Well hello there. I hope that you are fabulously well and have enjoyed a wonderful weekend. Here in the Luangwa as always, the days are filled with wonderful sightings and the evenings with the amazing sounds of the bush. I don’t think any evening, however, can be more spectacular than the sleep outs we host on our seven-night Mobile Walking Safaris.
For those who do not know, every year we sell a couple of extended Mobile Walking Safari trips (so 7 nights instead of 5 on the walking trail) and as part of that we do a sleep out. What does this entail, I hear you ask, especially as surely every night on this trip is a sleep out!! This is a step further… we have made some amazing little dome tents which are all shade net for this experience. The team head out straight after tea to get a specific and very open site prepared. The tents are put up with a mattress on the floor and camp is ready. After a magnificent sundowner in the river the guests then drive to site for dinner under the stars around the campfire and prepare themselves for a night completely like no other. There are not many places in the world where you can sleep with an uninterrupted view of the stars and total silence from any man-made noise – unless of course the person you are sharing your tent with is snoring loudly! It really is a truly wonderful night out, and then in the morning after breakfast you set out back on your morning walk while the team pack up and take everything back to camp ready for when you return. Magical!
At the moment, up at Nsefu, it’s all about the stork colony. The guests are thoroughly enjoying the area and the birdlife it has to offer, and the guides are all incredibly relieved that the storks are back. After they didn’t nest there last year it was a huge worry for this year, but they are there and its simply fabulous.
What also makes it equally as fabulous is the fact that the beautiful Mutima (Olimba’s offspring) is regularly seen in the area. Whether it be hunting her mom’s favourite gulleys or patrolling her territory; she really is a beautiful leopardess.
The elephants have started crossing the river daily in front of camp once more which is something that is just always beautiful to watch and the lagoon at the bar is also becoming a favourite stop off point for them.
The icing on the cake however was not Mutima but Jackson, one of our newest guides. He was out with guests and stopped to watch a lone lioness when suddenly he heard a very special little noise and looking very carefully he noticed that she had some tiny cubs hiding in a thick bush. What an incredibly special moment for the guests and we cannot wait for the moment the cubs start getting a little bigger and venturing out, as lets face it, who can resist a lion cub?
At Nkwali Chizzy has had an incredibly productive week. On the subject of lion cubs, the pride in the main area has cubs and they have been out and about and a cause of huge joy and wonderful sightings. Whether they be climbing all over their dad or just generally getting up to mischief its been simply wonderful getting to see them.
There have been a few sightings of hyenas squabbling over leftovers and leopards at every turn, it’s just amazing the volume of wildlife that is being seen at the moment. The final sighting of the week however must come from Luangwa River Camp who had a pair of jackals running around on the beach in front of camp one late afternoon. Jackal are rare enough for us to see on any given day but a pair of them playing around on the beach in front of camp was a pretty special moment.
What better way for me to end this week’s update!
So, on that note it’s time to say goodbye once more and hope that you have a fabulous week ahead with plenty of smiles and laughter and don’t forget to look after one another and I look forward to more stories from us next Monday.
