Namibia and Zambia 2015 - What could go wrong this time

[Atravelynn]

For someone afraid of heights you certainly are soaring around up high a lot. You looked cool as a cucumber on the microlight. Fortunately, in response to your title, the answer was nothing for these two aerial activities.

[Marks]

Kudos for overcoming your fear of heights. The microlight does look fantastic!

[dlo]

It's a full days travel from Livingstone to Mfuwe and by the time we roll into Flatdogs the sun is setting and game drives will have to wait till tomorrow. After checking in at reception Ian who is interning for a few months and later plays a role in our safari comes round with a vehicle to take us to our room. Of course the road is blocked by a rather large elephant who is in no hurry to move. Obviously I'm going to love this place and this is just the beginning of a stream of wildlife in camp including a hunt(you'll have to wait till day 3 for the results) I want to give a quick mention of how awesome the camp management is, Jess,Ade and .... and always friendly and were helpful with all allergy issues and checking in around game drives and at meals. Staff were all good, there was plenty of security to get you safely to your room and most of the guests were really friendly as well. The kitchen is open all day so you can eat when you want from a varied menu and daily specials.

 

As I've mentioned before I have wanted to go to Luangwa for years and some excellent reports here helped me finally decide to go.Early June gave me a bit of a price break with the tradeoff being not being high season. My primary goals here were hopefully some close encounters with leopards my first walking safari in a game rich area and maybe just maybe my first wild dog sighting. Luangwa also gives me scenically a different park from what East Africa has thrown at me.

 

Going to sleep it is established quickly that hippos run the show here and the grass is mown right outside our tent within minutes of entering it. Hippo calls echo through the night and there final alarm goes shortly before mine. As the sun rises we head off to the park with an unexpected bonus, we have a vehicle to ourselves and our driver will be Jonathan.

 

 

Crossing the bridge to enter the park

 

We enter the after navigating the baboons and not long in we drive up to a nice pride of lions. They are finishing up a buffalo that's probably a couple of days old and I really wish the pictures could convey the smell that we had to endure! The vultures were getting some scraps and the hyenas were hilarious. We couldn't get a picture but 1 guy got a large bone in his mouth and just kept running back and forth cackling away about his good fortune.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a fair bit of time with the lions as we drove up on the rest of the pride a few minutes later. The rest of the morning is good with a few elephants in the distance and plenty of general game sightings.

 

Is it wrong I like these guys?

 

Cute little puku

 

My favourite hippo picture

 

Very scary claws

 

Go away bird

 

 

 

I could use some help with the last 2 pictures. We head back for breakfast and lunch before our evening drive and I rave to Jess about Jonathan as he immediately moves into one of my favourite guides I've ever had. No leopards or wild dogs but a very good start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@dlo

 

Your most recently posted photo set is packed with great images!

I like the composition of the lioness in shade under a spreading tree.

Is that possibly Burhinus vermiculatus, Water Thick-knee? In any case, it's a beautiful photo with the fallen foliage around it. The eye is so clear.

Enjoying your photography on the afternoon before I fly to South Africa is inspirational!

Thank you.

Tom K.

[SafariChick]

I feel excited about your having gotten to South Luangwa! I love the hippo photo also, and that puku is beyond cute! And the image you described of the hyena cackling over its good fortune is hilarious!

[Geoff]

Enjoyable read so far... Quite an adventure as well as a safari.

[dlo]

@@Tom Kellie

 

Have a fantastic trip.Wish I was going with with as I wake up to -2 this morning.

[Tom Kellie]

~ @@dlo

 

Thank you!

That's chilly!

Tom K.

[Towlersonsafari]

@dio I love the tree and lion photo-and the water monitor- but all the photos are splendid1 is it a Gabar goshawk-probably not-very inteersted in your views on Flatdogs as it does seem a gerta value location in an area we love. what is the accomadation like? and the noise levels? very much enjoying your report.also did you drive to Flatdogs and what was the trip like?

[dlo]

@@Towlersonsafari

 

Value is very important to me on safari. I've done 7, 12 and 4 week safaris in the past and I would much rather spend more days on safari than blowing money on accomadations. I love Flatdogs, because its obviously great value but its also great. Tents on the river with lots of hippo, elephants in camp lots of monkeys and baboons and 2 near kills in camp(I forgot about the second in my last post) Its also only minutes to the park itself with good guides food and hosting. We stayed in walk in tents with bathrooms attached at the back. Very nice for us they also have cheaper tents and a few chalet style rooms. My biggest regret was not staying in the open air treehouse they have.

 

As for noise levels? Well the hippos do as they please! It wasn't noisy at all though and getting a riverside tent would insulate you even further. I loved it so much I'm considering a return next year except that we are going in November and I'm very scared of the heat that time of year.

[Marks]

Is that possibly Burhinus vermiculatus, Water Thick-knee? In any case, it's a beautiful photo with the fallen foliage around it. The eye is so clear.

 

I agree, looks just like the one I photographed last month (otherwise I would never venture to offer an opinion amongst so many other better-informed birders, haha).

 

@@dloGlad you also enjoyed Flatdogs. Agree 100% that the staff and current interns are great.

 

Excellent photos.

[dlo]

The evening drive paired us up with a couple of young German guys who started out very quiet but would provide us with some entertainment later on. Crossing the bridge into the park we are treated to plenty of elephant,rhino giraffe and many smaller species.

 

Elephants crossing the Luangwa heading to raid crops.

 

 

Our tent from across the river

 

That must hurt

 

Oxpecker putting in work

 

 

This guy looks a lot like a sitatunga but I wasn't aware of any in Luangwa so what do you think. I get the German boys to open up over sundowners as they had kept to themselves on the drive. Shortly after this we drive a bit and there it is our first leopard! She's just laying calmly in the grass without a care in the world and we get to spend a liitle time basking in her presence.

 

 

 

Little did I know that this would be the start of a series of leopard sightings over the next 3 days. We gave a little room to the leopard and Jonathan asks us if we want to hit the lights and enjoy the night for a few minutes. After a minute there is a little yell and a large commotion behind us, we all look behind us and one of the guys english isn't great but sputters out "how you say batman" his buddy starts laughing at him and we all follow as he was dive bombed by a bat! Its a very pleasant drive with a few more sightings and we head back to camp where we are told we are walking the German guys tomorrow at 6. 6 the Germans exclaim no way we are getting up that early and now we get a private walk as well. The next morning we find out why 6 was to early, the boys had 37 beers and shut the bar down taking the beer to there room and sitting out all night with the hippos.

 

 

 

Another cutie

 

First buffalo of the trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Game Warden]

@@dlo Please do consider writing a review of the properties in which you stayed for the new Lodge and Camp review subforum. Thanks, Matt.

[dlo]

Some of us were able to rouse ourselves for our morning walk after more nightly hippo calls. Ian had the day off and asked if he could join us on our walk. Of course this was no problem and then we got he added benefit of Jonathan coming along as well. He was taking his walking exam soon and would be mercilessly quizzed by Bwalya our head guide. Driving to our location to start our walk we stop shortly into the park as someone hears leopard. Nothing comes of it and we are off again to our starting point. Not really having a proper bush colour shirt I purchased a Flatdogs shirt at camp, only to have Ian wearing some decidedly non bush colours!

 

I looooove chocolate cake!

 

Bwalya and Jonathan also like cake

 

I have become so wild dog obsessed that this would be our only walk but from now on I will be looking to do more. Its just very exciting and you really are alert at all times even though most of the time you are seeing the smaller things, investigating scat and checking tracks. It actually doesn't take long before our ranger and guide are chatting and letting us know a leopard is very close, very exciting! Sure enough it decides to stroll right in front of us without so much as a glance.

 

Heading out

 

Not so much as a glance

 

 

That was great but I really enjoyed walking up to some zebras shortly after and they had zero concerns about us. We stood staring at each other for probably 5 minutes and as we moved on they walked along with us for a few minutes until we turned off.

 

Friendly zebra

 

Sweet mohawk

 

More lucky zebra

 

Scratching post

 

Next up we hear some very intense elephant trumpeting! We are still a fair distance away but running back and forth near a car a young elephant is very upset and trumpeting away while the rest of the family is pretty unconcerned and keeps moving. He doesn't calm down at all and as they move a little closer our ranger wants us to duck behind s broken tree. We hide out here for a while and the instead of continuing our route we have to turn off a different way as they don't want us anywhere near the upset elephant.

 

The view from behind the tree

 

 

 

The rest of the walk was fairly quiet but overall it was great along with a nice drive back to visit a hippo pool and some elephants that had no issues on the day.

 

Pretty impressive weavers nest

 

Crested crane

 

 

Kindly guarding our vehicle

 

Our upcoming evening drive that follows would certainly provide plenty of great sightings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dlo]

@@Towlersonsafari

 

Sorry I forgot the last part of your question. We flew Livingstone to Lusaka to Mfuwe. That would definitely be at least a 2 day drive.

 

 

@Everyonewhohasreadthis

 

In the immortal words of the great Redd Foxx "you big dummy" That is obviously not a weaver nest but a Hammerhop nest.

 

[SafariChick]

Love the shots of the elephants in water in post # 112, especially the ones with the orange light. The walk was very exciting, you saw quite a lot on foot especially with the leopard and the eles! The scratching post zebra has gorgeous eyelashes! Great close-up of the hippo. I laughed at your last post - it's late here and I didn't question it when you said weaver nest but of course when you pointed out it's actually a hammerkop nest, I thought "Doh!"

[dlo]

@@SafariChick

 

Thanks for the compliments. I believe you can never have enough hippo shots! I just looked at some video of that walk and I'm really amazed how close we got to those zebras. I figure they sized us up and realized quickly that we would be much easier prey if any lions came around! I actually can hear the elephant trumpeting in the video but I can't get him in the shot and every time he lets out a blast I point the camera at the ground. Its pretty funny that I corrected my error and I still spelled it wrong.

[Marks]

Very funny that the German folks shut the bar down.

Looks like your walk was great - especially good shots of the zebra.

[dlo]

After a great morning walk we watched the hippos for a while after lunch. Before heading on our evening game drive I told Jess the story below. Nearly finished the story Bwalya comes to get us but Jess is enjoying the story and tells him to hang on a second.

 

So last month at Flatdogs this story came back after being dormant for a few years. After telling the story before a game drive we were settling in for dinner that evening when one of the camp hosts started to repeat the story back to me. I gently reminded her that it was my story and she proceeded to let me know the story would make the rounds in Luangwa for years to come.

 

And this is how the story goes. After a good first day at Governor's camp we wre to be married the next day. After dinner in our tent I started feeling off but went to sleep thinking I might actually have a little nervousness. I woke up at midnight proceeding to get sick as a dog and probably woke half the camp. Still feeling sick in the morning I had to miss the morning drive on which of course my future wife went and saw our first ever Cheetah, while I got to spend time with the camp doctor.

 

Finally feeling better we get married, have an Elephant decide she wanted to eat the flowers off our vehicle and see my first Cheetah we have dinner and decide we need to crash. I literally fall into bed and BOOM the bed breaks! I'm still feeling a little rough and now i'm laying with my feet 25 degrees below my head in a broken bed on my wedding night. Because we don't like complaining we decide to just sleep as is and worry about it tomorrow.

 

So of course in the morning our tent attendant looks at our bed and then me and smiles. I never blush but I joined my wife in turning a bright shade of red while she actually tried to explain that the bed was actually broken. Coming back from our game drive resulted in a lot of giggles and a couple of thumbs up from the guys. I seriously think every person that worked there knew about it and presumed I was quite a legend

 

After being informed that this story will make the rounds in Luangwa for quite a while we head off with an Aussie who's wife and kids decided to skip the drive and decided to join us. Bwayla would be our guide the rest of the way as Jonathan had fallen ill,there was some kind of crazy virus as several people were sick and I spent 2 days in bed after getting home.

 

 

Very brave young men

 

After being quite thankful that I don't have to fish in hippo filled waters we drove up to some nice giraffe sightings before coming upon a very nice elephant family with some tiny little babies. The best moment had to be one of the babies getting quite stuck in the mud and taking a fair bit of work getting out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another one of my favourites

 

Following this we drive up to a leopard in a tree, looking across the road we see another leopard with a hyena patiently waiting under her tree.We probably had around 20 minutes with them before they settled in for a nap as well as very few vehicles to share it with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll finish the evening part on the next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marks]

Oh that story was worth the wait! I am imagining the reactions you describe and laughing.

 

Lovely eles in this post.

[dlo]

Driving along after sundowners we spot a couple of lions approaching the road, as we sit and watch several more lions start appearing and greet each other playfully as they pass us by within touching distance. I'm sure for a lot of people here its no big deal but I'm used to East Africa safaris and pop tops, so having a lion beside me in an open vehicle at night is kind of crazy to me. We move along with them for a couple of minutes and it is apparent they are on the hunt and a big herd of impalas are nearby. I would say this would be the only somewhat crowded sighting in our time here with maybe 8-10 vehicles. Bwayla talks to us about where we should move and where he thinks a possible hunt could lead.

 

@@Marks talks in his report about turning the lights off in his vehicle and before we move away that is what we do. Eventually every car had there lights off as well as spotlights, I know lions are out there but we can't see a thing. The lights are going off so they disturb the predators or prey and I really just enjoyed sitting there and experiencing it. Everyone's lights are flickering off and on with some off the drivers getting a little more antsy than others. We move away from most of the other cars and wait, at one point putting the spotlight back on and a hippo is suddenly 10 yards away concerned only with his dinner. Quite a few whistles from the impalas followed by them exiting the scene and our hunt is over before it began. The rest of the drive was pretty quiet with some buffalo and a civet that made a quick getaway.

 

A very good walk followed by leopards and lions makes for a pretty productive day. Little did I know that tomorrow would be our highlight day of the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where our worst struggles with night photography happened. Not many workable ones on the lions and a blurry one of the back of the civet. Tomorrow brings rowdy baboons, a concerning start, hissing leopards, another hunt, some dogs and some elephant interaction.

[Marks]

I can't speak to the ones you didn't post, but the two nighttime lion shots above look great to me!

One thing I loved about night safaris is how the spotlight makes such thick, black shadows, and how when you are driving along the trees almost appear as two dimensional cutouts popping up along the road (just something your video reminded me of).

[dlo]

Lots of hippo noise in the night means little sleep and so I groggily eat a little breakfast suddenly Ian flashes past me followed by a shout and a smash! I didn't see it but as we had monkeys and baboons in camp Chris says a monkey made an attempt to join us for breakfast but was rebuffed by Ian who gets a little scratch and a broken dish for his troubles. Slingshots at the ready no further attempts were to follow. Ian and his parents who are visiting for a few days join us for our drive and while we actually bonded quite well as I would say they were our favourite people on this trip we would be quite concerned in the first part of our drive.

 

He looks innocent to me

 

 

 

After about 20 minutes Chris and I exchange a priceless look at each other, we are thinking the exact same thing,BIRDERS oh my god we are sitting with birders. I like birds but am most definitely not a birder so this may turn into a bit of a nightmare. Well I'm exaggerating a bit as everything went perfectly but at that moment my obsessions(which are probably more annoying) were going down the drain. Half an hour later we are sitting with 2 leopards one of which is pacing around quite a bit and looking very agitated. They are brother and sister and he is quite anxious about something. Pacing around and annoying his sister he heads over to our vehicle and circles us before sitting behind us and giving us a good hiss. I find this very unnerving but he decides to move away letting out little growls as he goes, after a little jump scare he finally settles down all the while his sister has never moved. After 20 minutes and with only 1 other vehicle Bwalya notices a third leopard walking by up the road! Its time to go and see what that one is up to and 20 seconds later we stop as he just decides to lay right there. Seconds later he goes into stalking mode and he looks like my housecat getting ready to pounce on a toy. Fortunately for the impala on the other side of the bushes it is alert and off it goes to live another day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right beside us

 

 

The third leopard

 

 

That's alot of leopard pictures but I really enjoyed this moment and we are not even past morning tea break. This post is already to long so I'll do the even better next part this afternoon.

 

 

[africawild]

Very nice report . A leopard galore , even on walk !!!!

 

 

Your small raptor looks like Lizard Buzzard and the buck is a Male Bushbuck , we saw lots of them when we visited the Luangwa.

 

Paco

 

 

[dlo]

@@africawild

 

Thanks for the Id and the compliment. I was never expecting that many leopard's and I'm not even done yet!