Leopards And Lions And Hippos, Oh My!

It's not that easy to get to South Luangwa. There is only one daily minibus and goodness knows when it leaves. So Sean and I left our guesthouse and just waited on the junction that leads towards the nearest village of Mfuwe and waited until we either caught a hitch, or a shared taxi offered us a decent price (i.e. $15 each and not $40 each).

We found an honest taxi driver, hooked up with a couple of locals going in the same direction and off we went up what has to be the bumpiest dirt road full of dips and bumps in a standard car when we should have been in something high-rise for sure! This road is also mainly under construction. Good news for those of you that will visit in the future because by then it's sure to be a wonderful flat tarmac road. But right now it's just dirt and rocks and bumps. We arrived in Mufwe covered in dirt and pretty teeth shaken!

A 4x4 picked us up at the drop off point and we were transferred to our lodge - Wildlife Camp. If any of you ever come here, this is the place you have to stay! It was right on the river bank, which was filled with hippos and with crocodiles on the central banks. It was beautiful! The only issue is that you can't walk around camp after dark due to the very real concern that wildlife will attack you (such as the hippos, or in fact the lions that have wandered out of the national park as one picture in the camp demonstrated).

But luckily we survived - yay! But we did indeed have hippos munching around right next to our tent at night (pretty scary) and there were also elephants wandering around too we were told, and baboons tried to open the zip on our tent too. I just shut the window and padlocked the door flaps and prayed that lion wouldn't return!

The going 'things to do' here are morning and nighttime game drives. So next morning we were picked up by a 4x4 again (open sides and top), introduced ourselves to our two Swiss-German companions, our guide Su and off we set. South Luangwa doesn't have fences like many other national parks. It is instead defined by natural boundaries such as the Luangwa River. This means animals are free to roam. Before we even made it into the park we had seen:

1) A hippo in a swamp about 100m from our tents

2) A herd of impala on the junction past the hippo

3) Several giraffe just past the impala...

...and then up the road towards another lodge we saw two other game drive vehicles parked and knew something was up. So we headed down to take a look. Wow! We weren't disappointed. We were confronted with 3 lions eating their latest hunt, a baby giraffe! Not only were we just a couple of metres away from them, but they were really laying into their kill. It was quite the spectacle. It's quite something to suddenly realise that you're only in this open sided truck next to these beasts with such teeth right next to you. You're certainly not in the zoo.

We then headed into the park. After the lions I was happy to just sit back and enjoy whatever we saw. Our companions were keen on birds and Su was the best guide we have had yet - so knowledgeable and with eyes like a hawk. And all this made South Luangwa my favourite park yet. Su spotted agitated birds around one tree and we saw a 'baby' python in the branches (although it wasn't that small!), he told us really interesting facts about the antelopes that I have completely overlooked in other parks as they weren't the 'big 5', we learned how to recognize the park's unique species of zebra and giraffe, the mating rituals of puku and impalas and we saw lots of different types of birds that I would normally not see let alone care about, but with such a guide telling you all their habits you can't help but be in awe.

Another highlight was a dead hippo in the Luangwa river. Not because it was dead as that is of course tragic. But because it enticed all the crocodiles! And some of these crocs were huge! They are evil looking things that's for sure.

We stopped for tea and coffee under a tree filled with birds' nests, watched the hippo in the swamp being cleaned by 'Jesus Birds' (so named because they seem to walk on water!) and checked out the eagle on top of a huge baobab tree. And finished off by seeing two elephants on our way out of the park cooling themselves in the mud. Quite incredible.

Here's a collage of our morning game drive:

I know Sean has a thing about the obsession everyone has with the Big 5. But I like lists and checking things off them. I was amused to learn there is also a 'Green 5' (a list of 5 ferns/grasses/trees named after Big 5 animals for example 'Elephant Grass'), the 'Ugly 5' (Hyena, Vulture, Wildebeest, Warthog and Maribu Stork) and the 'Little 5' (Buffalo Weaver, Elephant Shrew, Leopard Tortoise, Ant Lion and Rhino Beetle).

But I digress: the only one of the Big 5 list that we had not yet seen was the leopard. And South Luangwa is supposed to be one of the best places to spot these cats. So I headed off on the night game drive with hope in my heart. Su had a plan too to make this happen - we drive as far as we can into the park with little stopping and therefore by covering as much territory as we can we have more chance of spotting the owners of those territories as we drive slowly back to the gate. I liked it!

We stopped by the river for 'sun downers' (Mosi beer at sunset) and were treated to wonderful views and colours:

And as soon as we got back into the 4x4, literally 100m from where we had just been standing by the river we spotted it - our leopard:

It is quite frightening to realise how close this creature had been to us really. We watched her for a good while as she gave up her hunt and sat down, in the knowledge that we weren't going anywhere and our spotlights kinda ruined her moment. But then things got interesting. She reinstated her hunt of an impala group. Our driver said that we weren't allowed to assist her hunt by using the spotlight to aid her as this prevents 'natural selection', so we parked up and turned off the lights.

I mentioned I have an over active imagination right? Well the spotlights would go on for a few seconds every few minutes just to check her position. One time she was looking at our truck. Then some guy in our jeep asked me where she was (I was on the same side of the jeep as she was). Then my mind decided that I could see her looking at me (the impression it was left with from the last spotlight search). My mind then convinced me that she moved towards us gathering speed and when I screamed because I thought she was jumping at me I startled everyone on the 4x4. This of course was all in my head and I felt pretty embarrassed that I'd done this (in my defense these animals can kill humans and we're in this stupid open sided truck in the pitch dark). But we continued to wait none the less to try to see the kill (I just sat with my eyes shut!). However, the guide eventually said that she must be hungry as she was taking her time to ensure her hunt was successful and that it could take all night and we had to head back to the gate. So it was that, and not my stupid screaming I tell you, that made him make his way back.

On the way back we saw genet and civets, hippos, tortoise, a hare and some nocturnal birds. We also stopped in on the lions from the morning (there were now four of them!) who were still in the same spot still eating the last of that poor baby giraffe.

But nothing will match that leopard. So beautiful and so close it made me literally jump out of my skin.

South Luangwa was incredible. Our guide superb. And the best end to our time in Zambia. We now head back towards Livingstone for a couple days of chill out and email catch up before we join another African Trails tour to take us through the "expensive and otherwise inaccessible by independent travellers without their own car" countries of Botswana and Namibia.

Zambia has been my favourite African country so far I think (with Malawi close second). It's expensive compared to Malawi, but our experiences here have been so amazing that it has made a lasting impression on me. This one has to go on your short lists. It's even child friendly if you can afford to hire your own jeep for the duration!

Other things Jennie will remember:

1) Thinking how good it was that the Muhanza family bus company went up the aisle with a big bag half way through to collect the rubbish.

2) Being appalled when the Johabie bus company gave you cookies and then throw all the rubbish out of the window (cardboard boxes and all)

3) Running into Ken, the American Army Officer whom we had met at Livingstone, again at Chipata

4) Running into the taxi driver who had taken us to South Luangwa upon our return to Chipata and the sincere thanks he gave us for the blessings we had given him by giving him the fare

5) Never being so scared (and excited) in my life - far too many warnings about wildlife, pictures of lions eating tents and too little protection on the vehicles such as metal sides.

6) The free ride back to Mfuwe offered to us by the owner of Wildlife Camp - thank you so much for being so kind!

7) That the impala are nicknamed 'MacDonald's' due to the fact that the stripes on their bums look like the golden arches and they are fast food for leopards and lions

Something Sean will remember:

1. Jen's blood-curdling scream. It haunts my dreams.

Here are the photos:

BT66_South Luangwa 25 - 27 Apr 2011