Travel to South Luangwe NP

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Instead of an 8 hour bus trip to Lusaka followed by another 8 hours to Chipata and onwards to Mfuwe, we flew. The flight to Lusaka took off half an hour late, and they delayed the departure from Lusaka by the same amount, because all six people going onto Mfuwe from Lusaka were on the Livingstone-Lusaka flight.

It was a small turbo-prop and the flights were bumpy but uneventful.

We were dissapointed with the Lusaka Travel agent who recommended this lodge. There's no other tourists staying at the same place, so no sharing of game drive costs or other arrangements. Also, the lodge is 25km from the NP entrance. There are many other lodges that are much closer to the park entrance. The same travel agent also said any activity, such as a game drive or game walk, was $25 per person. Not so! It's ZAK1,000,000 per activity for up to 9 persons. (That's $200.) the same travel agent also failed to inform us of a domestic flight departure tax of ZAK58,000 per ticket. This was a travel agent recommended by Lonely Planet. Also the price listed on the plane tickets was significantly lower than what he charged in cash. Buyer-beware eh!

There's a small lake behind the lodge. So, W.. and N.. went exploring. They got to a tree near the lake edge and a green snake fell out of the tree and into the water to swim away. Wow! Neato! Yes, you can assume that all snakes in Zambia are poisonous. But, W.. was sure happy to see the snake. Looked like a viper. But, we were told it's called an Eastern African Green Snake.

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