. The Falls were pleasant as always, July , not too full, not too empty. Partook in a lovely river cruise as well on the Lady Livingstone, had the boat to ourselves, saw a herd off elephants paddle over to terrorize Livingstone, and waved at the other packed vessels. Closed things off the next day with the Livingstone museum and very much under construction Railway Museum. Brilliant trip, awesome my folks made it over, now to power through these final two months in the Zambia.
posted by Brent at 7/28/2008 12:36:00 PM | permalink |
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