rss feedOut and about in Zambia. Day 1: An evening out in South Luangwa
On reflection, it’s hard to imagine that a first day in the bush could yield much more in terms of exciting stuff. Arriving mid-afternoon at Tafika, base camp and home to Carol and John Coppinger and their team, I topped up on tea and chocolate cake before jumping on a mountain bike for a gentle jaunt through the riverine bush. Riding alongside John with two other guests, we kept a beady eye out for the elephant that had been hanging around outside the Coppinger’s house all afternoon. Down the road a little way we came across the recent tracks of several lion. The light banter ceased at that point as we all considered the possible implications, and consequent exit routes, of meeting a pride of lion at dusk on bicycles.
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you value your life), we didn’t have to attempt to ride our bikes up a nearby tree and instead found ourselves a suitable spot from which to watch the sun go down and recover with a cold beer.
Changing steeds, we boarded a completely open land-cruiser to commence our hunt for the local nightlife. Our drive home yielded a plethora of genets (not the same as a gaggle or a troop), fat-bottomed hippos out for an evening of cumbersome grazing and a very handsome white-tailed mongoose which had the good manners to pose under the spotlight. There was also an equally cooperative civet and the back-sides of two porcupines. All in all a pretty satisfying drive.
The best was yet to come in the stately form of a female leopard, glimpsed above the dry grass. We held our breath as she stalked sleekly past the car, untroubled by the attention. Stepping calmly onto the track in front of us, she dropped her belly to the sand in a crouch and lay looking intently, tail flicking gently in the light from our beam. As she clearly looked as though she might be about to make a meal of one of the nearby impala, the guide killed the light and we sat in the glow from the stars and waited silently listening to the faint movements of creatures around us…expecting any minute to witness a dramatic kill only fifteen metres from our wheels.
After a tense wait, the light showed us that she had moved off. Apparently impala was not on the menu today. Returning to the camp to boast, we learned that the other guests too had been treated to a leopard behaving like a playful kitten in full daylight and had had their sundowner interrupted by two sociable lion.
So as I tuck myself up in my warm bed, surrounded by the sounds of hippo chomping on sausage fruit and chirps of crickets, I can’t really believe I’ve only been on safari for 7 hours. Tomorrow I look forward to a micro-light flight over the Luangwa River before breakfast followed by a walk to my next camp.
Amanda is out and about in Zambia…keep tabs on her here.
