Hello there, hope that you are well. Here in the Luangwa the last week has been one that has been rather wet with some days just grey and miserable, others dry hot and humid building up to gigantic thunderstorms.
The river came all the way up to the edge of our comfort zone, a few more inches and we may have started to press the panic button but fortunately it hovered in the zone for about 24hours and then started creeping down slowly. However, it must be said that when the water is this high it really is magical and access to all manner of inland lagoons becomes an option and suddenly the park is viewed from a totally different perspective. It is still however extremely handy to have an intimate knowledge of the game drive loops and gulleys as navigating the flooded gulleys is far easier when you know which tree to aim for. I am not entirely sure where all the animals go but those not fast enough to get away get trapped on little inland islands hoping like anything that they are not trapped there with a predator as bounding through the water is not really an appealing option either.
The birds have been absolutely wonderful and there is never a dull or quiet moment on any game drive once you start to appreciate the birdlife. The yellow billed storks are in their breeding plumage so have an almost flamingo pink tinge to their backs (Watch here). The kingfisher’s territory has almost quadrupled, so they are utterly delighted and as the water recedes and soft, muddy ground is left exposed and the open billed and sacred Ibis (Watch here) plonk themselves in an area and simply feast.
The guests have braved all manner of weather in the pursuit of game viewing, and it has certainly paid off and this last week Julius has had a series of fantastic sightings. Impala and Puku just manage to poke their heads over the top of the incredibly tall grass. The elephants have been having an utter blast at Robin’s Bridge in the flooded gulley there and have been seen swimming almost daily which I have to say has to be in my opinion a real highlight. The lions seem to have been enjoying the slightly cooler weather and were in a very playful mood when Julius saw them the other day with the two girls rolling around trying to impress the local dude but unfortunately, he kind of just sauntered off away from them but this didn’t dissuade them in any way at all.
Julius also had a wonderful sighting of wild dogs finishing up an antelope there was enormous interaction between the pack (Watch here) and once they were done they kind of just wondered off down the road along with the zebra who were not at all bothered by their presence. A pack of dogs makes light work of any antelope (Watch here) so what was left for the hyena that came out of the bushes as the clean-up crew was massively slim pickings, but it didn’t stop it from seeing what could be salvaged (Watch here).
As the guests left after lunch and a full 48 hours before the next guests arrived at Nkwali we decided to make the very most of the empty day and in the morning sent a car out to scoop up as many of our guides as possible and we set up the projector and popped on the BBC Kingdom series for them all to watch. Expecting the viewing to be had over several days I had planned my itinerary accordingly as this was happening from my computer, however there was no stopping them and all 6 episodes were watched in one sitting. Everyone came out amazed by the filming and chatting about all the behaviour that was captured by the film crews but also proud of Robin Pope Safaris involvement in this.
So, on that note what else is left to say except have the most wonderful week ahead with plenty of smiles and laughter and don’t forget to look after one another.
