After living full time at Tafika for 15 years we finally acquired a lovely property on the outskirts of Lusaka and built a home there to which we retreat at the end of every season. We have called it Takwela House, although often refer to it simply as our ‘Summer Palace’. ‘Takwela’ translates as ‘we have taken off’, on account of the fact that the house is double storeyed and we have finally established a base in the Capital City – an accomplishment that most Zambian villagers aspire to.
One of the most pleasurable duties at this time of year is to visit Tafika to check on the camp and staff, not to mention our two half wild cats who remain permanent residents of Tafika. I normally do this alone but on this occasion had the great pleasure of being accompanied by Carol, Jenny and Carol’s sister, Judy.
Of course the camp is inaccessible by road at this time of year so after flying to Mfuwe and scrounging a lift to the Luangwa River, we met two of our lads who had brought our boat down from Tafika that morning. The water levels were low due to less than usual rainfall so a lot more care and time was required to navigate the tortuous course of the river, avoiding more concentrated pods of hippos, sandbanks and fallen logs. It took over 3 hours to reach camp but it was, as usual, a delightful trip with various waders, egrets, storks, ducks, geese, fish eagles, bee eaters, swallows, martins or pratincoles always in view. Ever present puku, impala and baboons lined the grassy banks and a particularly large tower of 20 inquisitive giraffe observed our progress upriver.
This had been the longest period away from Tafika since we created the camp in 1995 and we were somewhat concerned about the state of the camp, but need not have worried as our staff, under the watchful eye of our trusty Foreman John Chisoni, had done a very good job and the camp was in good shape, as were our two cats.
I wasted no time in checking and preparing the microlight but nightfall was upon us soon after arrival and I had to wait until the following morning before I could slip the surly bonds of earth. It was worth the wait as the early morning light was stunning and there was a layer of low, misty clouds through which I danced and observed the verdant Luangwa Valley below.
It is no secret that elephant poaching has increased dramatically throughout Africa over the past few years and I was dreading seeing more evidence of this, especially as the rainy season is prime time for poachers to take advantage of the lack of tourist presence and difficult access. However we were greatly relieved to note an abundance of these iconic animals all over our area of operation. Fat, healthy buffalo were also numerous and we saw two large herds with hundreds of cattle egrets in attendance. They enjoy the luxury of lying about for much of the day at this time of year, with an abundance of food and water near at hand. Many individuals behave like hippos and spend hours ruminating in ponds of water, presumably to keep biting flies at bay.
The first week or so of February is always a crucial time for the yellow-billed storks that arrive at their habitual colony for annual breeding. There they were, eagerly inspecting their site and no doubt nest building will be underway by now. Given that there is no flooding beneath their nesting site yet this year, we expect fewer birds to breed but it will still be a wonderful spectacle when we open camp in May.
Whilst it is a time of plenty for the wildlife there is some concern amongst our staff that all revert to farming during the rains: due to the late start to the rains planting was delayed which will, in turn, result in a late harvest and Carol was kept very busy dishing out advances to all and sundry.
I seem to have earned a reputation amongst our local people for bringing rain and as we were preparing to leave the thunderheads were towering overhead. No sooner had we launched the boat for our outbound trip than the heavens opened and we weathered some very stormy conditions on our way downstream. Three days later and it is still raining, so hopefully this will result in a better crop and maybe even flooding beneath the storks in time to boost their breeding.
John Coppinger
The Managing Director
