Hippos at Midnight and Elephants in the pool

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After our relaxing time spent on the lake it was time to hit the road again and next we were going to pick up a 5 day one way private trip which would take us all the way to Victoria Falls on the Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe borders via the South Luangwa National Park, and Lusaka in Zambia. It was going to be some very long driving but hiring our own vehicle was not an option and no other form of transport would take us to where wanted to go without resorting to local buses at each stage to take us to the National Park which would have at least added a couple of days to the trip which we just didn't have the time for.

The tour was to be run by a German guy now running a local company in Nkata Bay and after many, many emails, discussions and confirmation around his vehicle suitability for the 5 of us plus the driver, we were off. Lets just say that although his vehicle was a 7 seater you could only sit in the extreme back seats if you had no legs and a bum about the size of a postage stamp...and he also brought along another guy to help with the driving, so we had the full 7 people. After much discussion and strapping our modest luggage to the roof of the vehicle (after he had to go and buy some rope first) we were off for a full day drive across the border to Zambia and then to South Luangwa National Park.... and a very long day it was.

We were scheduled to stay at Flat Dogs Camp (meaning Crocodile) for 2 nights and get some more game viewing in on our rest day before another full days drive to Lusaka for an overnight stop, and then another full days drive to Victoria Falls. Lets just say that by the time we reached the end of day 1 and got to Flat Dogs (actually it was before we left Nkata Bay) we had decided that we couldn't do this for another few days of even greater distances and that the airport that we passed just outside the national park was looking very inviting for a quick flight down to Victoria Falls. After checking out flights were actually an option we decided to ditch the tour and go our separate way - not to the amusement of the tour guy who actually still thought everything was fine and that it was our fault as he had told us a few times about the long days driving, but seriously mate 5 people would have been a squash in your 4wd, trying to cram 7 in was damn right ridiculous.

So we decided to stay an extra night at the fantastic Flat Dogs Camp and still arrive in Victoria Falls as scheduled without 2 massive days of driving, and the chance to again enjoy the local surroundings.

Flat Dogs Camp is actually on the other side of the Luangwa river to the national park although the animals don't care about any administration boundary and wild animals just roamed the resort, including massive elephants, hippos (who at at night were eating the dead leaves right outside our cabin window), crocodiles just sitting on the river bank and the odd lion (although we didn't see any in those few days, apparently not long before we were there a lion walked right past the restaurant as people sat and ate their dinner).

The park itself turned out to be a real treat and well worth the major detour off the main road to see it. We did a couple of game drives in the day and a fantastic sunset /night drive and saw all the usual suspects although this time in a park that really resembled Africa bush in its natural state - a dry and harsh landscape that was absolutely beautiful.

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Photos

Ok thats close enough
Big Bull elephant wondering through the lodge pool area...not an uncommon sight at Flat Dogs Camp

Hippos by Day
Unusually this hippo came out of the river by the hotel for a spot of sun bathing. They turn pink in the sun through there natural sunscreen

Lion at Sunset waiting for dinner to be delivered
Later when it was dark a herd of buffolo came down to drink and then chaos reigned when this big fella obviously scored himself some dinner.