Well, hello there. I hope that you are fabulously well and have had a wonderful weekend. Here in the Luangwa let me tell you it is the silly season for sure as the sightings have been just fantastic. To start off, some good news… our Mobile Walking Safaris have been nominated for Zambia Tourism Agency Tourism Excellence Awards and we would be delighted to receive your vote:
- Best Tourist Activity – click here to vote.
This week Jane Pike has been kind enough to share some of the sightings that she recently had on her annual trip out to the Luangwa. Jane over to you:
“We’re back on what is now an annual ‘pilgrimage’ to one of the hidden gems of Africa! We are accompanied by our Australian friend Robert, who has been on many safaris but never to South Luangwa – we hoped he’d like it and he did!
First thing we noticed was how very, very dry everything was – the mighty Luangwa River reduced to a trickle in parts. In all our years of visiting we had never seen the river so low. The animals were stressed, travelling far and wide for water and food – but this did make for some exceptional sightings.
We spent 12 nights with the RPS teams and, as ever, were looked after superbly well. Starting at Luangwa River Camp, to Nsefu, then Tena Tena and finishing at Robin’s House the guiding was exceptional, thank you Chizzy, Sebastian and Kiki!
So, what did we see? How does fifteen different leopards (nineteen sightings) sound – including Olimba and her newest cub – what an absolute legend she is. We were lucky to see 10 – 12 wild dog puppies, a first for us ‘tourists’ and a very special sighting. Some fabulous lions and hyenas, six civet sightings, great numbers of antelope, giraffe and zebra – elephants in large herds – as well as 126 different bird species, including 7 ‘lifers’ and a saddle- billed stork killing and eating a snake – phew!
We also had the spectacle of a complete lunar eclipse. And a visit to the memorial to Norman Carr – another first for us.
A couple of really funny elephant encounters spring to mind – a young bull elephant came charging out of the bush, clearly not happy we were there, all noise and flapping of ears! He suddenly stopped in his tracks, realised he was on his own and promptly turned tail and charged back into the bush – with more noise, flapping of ears and flailing of trunk.
Another youngster made his displeasure at us known by running in front of us trumpeting from both ends – Sebastian and Susio couldn’t stop laughing.
So, all in all an amazing trip, we are missing the African sunrises and sunsets, the animals and, of course, our friends at RPS. We’re already booked again for next year!”
Wow, just incredible, thank you Jane! We can’t wait to see you again next year. As for me, after such wonderful photos and stories there really is nothing left for me to say except to bid you a very fond farewell for yet another week. Hope that you have a fabulous week ahead with plenty of smiles and laughter and don’t forget to look after one another.
