Nsefu Camp South Luangwa National Park

... was hard to see the animals when the sun went down. thog the sunset was a great part we stoped right on the river, but when it went down hard to see the animals. though fred did drive down on off track routes and we did nearly see a leopard, we saw a pride of lions 16 in total quite a different experience though seeing a national park with the big five- elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos and buffalo in… we did get to see a serval they are hard to see normally.

... its backside. The day was spent on game drives and bush walks in the park where we saw lots of Thornicroft giraffe, elephants wallowing in mudholes, hippos and hundreds of impalas. The highlight was the night drive where Benson our gun-toting guide found a pair of lions dozing. We managed to get fairly close and they didn't seem the least bit bothered of our shining lights (but then again I am a lion tamer). That was ...

... being shielded on all sides by the adults. Many people had seen lions and leopards recently, but we were not so lucky. We were lucky on the morning we left to see two large groups of elephants cross the river at sunrise. All in all, one of our favorite spots in Africa so far! The road out wasn't as bad as when we came in! Probably because we were fresh and were expecting the worst having driven it already. Next stop: Lake Malawi

... by a sista by the pool or in the room. Afternoon tea was served at 1530hrs, then we went on safari until around 2030hrs with sundowners in the bush. We were lucky to see lions in the afternoon, along with zebra, elephants and antelopes. Once the sun went down, we went spotlighting and were lucky to see more lions and a leopard, among others. A four-course dinner was served at 2100hrs and then it was off to bed!

... including lots of elephants and waterbuck, which are a really large antelope and something we hadn't previously seen. After the sun set, we pulled out a spotlight and looked for nocturnal animals. We saw hippos coming out of the river to feed as well as a pair of bachelor lions. The lions were trying to stalk some zebras for ...

... must-do. We set up our tents in the trees and then got an early night sleep to be up bright and early for our game drive the next day. We left at 6am and headed into the park. The joy of travelling in 4WD was that we could self-drive for the game drive. Armed with a A4 sized photocopy map, we set about on a lion hunt. No lions to ...

... Bateleur eagles soaring overhead. We are so glad that we came to Zambia to see where Mike had been flying and living his dream, to meet with his colleagues and friends, and to try and find some peace and closure. We realize that we are only at the start of a long, slow, and painful process, but we know that this was the right place for us to begin. As he was growing up, Mike heard lots of stories from us about our days in Tanzania where we met and worked back in the ...

... and keeping poachers out of both the GMA and the park. Even then, there are no rhinos in South Luangwa because of poaching. Most of the farms in the outer areas are owned by the local king, who allocates you some land on which to grow crops. You then pay him in Maize, Sorghum or whatever crop you grow. Everything is done by hand!! No land is Zambia is owned, everything is leasehold for 99 years, but you can sell your lease. We landed at Mfuwe International Airport at about 4 p.m ...

... in the Land Rover, and the roads to Luangwa were horrible - incredibly bumpy and very hard to sleep, even though i managed to get some shuteye. After driving all day on this incredibly bumpy road, we got to the Park around 2 o'clock. The camp we stayed at was called Flatdogs, and it was great. It was right on the river, and right when we got there, we could hear the hippos making noise about 200 yards away. Right after we got there, we ...

... and slept more hours.



The safari rides

We went out for safari rides in our open truck twice a day for two days.
I shall not bore you with an extensive list of all the animals we encountered,
but it was fascinating. Even though we saw impalas everywhere we went,
I kept finding them beautiful to see ...