A tour group consisting of nine Flemings made a two-week safari in the wild-rich but otherwise desolate South Luangwa where nature photography was central. They ended the trip with a visit to the Victoria Falls. One of the participants wrote a lively report.
Perfectly organized
This safari was perfectly organised by Untamed Travelling: all the locations had apparently been scouted for a long time because nothing really went wrong (no ‘imponderabilia’). All of them turned out to be prime locations, from the first night at Latitude 15° in Lusaka (comfortable hotel with very tasty breakfasts and brilliant cappuccinos) to the beautifulloding lodges on the Luangwa River such as Tena Tena,Nsefu Camp and Toka Leya.
Three days of walking from a mobile tent camp were very instructive, not only to be in the African wilderness, but also to feel and smell. Guide George was a real ‘bushman’ with deep insight into the interrelationship between the animals and the plants, great tracking experience and attention to important details in the area.
For example, George suddenly stopped motionless during a walk because a group of guinea fowl had suddenly ‘stopped shouting’ half a kilometre away. Then George saw a white-head vulture somewhere between takkelen. Those two observations suggested to him that there was a ‘lion’s kill’ in their neighbourhood, possibly including lions… We carefully snuck the group into that place, and indeed; suddenly two lionesses fled into the thicket… That was a penalty!
In the mobile tent camp Albert (with 26 years of cooking experience at tent camps), had fresh vegetables ready every day and tasty meat or fish. Never was anyone in our group sick, no one had abdominal pain or diarrhea. So we took the kilos Immodium back to Flanders. We were truly spoiled by the staff at Robin Pope Safaris in our tent camp. With a Gin and tonic or another sundowner served after a walking safari, as a surprise in the middle of a parched riverbed. And chilled champagne to end our three day hikes, a bit surreal and almost too good to be true.
Desolate beautiful landscapes
The game drives in South Luangwa NP were characterized by the desolateness of the beautiful landscapes without other tourist vans with homo sapiens in them, but also by the possibility of sometimes driving ‘off road’ when we discovered something such as a fighting eagle with guinea fowl as prey in the bush or as when we visited a huge colony of several thousand (!) pairs of southern carmine red bee-eaters on a parched riverbank. Talk about mass spectacle!
Toka Leya, beautifully situated on the mighty Zambezi River bank… When we got there by speedboat the camp was apparently ‘awash’ with dozens of elephants (this happens every six months according to the manager). From the edge of the pool we were able to make unique images of elephants wallowing in a mud pool, seven metres below, between two thick tree stumps.
One morning we got up early to take pictures at the first morning light of birds waking up like a black-necked beard, a fork-tailed scaly and a brown cap ice bird. But it wasn’t until our photographic orgasm became great when we were able to photograph a foraging water trapper on foot for many minutes in peace, on the banks of the Zambezi river 20 metres away (!) on foot. A phenomenal experience!
Of course, a walking tour accompanied by armed guides to six white rhinos near Toka Leya was also very fascinating! We were able to photograph it on foot from 10 meters away. Incredibly beautiful images in the evening shaving light!
A visit under the guidance of a local guide (‘guide’ was on her T-shirt on her back) of an authentic local village that is financially supported by toka Leya’s tourist income was also a true experience where photography proved to be no problem. From for example the village superior in its daily do with wife and child, as well as of the numerous children (whether or not with colorful snottebel under the nose) and of the ornate colorful clothes of young (and old) women.
What we particularly noticed here was the smile on the faces of those children, who have ‘nothing’ to play except a self-made iron car. Apparently, the deprivation of gsm, TV, PC and other modern gadgets does not stand in the way of happiness.
Never have we witnessed any aggression among the Zambians, which is a friendly people. This may be partly the result of the Zambian ‘tradition’ of the ‘inter-tribal’ marriages perfectly accepted in that society. (There are about 70 tribes in Zambia.)
When we close our eyes, we still vividly see those unique images that are burned on our retinas forever. Like an emerald malachite kingfisher, photographed two metres away from a boat. A troop of a few hundred roan antelopes spurting away. A fighting eagle with kill (guinea fowl between the claws). We followed with the jeep, in broad daylight, a hunting leopard ‘on the foot’ for 20 minutes, 10 to 20 meters away from our jeep. We photographed a nighttime kill of a mongoose by a leopard. We felt very small at the sight of 200 tons of buffalo coming to drink near Chindeni Bushcamp. From the magically beautiful colors of the ‘green backed pityllia’ and the southern carmine red bee-eater. We saw Lichtenstein’s hartebeest grazing, Sharpes greyboxes spurting away, bateleur eagles ‘wing flare’ just above us. We got goosebumps from the hyenas, during the day but mostly during the night drives. We saw a lot of lazy lions lying around but also a male lion eating from a dead hippopotamus.
And endlessly beautiful and varied landscapes, the phenomenal reflections of the setting sun on the Zambezi and the rainbow in the splashing waters of the Victoria falls.
Finally
Congratulations and big thanks, Untamed Travelling! You must have been through it all to be able to believe how rich African nature is. All participants got a lot of the ‘fever’; not the malaria fever but a fever that could not be combated with DEED, namely the ‘Africa fever’… We would leave again and hope that one day we will be able to experience this again! Zambia really inspired us!
Johan V.
