Zambia – South Luangwe August 2013 – Great to be back on safari!

[Big Andy]

Thank you Tony for a great trip report, I've just read this from beginning to end and loved every minute of it. The photos are excellent and the righting style makes for a pleasurable hour or two in the arm chair. The only complaint is you have now messed with my head and not as sure that Mana is still top of my list of wants. The OH is reading it now as I type this then we can spend the rest of the evening discussing it and dreaming, also scratching our heads as to where the money will come from.

[TonyQ]

@@Big Andy

I am glad you enjoyed the report - we certainly enjoyed South Luangwa.

Safaritalk should carry a financial health warning - I am regularly reading about places I really want to go to - and it is all the fault of Trip Reports !

[Atravelynn]

How lucky we are that places like South Luangwa still exist.

How lucky we are that we can go to them.

How lucky we are at what we experienced.

 

Those first 3 lines are a fitting beginning. It could be the safari-goer’s prayer of thanks, substituting the destination in for SL.

 

You had such productive nights—photographable genet, porcupine and mother leopard and cub.

 

Every few clicks there is a leopard, often doing something interesting, whether a family shot or surveying a buffalo herd. How many leopard sightings did you have?

 

The roller and lunch shot is an amazing catch! Tell us, how many deletes to get that one?

 

It seems the lion population is doing very well, so many cubs.

 

“Safely behind the breakfast buffet table” that’s a good one! The shots of the strolling lion, past Mrs. Q are cool. Really shows how close to the action you get.

 

One more reason to choose August—the carmine bee eaters will be there. You got some good shots.

 

Fascinating vervet/baboon encounter protecting the baby vervet.

 

South Luangwa had some great stuff for you. What a well constructed itinerary! Super report!

[TonyQ]

@@Atravelynn

Thank you for the kind comments

Night drives were generally very productive and enjoyable

 

Re: Leopards I think we saw 4 at Nkwali (possibly 5, but the one in the tree could have been one of those we saw the previous night), 3 at Nsefu (mother and 2 youngsters), 3 at the Bush Camp and at least 2 at Tena Tena (the one on the river "beach" at the lodge could have been the adult we saw earlier)

 

So probably 12. When planning we thought we might get glimpses of leopard, but we certainly didn't expect that!

 

The lions do appear to be doing well, but I don't know how that would compare to other years

 

The Carmine Bee-eaters had just started to arrive when we were there - they are beautiful birds

 

The Roller with lunch - 7 shots - on other of these was OK - 2 were poor attempts to catch it flying away!

 

The itinerary worked well for us - we enjoyed the balance of activities and are glad we include the walking. Thanks again for your comments (and for all of the trip reports you have done!)

[Atravelynn]

1 of 7 on the roller. Very good.

 

I think the lion population has been improving. In 1998 in 6 nights at Tafika I saw one mating pair. Maybe they produced some of your sightings. After 1988 I saw lions more regularly.

 

A dozen leopards is impressive. Anyone who went a whole trip with not a single leopard is probably seeing green, or booking South Luangwa.

 

You finally got your bushbuck, unobscured.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Atravelynn

[Morkel Erasmus]

Wow - you sure had a leopard FEST!

Nice photos overall.

 

South Luangwa has long been on my bucket list but this TR has certainly added fire to my urgency to visit it sooner rather than later

[stokeygirl]

South Luangwa definitely is a leopard hot spot. I didn't see so many on my last trip in 2012, but I was walking for 4 days solid in an area where leopard sightings are less common. However, in 2010 I managed about 11 sightings in 10 days, including several on foot.

 

My parents were in SLNP in 2011, and they don't really do walking so they were just driving. They reckoned they saw a leopard on almost every drive, for 11 or 12 days.

[madaboutcheetah]

@@TonyQ just catching up with this report - Thank You!!! Excellent report and images - Leopard everywhere!!!

[TonyQ]

@@madaboutcheetah

Thank you for kind comments

It was great for leopards (not a cheetah area though )

[TonyQ]

A short addition to the report as I have been playing with a bit of video (so with help from @ Game Warden in how to post it)

 

This is near Tena Tena, a group of elephants approach our vehicle. The baby needs a bit of reassurance from its mum (this may be anthropomorphic!) and she provides it before they begin to walk past us

 

You're OK, we will look after you

Edited December 4, 2013 by TonyQ

[Tom Kellie]

~ Hello, @@TonyQ!

 

New to Safaritalk and green around the ears to Africa, as time permits I've been reading through archived Trip Reports. Each writer has their own merits worthy of emulation. The accumulated collective wisdom may eventually inspire me to try my hand at it, albeit wondering how to meet such an overall high standard of writing and photography.

Accordingly, I found myself enthralled by your Trip Report about South Luangwe. To my shame, I'd never heard of it or of much that you mentioned, e.g. puku.

Your writing style is so smooth and easy to read. I utterly enjoyed not only the descriptions but your responses to Safaritalk members.

The spirit of your South Luangwe safari, as you've so eloquently expressed it, is highly appealing to me. While reading it had the sense of sitting around a campfire on a quiet evening, hearing tales from those who'd ventured out into the unknown.

As to your images, oh my goodness! They extend the Safaritalk house standard of evocative portraits of life's diversity, far from the routines of urban metropolises.

What a splendid leopard portrait!

Those eyes are beguiling. Love the shining quality, not to mention the delineation of the whiskers and the pleasingly blurred bokeh.

Beyond terrific!

To catch such detail at that moment — that's avian photography at it's finest.

The leaves suggest its diminutive scale

Is it possibly Hemidactylus sp., one of the house geckos, e.g. Hemidactylus platycephalus?

The coppery eye and markings reminded me of Hemidactylus platycephalus, but I may be way, way off on that.

In any case, it's especially nice to see the smaller species seen during safaris.

***************************************************************************

Much appreciation to you, @@TonyQ, for such a fine Trip Report. It was a pleasure to read from start to finish.

May your future safaris be as productive as South Luangwe was.

Tom K.

[TonyQ]

@@Tom Kellie

Thank you for your very generous comments. I am glad you enjoyed reading the report I enjoyed writing it, though I was a bit nervous as it was my first trip report.

We really enjoyed the trip, wildlife viewing was far better than we expected - particularly the leopards.

We enjoyed seeing the variety of life and the environment. We loved the Puku (hence the picture which is attached to me as my avatar) and enjoyed seeing creatures such as this small lizard. I don't know what species it is I'm afraid (we didn't have the guide in our bedroom!).

 

Thanks again for the comments.

[Kitsafari]

well thanks to @@Tom Kellie for bumping up your report @@TonyQ and I went through the report in one go, once again. and the photos, once again, blew me away. you depicted the animals so beautifully.

 

and the long shots of the Luangwa River bring back so much memories. thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[Geoff]

@@TonyQ

 

Excellent trip report of a fabulous safari. Some excellent images and I grinned when I saw the image of your wife watching the lioness walk by. A fantastic experience.

 

I'm glad this TR was bumped to the top of the pile as I had some how missed it.

[graceland]

@@TonyQ, i also enjoyed re-reading the trip report with my morning cup of coffee while it is raining.....I've not been, and seeing and reading reports like this make me wonder, Why?

 

The list is so long, and it really is due to the superb reports and pics as yours on Safaritalk!

 

Edited March 30, 2015 by graceland

[Tom Kellie]

@@TonyQ, i also enjoyed re-reading the trip report with my morning cup of coffee while it is raining.....I've not been, and seeing and reading reports like this make me wonder, Why?

 

The list is so long, and it really is due to the superb reports and pics as yours on Safaritalk!

 

 

~ @@TonyQ and @@Thursday's Child

 

May I add my full agreement with what our late friend, @@graceland, wrote above?

It's an honor to post after her, concurring that this particular trip report was and remains a standout.

Immediately after joining Safaritalk, this was one of the first trip reports that I read from start to finish.

It opened my eyes to the qualities which underlie an effective trip report.

To this day, your writing and photos of the August, 2013 South Luangwe safari remains the gold standard for me, as it's exactly how I'd like to express my own safari experience.

Throughout 2015 I've admired your thoughtfulness and consideration for others.

That you wrote such an understated yet masterful trip report, with leopards galore, reflects the finest qualities of Safaritalk.

May your upcoming Kenya safari exceed all expectations!

Tom K.

[Hads]

Catching up on older trip reports and this is an true gem! Well done @ TonyQ and thanks very much.

[TonyQ]

@@Hads

Thank you - I am pleased you enjoyed it!

[mapumbo]

Hi TonyQ and ThursdaysChild,

Just discovered this TR as it got bumped up to the top of Zambia. Really enjoyed reading it and what a great Zambia safari. You certainly had great leopard sightings and overall a fun safari. Not sure it matches all the great baby animal encounters you had in Kenya but it all is good!!!

We hope to go to Zambia on our next Africa trip, whenever that might be. Your report certainly helped with ideas. We also like to walk so that appears to be a fine option.

Thanks again for taking the time to post your wonderful photos and your informative descriptions.

[optig]

As I see these photos of South Luangwa I'm getting quite nostalgic. For a wide variety of reasons, South Lungwa is one of my two favorite safari destinations.The other is of course Northern Botswana.I'm planning to visit South Luangwa National Park in 2018. I'm planning to stay 4 nights at Mchenja Bush Camp,3 nights at Kuynd and 3 nights at Bilimungwe. I know that all of them will simply be outstanding.I'm also planning on the same safari to visit Northern Botswana,Hwange National Park and in all probability Kafue. I can't begin to speak about SLNP in anything but superlatives.