Nature Show night drive in Luangwa Wafwa

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Geo: -12.8546, 31.311

This was going to be our last set of game while at Wildlife Camp. The morning drive had some very interesting things going on but the night drive was was of our peak wildlife experiences. While on the morning drive we did get to see a martial eagle very clearly and a grey hooded woodpecker who is a summer visitor.

We did see a mother lion who had hidden her cubs and they did not come out until after we had driven off! While we were in the area, there were three or four hyena in the area and we think they were also looking for the young cubs. We continued on and saw a impala looking very intently at a space at a distance. BJ was convinced there was a leopard in the area and we did go on a leopard hunt but were never successful.

Saw a very large aardvark hole and are amazed what a large hole they create and how other animals come and take over the hole especially warthogs. Saw some more buffalo in a larger herd than the first group we saw.

Have some great shots of a zebra taking a drink for a water hole and a greenback heron.

pm safari:

For this evening drive we were joined by Eric and Hety from the Netherlands and a couple from England. Found out later the boys had never been outside of Europe so everything they were seeing was very amazing to them

Because we had some people who had never been on a drive, much of what was talked about in the early evening was things we had heard before so just enjoyed the scenery. Did see an African kestral that believe we have not seen before. One funny moment, Laura said zebra as we would say it and Hety said, no such thing as zebra only zebra. Accent on the different syllable. We assured her that BJ told us female zebra were white and black while male zebra were black and white. (p lace your emphasis on the different syllable.

Did get to see the elephant shrew, scrub hare, civet and genet before the main attraction of the evening. We were driving along and then BJ thinks he has seen a porcupine. We try to find it with no success and are driving along when they are hearing noise and off we go.

By this time we had gotten to to Luangwa wafwa. This is one of the areas where the river used to flow but now is open rolling plain with lots of places for leopard to hide in gullies or up on the hillside.

George shines the spotlight on young female leopard. She is pacing around looking nervous and agitated. We can hear noise off to the left of her and the light is shone over there and we see three or four hyenas fighting over a carcass. Evidently the leopard killed the puku and before she could get it safely up a tree, it was taken from her by the hyenas. BJ said she would not try to take it from the hyena because of the risk of injury.

The hyena were fighting among themselves for control of the carcass tearing and growling and carrying on. Flash back to the leopard who continues to look over to where the hyena are and take a tentative step in that direction when George says something to BJ and then shines the spotlight to the right of the leopard.

Up the bank come two huge, really huge crocodile. They have smelled the blood and are on their way to join in the feast. We had been told of them coming out of the water to feast on the hippo carcass two years ago but this time we are seeing for ourselves as they move steadily closer.

Back and forth went the spotlight. The main part of the carcass has been dragged around behind a hillock and we can hear the sounds of the hyena and they come around the corner every so often. The leopard has moved closer to where they were and is licking the ground hand smelling for some small morsel left behind. And the crocodiles continued to move closer.

So ended our most fantastic wildlife experience in the moment. The couple from England were talking to us the next day and said they felt they were in a David Attenborough episode. He is a nature show producer quite well known in the UK. Must say we felt much the same.

The end of the evening we tried to find Ginger and another lion but they had moved on but we were quite pleased with what we saw.

Must say this episode showed the skill of the spotter in the way he was so smooth in the transition from one part of the leopard episode to another. What a great way to end our experience at Wildlife Camp

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