Its Monday and the transformation of Liwonde

Hello there! I hope that you are fabulously well and ready for this week’s update from a busy Robin Pope Safaris. We are delighted to have the pleasure of hosting several repeat guests; wonderful seeing familiar faces walking through the camps again and being able to share the wonders of the Luangwa once again. But this week we…

Hello there! I hope that you are fabulously well and ready for this week’s update from a busy Robin Pope Safaris. We are delighted to have the pleasure of hosting several repeat guests; wonderful seeing familiar faces walking through the camps again and being able to share the wonders of the Luangwa once again. But this week we are skipping across the border to hear from Mike & Jenn at Kuthengo.

“It has been an amazing changing of seasons from Autumn to Winter with the bush shifting colours. The last few weeks have been busy, but it has been great to see that the tourism industry is opening back up. We have all been treated with amazing sightings in and around the camp ranging from cheetah and hippos in camp to large heard of elephants drinking from the river in front of the tents. Our personal favourite is having the company of hippos joining us and the guests at the campfire in the evening, munching away on the grass and reeds. Now with us almost at the heart of winter, I find it very interesting to see how close the chairs are to the campfire in the evenings and mornings compared to where our barmen originally put them. It is definitely getting chilly.

Having personally (Mike) grown up in in Malawi, Liwonde was a famous camping destination for my parents and I. Of course, Kuthengo was not around back then but I do remember driving past Kuthengo’ s location on the way to Livingstone’ s Baobab. It has been amazing to see the transformation of the Park over the years. In the early 2000’s, the park was virtually empty due to poaching but now with the help of African Parks, we welcomed the return of cheetah, wild dog, lions, and so many more countless species. Not only have they helped reintroduce these animals but also offer protect for them from outside dangers.

When African Parks brought in new species, they were all housed within a boma in the southern section of the park which made it difficult to do game drives and boat safaris for us, as the animals did not venture far from the boma when they were released. Now, over the years, the lions and cheetahs and other animals have started claiming territories further north, close to Kuthengo and giving birth to further generations who will see the northern side of the park as their home and territory. We have found more and more animals establishing their territories closer to the camp even compared to when I was here in 2020. Liwonde as a Park has so much to offer from scenery to birdlife to wildlife and I can only see it getting better.

We look forward to seeing you here soon. All the best.”

Fantastic thanks so much for the news and fabulous pics Mike and Jenn! It is wonderful to hear the positive transformation to such a magical Park.

In other news we have a few new camp residents that we thought we would share with you. Here at Nkwali we have a genet who is becoming more and more curious with the happenings of camp and whilst we by no means try to tame wild animals, we got one heck of a shock the other evening as it poked its nose in at our front door! Over at Luangwa River Camp the team have totally given up on trying to clean the gum pole in the dining room as it would appear that most evenings once the guests have all gone to bed a Pel’s Fishing owl takes up resident in there looking down on the pond in the main area hoping for a quick and easy snack. Tena Tena seems to be getting more and more visits from a pack of wild dogs but then at night the guests get lulled to sleep by the whoops of the hyenas. Up at Mobile Walking Safaris, the guys are having a little bit of a battle with a honey badger in one of the camps who is very pleased to have discovered where we keep the fresh fruit and veg.

As you can see, life here certainly does not stand still and keeps us entertained at every corner. For more fun and games though, I am afraid you are going to have to wait until next week. In the meantime, have a fantastic week ahead with plenty of smiles and laughter and don’t forget to look after one another.

Emily