Indredible Storms of South Luangwa National Park, Mfuwe, Zambia

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Dancing with Capt. Cook at the Bus Stn

A scenic 8 hour drive through Zambia planted us in Chipata, a medium sized town near the Malawi border, and the gateway to South Luangwa National Park.  We got lucky as we were shopping for our next few days supplies, to find that the owner of the SPAR grocery store, also owned a reputable campsite 4km from town.  We hitched a ride from the shop with one of the family, and set up camp at Mama Rula (so named for her love of Amarula liquor - like Baileys).   They were exceptionally nice and friendly at Mama Rula, even giving us a ride back into town early the next morning to find a ride to South Luangwa National Park. 

We had heard that it's quite tricky to get to the park without your own transport, but we found a minivan that was heading there once it was full.  No problem right……WRONG!  We found out relatively quickly that these don't leave until around Noon or so, as that is when most finish their shopping in town.  So, 6 hours after our arrival at the minibus, we were on our way.   That is a new record for us, and it was a bit miserable sitting around that long.  Michelle passed the time by briefly dancing with one of the bus ticket sellers named Captain Cook in the parking lot, much to the delight of all watching.  I think he was a little drunk, but it was 8 AM at the time!!

Oxpeckers on a Giraffe

Once the logistics of who was selling the tickets was worked out (because when you get to the station, you get swarmed by people asking where you are going), we plunked ourselves in what we thought were good seats right behind the driver.  Well, just before the minibus left, they placed a massive speaker behind the drivers seat, and right in my footspace.  It was really cramped, so Michelle ending up switching with me, because believe it or not, I do have longer legs!  4.5 hours later, and a super bumpy road, we were in Mfuwe.  This road was pretty terrible, but it is mostly under construction, so maybe in about 10 years it will be finished, as we didn't see too many men working!
South Luangwa National Park has a great reputation, but we were hoping to arrive before raining season started, as apparently the animals move away from the main waterholes, and find water elsewhere.  We were really cutting it close, as it should start in early Nov, but I think it started the day that we did our game drives!

Elephant Road Block in South Luangwa

We had been recommended a place called Track and Trail, which was right on the Luangwa River.  It had two-storey platforms built for tents, as there is a real possibility of animals coming through the campsite during the night.  And I'm talking hippos, and elephants, being the main problem for us.  We had to have the night watchman walk us to the tent and around, so that he could spot the dangers.  I thought this was very cool, and we did have some elephants in the resort with one mother and baby actually trying to come into the kitchen.  Also, our last night we were about 50 feet from a hippo and baby, as we walked to our tent - wow.  Needless to say there were baboons, and vervet monkeys everywhere, so we couldn't leave food around.  One actually stole our malaria medication pill pot, and we (and he) were lucky that he couldn't get it open and finally dropped it out of the tree.  We also had a treat seeing our first bushbaby outside the bar.  It kind of reminded us of the lemurs in Madagascar - big eyes and bushy tail.

Huge Kudu and Baby Impalas

T&T also had a raised pool right over the river, and a nice bar/restaurant area for chilling out in.  Peter, the Dutch owner, is a professional photographer and had photos showing on the screens at the bar all day which was fascinating, and inspiring.   We found ourselves relaxing for a few days in the atmosphere, whilst looking over the river to see all the birds, and some larger animals coming down to drink.
Of course, coming all this way to the park we had to do some game drives.  Since you have to pay an exorbitant $25 park fee each day, we decided to do both our morning and night drives on the same day.  We would have loved to do more drives, but have to limit it because of costs.

Even driving out of the camp, we spotted a group of giraffe near our campground.  Crossing over the Luangwa River, there were hundreds of hippos, and possibly the densest population of them in Africa.  We heard there are plenty of crocs too, and saw them all lined up along the shore.  Haven't managed to spot any croc attacks though.  The owner of Track and Trail, Peter, was our guide, and you can tell he was passionate about the animals.  He was very patient with us at all the animals, and was even giving photography tips.  We were in an open top, open side Landcruiser and he made us feel very calm around the animals, even though some would come quite close to the vehicle. 

Funny Faced Giraffe

One curious elephant was only about 10 feet away from my side, but we weren't really that nervous because Peter told us how to act.  We also had some close-up encounters with some giraffe.

One of the highlights of the park at this time of year is the abundance of baby impala, puku and bushbucks.  They were tiny, and I think we came across a few that had just been born THAT day.  Still a little wobbly with the legs, and trying to figure out what the heck WE were!!!  The mothers let us get rather close as well, which shows they do not fear humans, which is nice to see.  Another highlight were the dozens of colourful and interesting birds around, and Peter knew his birds well.

That afternoon, we returned in the same open top, open side Landcruiser.  We had a discussion before leaving as to whether it would rain or not, and decided to take our chances.  We had more wonderful interactions with elephants that night, but other than that, nothing real noteworthy until dark.  After a great watermelon/goat cheese snack with a drink along the riverside, we started seeing some amazing lightning in the skies.  We drove around in the dark, with a spotlight looking for animals, but I think all of us were more interested at the time in the lightning that started to encircle us.  It was flashing from all sides, sometime silhouetting trees, other times lighting them from the front. 

Lightning from our Tent Site

I don't think I've seen a storm quite like it in a long time.  All this, and we weren't getting wet!!!  We actually stopped and set up the cameras on long exposures to capture the massive bolts that crossed the sky.

We then realized that we were actually in search of leopards, so put the spotlight on again, and back to our game drive.  The assistant guide, Friday, must have great eyes, because he finally spotted the elusive cat.  I think we saw it for about 5 seconds, then the heavens opened up and torrential rain started coming down.  Not to blame the spotty one, as he dove for cover, we didn't even get a photo as we had to bag up our cameras quick and hightail it out of the park.  We were drenched, and I don't even know how Peter could drive because it was so hard to see, as your face got pelted by huge raindrops!!  We all had a good laugh at Friday's prediction of no rain!!  Home safely, and time to dry out.  It was bittersweet - we had such an amazing drive, and not even for the animals. But when we finally saw only our second leopard of our whole trip, we didn't have time to hang out and enjoy watching it. 
The next couple of days, we just found ourselves enjoying Track and Trail camp.  On one of the days, it rained from morning until about 4PM, so not a lot to do, but once the rains stopped, the animals came down to the river.  The next day, you could see the river rising, as a couple of islands disappeared - had we now hit rainy season??

We did a little research in the little town of Mfuwe, trying to figure out how to get back to Chipata.  Seems like all the minibuses leave at 9 or 10 PM, and that puts us far too late back in Chipata.  We asked around, and decided we would just give it a go, and try and hitch early in the morning.  We did take a pleasant walk through town, with all the curious kids looking and waving at us Mzungu's. 
Since we were having trouble leaving this wonderful place, we spent another lovely day just at the river's edge.  We had gone up and down to all the resorts to try to find a ride back, but to no avail.  That night we were treated to some great company, with a family (John, Jill with their daughter Jade, and husband JP) and another guy named Mark from Aus.  Jade had dreamed of setting up a wildlife hospital, and was in the process of making it happen.  Her family came along for support of the research, and Mark was there as a business partner.  It was lovely chatting with them all and hearing their passions for Zambia and the animals.

Crazy Coloured Skies from Track and Trail Camp

At sunset, we were treated to another wonderful lightning storm, and then one of the coolest skies I have ever seen.  It turned the river and ground into a vibrant orange colour, with a purply sky.  Hard to explain, and I hope the photos do it a little justice.  We also saw tons of hippos making their way upstream, as I think they figure the rains have come, and they are heading out!!
What a fabulous place to visit, and we will struggle with leaving the next morning, especially as we don't know how we are getting back!!  *Stub