Hello there, I do hope that you are fabulously well and have had a wonderful weekend and are now ready for the week ahead. Here in Zambia, we have had everything from hyena pups moving den, lion cubs panicking about how to cross some mud, mating leopards and elephants coming out of our ears, it’s been incredible. However instead of stories from us this week we are skipping on over to Lake Malawi to hear from the team there.
“Here at Pumulani we have been thoroughly spoilt with some fabulous bird sightings the most recent of which has been a pair of Wire-tailed Swallows (Hirundo Smithii) who have decided to make our main area their new home. Like all of us, they enjoy spending the morning out on the deck watching Lake life and can often be found sitting side by side on the railing, grooming, and catching some early morning sun. After their morning routine they move on to breakfast which happens to coincide marvelously well with our breakfast time, and we find ourselves loosing time totally absorbed in watching them as they swoop through the main area catching whatever little insects they can find.
These small little birds typically 14-18cm in length have striking blue upper plumage accentuated by a reddish-brown cap with a bright white underpart. They possess a blue bar which starts from the beak, masking the eye and going down to their neck and back. So often overlooked as they are not easy to spend time admiring, they are wonderful little birds.
It’s not just the small birds that have been catching our eye as summer approaches and many of the birds enter their breeding season. A pair of fish eagles have most certainly been making their presence known and are nesting in on for the baobab trees just on the side of one of our walking trails and have been a very regular stop for us all. Even more so now as their youngster is getting stronger and starting to venture further away from the nest. Their tell-tale call can be heard around the lodge from morning to night.
In other exciting sightings and you are going to have to take our word for it as there is no photographic evidence, we have had guests spot a Pel’s Fishing Owl outside villa 8 which we are very excited about and are keeping a close look out for again.
So, as you can see, we have been having some lovely bird sightings in between all our exciting water sports and relaxing by the pool taking a breather from the pace of everyday life. And the guests have been thoroughly enjoying the last activity of the day with sundowners in the middle of the lake with ice cold beer or gin and tonic. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Wow, thanks so much! I am super jealous and might just sneak on over sometime soon to visit. Seems like everything is rather heavenly. So, before I digress any further, I am going to leave you with the thought of that sunset and gin and tonic and bid you all a very fond farewell and hope that you have a marvelous week ahead with plenty of smiles and laughter and don’t forget to look after one another.
