Lions and Micro-Lights

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We have just finished a quick trip in the huge country that is Zambia. Our first stop was South Laungwa National Park which is truly in the middle of nowhere down a maze of terribly dusty unsealed roads. The appalling road conditions made it slow driving. Both shock absorbers blew on our truck and while we waited on the side of the road, a group of children came over to watch our repairs. We got out our plastic cricket set and showed them how to play which they loved but when they chased the ball, a couple of little girls were knocked over and trampled on in the rush making them cry, which obviously was not our intention! We left the game with them hoping they would play but I suspect one person will take it and that will be the end of it.

Our camp site, Wildlife Camp was in the middle of the game management area, right next to the river. It is infested with menacing baboons who look to steal anything they can while your back is turned. The sunset was spectacular and all around us while we slept we could hear the sound of hippos and elephants.

In true safari style we headed into the park at sunrise in an open-backed land cruiser, the ultimate wildlife viewing vehicle. The park was gorgeous, with grassy plains ideal for buffalo, impala and giraffe and dense woodland areas for leopard. Herds of elephants munched through the marshes and hippos bathed next to the crocodiles in the Luangwa River. We were lucky to see Thornicroft's giraffe, endemic to this area and a huge pride of lions tearing a buffalo to pieces. The pride chomped through the buffalo, often growling at each other as they shared, tearing at the skin and horns, blood covering their faces and paws. They were so full that they just rolled over from where they were eating and went to sleep, happily releasing their flatulence. You could hear the buffalo bones breaking and while sitting down wind, the stench of the lions' kill. There were herds of elephants wading in the marshlands including baby elephants, less than one year old, following their mothers very closely and still learning how to control their trunks.

We then headed out for an evening game drive. We hunted down a leopard sitting high up in the tree looking very relaxed. She was wide awake and kept a close eye on us. Little did we know but her cub was on the other side of our truck, we only saw her quickly before she hid under the bush. It was beautiful. As the sun went down we stopped for our sun downer. We are going to miss these African sunsets, a true red fireball setting in the crimson sky.

After sunset it became much harder to spot animals but we had a spotter on board shinning a high beam light around. It was amazing how many eyes suddenly stared back at us from the forest. We followed some more elephants chomping their way through the forest and we tracked down some hyenas who we followed for about 15 minutes, they were in quite a hurry so they must have found a predator's kill somewhere. Down on the riverside who should we see but the pride of lions that we watched earlier in the morning. They were fast asleep on the beach, their big bellies exposed, snoring. One got up and walked down to the river for a drink. They had moved about 200m since their kill earlier in the day - it really is a cat's life. We went back to the site of the kill, only the spine and ribs were left of the buffalo, it had been completely sucked dry.

From South Luangwe we headed to Lusaka with an overnight stop at a lovely camp site in Chipata. We stayed about 12km outside of Lusaka at Eureka Camp, a lovely grassy site with huge acacia trees offering plenty of shade, piping hot water and a lovely bar area. Just outside the gates, buffalo and giraffes roamed. I went for a walk to try and get up close to the giraffes but they were having none of it, running off when I got near. I then made a quick exit as a buffalo decided to walk promptly over to me looking a trifle menacing.

Our next stop was Livingstone, named after the first European to set eyes on Victoria Falls. We headed to Victoria Falls to gaze in amazement at the largest and most majestic waterfall and a Seventh Natural Wonder of the World. The park which is also a UNESCO Heritage Site was gorgeous and viewing the falls in the whole natural context was simply stunning. The falls are 108m high and 1.7km wide and as we weaved our way round getting drenched from the spray, a bright rainbow stretched from one side of the Zambezi Gorge to the other.

We then walked over to cross into Zimbabwe for the day. We only got single entry visas believing the immigration officer when we crossed from Malawi that we could get a day visa and could return for only US$20. This was not to be the case, they wanted to charge another US$50 to get back into Zambia. Given that I have already been to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls I decided that it was not worth it but Matt headed over. He had a very nice lunch at the famous the Victoria Falls Hotel, an old colonial hotel overlooking the gorge bridge.

Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwean side is much like the Zambian side but much longer. They were amazing. Another bonus was the wildlife that was hanging around, elephants and warthogs zigzagged in front of him as he walked. On the way back Matt jumped on the old steam train as it crossed the gorge and had a look around while the the passengers enjoyed champagne on the bridge during sunset.

Matt and our friend Andrew decided that they did not want to pay the extra US$50 to re-enter Zambia so they got their exit stamp from Zimbabwe and walked straight through immigration back into Zambia (not recommended!). The only problem is that the exit stamp is on the same page as the Zambian visa so hopefully they will not get caught out when we cross into Botswana.

We decided on a luxury sunset cruise on the Zambezi River to watch the sun set. The Lady Livingstone was the most luxurious thing we have done in months! Sitting on comfortable soft chairs, sipping savignon blanc and nibbling on hors d'œuvres we watched the most spectacular sunset, the beautiful birdlife and even saw the odd hippo.

There is something really special when you have to stop to allow elephants to slowly cross the road or sit on a balcony with a cup of tea to watch the elephants cross the river.

One of the real highlights was our microlight flight over Victoria Falls. We had not planned to do this but people had convinced us that it was really worth US$125 for 15 minutes and I am so glad we did. Essentially it was just a bike with some flimsy looking fabric wings. It was absolutely amazing and I am a convert, the best way to see Victoria Falls is from the air. As we headed up into the air a herd of elephants walked across the runway and we could see the odd hippo. The river was like glass, not even a ripple.

Next stop Botswana - they call their currency Pula which means raindrop - sounds like a nice place.

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