Elephants, lions, giraffes………

I have just got back from an incredible 4 day trip to South Luanga National Park in Eastern Province of Zambia.  I met up with Megan (old Brune House housemate) and her boyfriend Joe who are living in Malawi at the moment and some of their friends. We went on trip with Kibibo and were staying in a tented safari camp.  The camp was amazingly luxurious with swimming pool and cocktail bar both with views out onto Luanga river with hippos and crocs bathing in it.  Not quite the view I normally get from my sunbathing.

We went on 2 game drives each day – one at 6am for 4 hours and one at 4pm for 4 hours.  Animals tend to be most active in the early mornings and early evening and this means greater chance of getting the exclusive photos of the animals.  The evening drives also gave is the chance to spot nocturnal animals and the reclusive leopard.  I can safely say we got to see all the animals – elephants, lions, giraffes, baboons, leopards, warthogs, zebra’s, hyenas and plenty more.  Our guide Moses was incredibly knowledgeable and was able to teach us many interesting animal sights. Did you know an hippo can be submerged in water for up to 6 mins and if animals eat bones of other animals their poo will be white!

 Moses was also very comical and have a tendency for some British sarcasm.  We discovered that the white ringed bottoms of some deer like animals was due to the fact elephants have arranged a meeting by email for all of the animals and have painted lots of  the toilets seats white.  Can you guess the ending? My two highlights were an very upclose sighting of an elephant who were able to watch for a prolonged period, and discovering the birdlife of the park.

Anyway I do have one funny elephant story.  Our camp was unwalled or unfenced which meant wild animals could wander through – mostly elephant or giraffes as we were on the opposite side of the river to the national park.  This is sometime which came as a surprise to me. When we first arrived we were given the safety talk about wild animals, how we should ask a guard to escort us anyway in the dark and if had any food in our bags we should keep this in the kitchen.  So after putting our food in the kitchen we sat down for dinner at the outside table.  We had finished eating and were enjoying coffee when Megan turned her head and saw an mother elephant and baby were about 6m away from us.  As you would we (well Megan and I) did all shriek and started hyperventilating.  Moses (our guide) told us to be quiet and still – so after a while which seemed like hours we managed to and we watched the elephants wander off.  They had wandered off in the direction of the tents, and happened to take a sudden interest in my tent.  We could hear tent poles being bashed.  Anyway it appeared my rucksack smelt of bananas as I had had some overripe bananas in my bag.  I have now learnt my lessons about banana and I have lived to tell the tale! Joe and Megan had another encounter with elephants on their way back from the bar with our sprites for our gin’s on the next night.

So if anyone wants to go on safari in Africa I would fully recommend going with Kiboko to South Luanaga.

Take Care, CCx

P.S I have tried uploading photos from the trip but it my computer keeps freezing and the connection is so slow.  Will try at the weekend from internet cafe