Hello there, trust that you are well. Here in the Luangwa ironically, we haven’t had rain for a few weeks, but the river has finally come up just in time for our last trip to Nsefu Camp for River Journeys. Daudi and the team have set off nice and early this morning to get to camp before it gets a little toasty out on the river as neither person nor lettuce is a big fan of that, and I am sure that camp will be looking spick and span before too long.
Speaking of spick and span, having just finished with Luangwa Safari House, it’s now the turn of Luangwa River Camp and this year we are handing the reins over to Sarel who will be managing camp. He, has been thrown very much into the deep end as camp building is a totally new concept for him since Nkwali Camp never closes and the maintenance done differently. Whereas camp building is really 6 weeks of incredibly intense physical work getting all the fixes in the camp done before the season, but we know he can do it, and that camp will look fantastic afterwards.
We have a carpentry team in there as always sanding and varnishing. The building team have just finished tiling the kitchen and are now moving onto tiling the shower in room 1 bathroom. The thatching team are busy replacing the ridge on the main area and over the next few days will be tidying up the rooms. The waiters are counting, checking and washing all their glasses and linens. The room attendants are furiously looking over the electrician’s shoulder as he takes an angle grinder to the room to pop in a few additional plug sockets and with that plumes of dust are thrown all over the room. And the groundsmen have emptied out the pool to give it all a very good clean after 2 months of lying dormant before filling it up and moving onto planting grass and edging paths.
So, as you can see its nonstop and then no doubt as soon as we open the doors for guests at Luangwa River Camp, we shall be getting Bertram and Daudi up to Tena Tena and Nsefu Camp to start getting ready for their season up there. It really is a very busy time of the year but also incredibly exciting.
Out in the Park though as we must not forget about the reason everyone comes here… it has been non-stop with fabulous sightings whether it be streams of ants crossing the road, caterpillars propelling themselves down from trees on invisible threads or elephants enjoying the still green grass.
The last guests saw leopard every single drive whether it be in a tree or simply sauntering down the road, it really has been almost silly the number of sightings that they have been having. Not to mention the lions that have also been hanging around opposite Nkwali Camp providing an occasional roadblock to and from the harbor. But let’s face, it if you are going to have a hold up on the road this is a pretty good one to be having!
Luangwa Safari House has had several groups of guests and since opening the doors there has also been a constant stream of elephants visiting the lagoon so we are looking forward to soon being able to put the hide back in so that guests can get a totally different view of these magnificent creatures.
Other than that, I shall ask you to hold off for another week for yet more sightings and updates from The Valley. For now, I shall bid you a very fond farewell and have a fabulous week ahead with plenty of smiles and laughter and don’t forget to look after one another.
