Last Days, Zambia — Destination: Global

South Luangwa National Park & Bushcamps

13°22’57”S 31°31’34”E (MAP)

Altitude 520m (1706 feet)

THURSDAY 5 JULY 2024

Over the last four weeks I’ve seen many, many different animals going about their lives in Tanzania’s Serengeti Plains and in the South Luangwa National Park in Zambia including:

leopards hunting and snoozing after a meal, and one standing as still as a statue so it wasn’t seen by its prey;
elephants ripping grass out of the ground and crossing a river often accompanied by a tiny calf;
a big male lion being “told off” by a resting female; two lions walking right next to me (I was in the 4WD)
a cheetah mother trying to keep track of her five tiny cubs in the long Serengeti grass;
multitudes of large and small birds;
lion cubs feeding from mum and then playing hide and seek;
giraffe suddenly becoming visible from behind trees and then re-disappearing;
two porcupines walking across Zebra Plains (Luangwa National Park) at night;
two honey badgers finding their way home at night;
wild dogs walking to rest under a tree, having eaten their fill; and
a leopard up a tree with its kill!

Yesterday, before leaving the Mfuwe Lodge, I sat for an hour or so overlooking the large grassy plain that borders the Lodge on one side. Our daily morning and evening game drives had ended the day before (3 July), and we would soon be driving to the airport to catch our flight to Lusaka, and then our flights home.

Having spent 3 weeks in the bush in Mfuwe in the South Luangwa National Park, with wonderful old and new friends, our amazing guides, Mulenga, Peter and Steve, and of course Sue, Cindy and Ian leading us, the pattern of morning and evening game drives had come to an end … for now.

I was sad, almost teary. Then I sat back and thought about the wonderful, extraordinary, amazing experiences I’ve had here and in the Serengeti.

Here are just some from the last few days before I flew home.

Lions hunting

Last Saturday (29 June) we had just driven through the wide-open Zebra Plains, and were on a dirt track, thick bush on either side, on our way back to the Chindeni Bushcamp. Steve stopped as one female lion stepped out from the bush on the right and crossed the track to the bush to our left. Then others followed her and one by one, they disappeared into the bush. He thought there were about 10-12 in total, some relatively young, and that they were hunting.

Let’s go and find them! A rapid U-turn and we were soon skirting around the edge of the bush and then were on a different track in the bush. After several kilometers we stopped; Steve turned off the engine to listen for any sound. Nothing.

He started the engine and drove a further 100 meters around a small bend. There they were – 10 lions lying in the shade waiting to recommence their hunt. I must admit that I didn’t see them at first – they were well camouflaged lying on the grass and dirt, under shady trees.

Then they stirred, one lion standing, yawning and then moving to another, rubbing her face against theirs. Others started to stretch and stand. Then two walked shoulder to shoulder towards us, with others following.

They walked by us and were soon swallowed up by the bush once more; we wondered when, or if we might see them again.

Then three days later, on Monday, when we were driving back to the main Lodge at Mfuwe, a female lion appeared on the track ahead. Her neck, shoulders and face showed scars from mating, and her belly looked heavy - at first we thought she might be pregnant. Staring straight ahead beyond us, she “called” – not a full roar, but a strong sound. We thought she might be searching for her pride.

Out from our right, two cute little cubs came running towards her. She’d hidden them somewhere safe, and it was now time to feed them before taking them to meet their pride for the first time.

They suckled for some time, hungry after being left to wait for her. Then they rolled around in a jumble of tails and legs, playing with her before wandering off to play together. They came back for more milk and a quiet, short-lived snooze before exploring once more.

After some time, the lion quietly moved them from the grass and down into a gully – we followed from a distance, initially unaware of her reason for doing this. Then we saw a large herd of elephants coming from the bush, females young and old, the young shielded in the centre of the herd.

What a wonderful mother – playing with her cubs, shielding them from elephants (there’s no love between lions and elephants), and yet unperturbed with our 4WD being so close.

Being in the gully gave us a wonderful perspective of the elephants – looking at them from below their immense size was evident, and the amazing texture of their skin was sharp in the strong morning light. One matriarch had three young with her as baboons played on the ground around them. It’s always nice to be near elephants, although they can be unpredictable, and can move very quickly.

More Elephants

One particularly picturesque setting with a herd of elephants, had been a few days earlier at a waterhole near a huge baobab tree, not far from the main Mfuwe Lodge. The water was covered by green vegetation, and at least one croc lived there – we saw this one sunning itself on a bank opposite us. It was nice to be high and dry in the 4WD!

Four matriarchs brought at least seven young, most of whom waded into the water amongst the greenery.

One was very young and still learning how to use its trunk. It started by trying to stand on a fallen log, making it higher above the water, and increasing the “degree of difficulty” of sucking water. It would put its trunk into the water hole and apparently suck the water in, but then the water would dribble out before it got its trunk to its mouth. At one point I imagined it thinking “if I stand here like mum with my foot on the log, maybe the water will stay in my mouth …”. Hmm – nope – that didn’t work! And fortunately, mum would continue to feed it for a while yet.

We saw elephants in many different places. Several times we found ourselves somewhat surrounded, and I noticed that our guide kept the motor running. They were always aware that elephants can rapidly change their behaviour.

One afternoon we came across a herd quietly grazing next to our bush track. They looked at us, moving slightly closer, and continued eating. Then as Peter started to quietly reverse, another trumpeted behind us.

OK! We pulled to the side and waited until all was quiet once more, and then we left as quietly as we could.

On another evening, we were returning from an afternoon/evening game drive in the dark, our spotter, keeping his spotlight close to the ground so our guide could see the track. We saw some elephants ahead of us and very close to our right.

Elephants don’t like spotlights in their eyes because it temporarily blinds them. So the spotter kept his light low and we slowly moved forward. The bush was very, very thick and they kept coming around us apparently from the river – but they weren’t able to move away to the sides and into the dense bush. I think Peter, our guide, was more concerned than they were – it was amazing to see so many just appearing from the darkness, then moving along and away.

We each kept our distance as much as possible, and I was so entranced by what I was seeing that I didn’t think to even try to video this. We all remained calm, although I think Peter was perhaps a little less calm than us!

Another encounter was on our way to a stop for sundowners overlooking the Luangwa River. As we drove around some bushes, elephants were standing in front of us, one large female staring at us, her ears out wide and trunk held high. We were silent – barely breathing.

Peter whispered: “We’ll just stay quiet and she’ll turn away.” She must have heard him because she turned and led her group away from us, some down the steep walk to the river while others walked on a track into the bush. We could hear them moving away from us – this was unusual, often they are totally silent.

I never tire of watching elephants – whether they are close by, or on the other side of a wide river. They are beautiful, clever animals that fiercely protect their young. More on this in the next post.

Wild Dogs

African Wild Dogs are always wonderful animals to see, particularly when they’re hunting (See this LINK). Over the last 4 weeks, we have seen them lounging around most probably after a hunt, or walking along tracks.

On our last day at Mfuwe, Peter heard that dogs had been seen hunting near the river. It was “done and dusted”, particularly for the impala, by the time we arrived near the site far from the track and close to the river. One lookout was still on watch, three dogs were leaving, and three were eating the remains.

Then, one by one, they trotted by us to the shade of a nearby tree, where they re-grouped to sleep off their hard work.

Small Nocturnal Animals

With our spotter using a strong spotlight at night, we would sometimes see nocturnal animals. Photographing them was a fun challenge – following are 3 attempts. If you would like more details, including photos, please feel free to search with your favourite search engine!

One evening we saw two porcupines in the long grass. Having never seen one, I had no idea that they were so big and have such long black and white quills – very stylish!

Then a white-tailed mongoose showed itself – quite a bit larger than its second or third cousin, the meerkat.

On our final evening game drive, two honey badgers appeared from behind a tree trunk. We had briefly seen one on our way back from the Bush Camps but here were two that were out and about while looking for their burrow.

Our guides made the point that they are vicious, fearless and aggressive. I was pleased that they were well away from us looking for their burrow.

Thank you so much for reading this post.

Please watch for the next and final post for this trip. It will show photos with a little text, but far less commentary.