Hmm - There's A Hippo On Our Porch

Wednesday 22 – Sunday 20 June: Mfuwe Lodge, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia

Yesterday we arrived at Mfuwe Lodge in the afternoon, following a 1 hour flight from Lusaka. Our guide, Mulenga, met us at the small airport and drove us to this beautiful place. Sue M and I are sharing “Elephant” room, a very comfy stand-alone room with a thatched roof, a veranda overlooking a meadow with grasses and small water holes that attract elephants, hippo, zebra and birds. Mfuwe Lodge’s lobby is famous for the elephants walking through the lobby when a mango tree at the rear of the lodge starts dropping its fruit in the spring. See LINK.

Following afternoon tea and orientation, including the need to be guided from and to our rooms when it was dark outside, we were on the 4WDs and out for our first safari in Zambia.

Each day we are woken at 5:30am, then breakfast at 6:00am and into our 4WD by 6:30/6:45am for our morning game-drive. Not only are the animals often very active in the early morning, the light is beautiful.

The first cabin that Sue and I shared overlooked the grassy plains on one side of the Lodge. We saw elephants, baboons of course (they’re everywhere), impala and hippo. Most hippo are on the other side of the main Lodge at a waterhole, but occasionally they were in front of, or even beside our cabin. We always stepped outside carefully since it was first light, and difficult to see. On our first morning, I carefully opened the door of our cabin - all was clear on the ight, but to the left was the unmistakable shape of a hippo chewing on the grass about 100 meters from our door! We waved down a guard who came across to ensure our path was safe – fortunately the hippo was more interested in the grass than us. But you never know!

After breakfast we met our wonderful guides, Mulenga and Peter, and learned that there were some lions in the area. This was unusual – they had not been sighted for quite some time, and might not stay for long, so off we went to see if we could find them.

Within 2 kms of the Lodge we saw a male lion sitting quietly under a bush – such a majestic animal. However, others had heard about him too, and with many 4WDs watching him, we decided to move on. We followed a dirt road down to a very wide and very long grassy area with herds of zebra and impala close by and in the distance. On our left, a female lion walked slowly beside the dense bush that lined each side of the grasses, and then headed into the bush. The impala were on alert and watching her – they were far enough away to not feel under threat.

We waited for about 30 minutes, assuming that the lion might be stalking the impala from the bush and waiting for one to come closer. Then we moved along, and as we turned to drive back to the road, there she was – fast asleep on the grass in the shade of the trees. What a beautiful sight.

The guides from the Bushcamp Company (they own the Lodge and bushcamps that we stayed at), are in contact with each other via car radios and will let other guides know if they see something of interest. This worked well across the 9 days we were there, including on our first day when, in addition to finding the lions, we saw Cape Buffalo by a waterhole with ox-peckers sitting on their faces and backs, quietly pecking away, keeping them clear of lice.

As we drove by another waterhole, birds were feeding, and I saw the first of many amazing birds, a Saddlebill stork. This tall bird looks like it’s been built in a toyshop (see photo). Really – just look at the squares of colour on its face, the red “button” on its chest, and those red knees. Until I had its correct name, for me it was the “store-built stork”. I learned that the yellow eyes indicate it is female – the males have black eyes.

Everywhere we went there were many different types birds – our guides knew all of them, as did the two Sue’s and Cindy. In addition to the Saddlebill stork and guinea fowl, I learned to recognise a few of the hundreds of others, including Ox-Peckers, spoonbills, as well as some eagles, hawks and vultures.

Four-legged animals were much easier, although I did need to learn to differentiate Impala (they have a mark on their backside = “M for impala”) from Puku (no mark on their backside), and could spot a Kudu in dull light, as well as a Waterbuck.

On our first full day, morning tea was a bush-brunch beside a waterhole filled with waterlilies, with hippo at one end and storks flying by. After delicious barbequed toast, eggs, ratatouille, potatoes, bacon and other odds and ends, we drove back to the Lodge to have a few hours of siesta before afternoon tea, followed by our afternoon/evening game-drive.

Afternoon game-drives start at around 3:30pm, and include a stop for sundowners at a suitably picturesque location where we can safely watch animals while the sun sets in the distance, and the stars begin to sparkle. And we’re back at the Lodge or bush camp at 7 or 7:30pm, just in time for dinner.

There is no shortage of food!

Once the sun sets, we have an additional spotter in each of our 4WDs – they are training to be guides, and use a large spotlight to search along the roads and in the trees for nocturnal animals and others that are still active. The guides and spotters have amazing eyes – they really do pick up things that we cannot see … more on one great sighting in a later blog.

We had some specific animals that we wanted to see, including lions, leopards and wild dogs. And there were two images that I wanted to capture: a male lion with the sun backlighting his mane, and a leopard carrying its kill up a tree. Of course nothing can be guaranteed, and each of these animals are known to be shy and elusive. But we have 8 days to find them. And whether or not we would see them, I knew that it would be fun looking!

On our first evening game-drive we went back to check on the lion. He was at the same location, now with a female. Gently licking her back and staying close to her, it was clear that he was wanting to mate. She was receptive, and once “the deed” was done, she rolled over onto her back, stretching her legs out, then rolled back and closed her eyes, all signs that she was relaxed and very likely to become pregnant. They would continue to mate multiple times through the night and the following day.

Then Mulenga picked up his radio to hear that a leopard had been spotted in an area relatively close by. He drove us speedily and safely to a big open, grassy area with gentle hills and a long dry water gully in the distance. There was the leopard walking quietly and purposefully along the upper face of the gully. He took us to a prime spot to see and photograph her (as only he and Peter can) – such a gorgeous animal. She stopped to watch the gathering 4WDs and then started to walk along the edge of the gully before dropping down into the gully. We soon lost sight of her, and decided to move on.

As we left the area we saw impala (probably the leopard’s target) and giraffe, and could hear noises from the bush. There were plenty of baboon around, and soon we heard the characteristic “bark” they make to warn other baboons when they spot a leopard. Of course other animals hear this too, including the impala. The leopard had been “made” – there would be no more hunting in this area tonight – she would have to try elsewhere.

It was time for sundowners. We found a spot high above the Luangwa River, a mighty river filled with crocs and hippos. The sun had set by the time we left there to head home, and a call informed us that the lions were “on the move”. They were not far away, and we soon found them walking towards us out of the bush and along a dirt road, making their way to a new location. Despite the 4WDs and the spotlights, they just kept walking towards us – you could hear a pin drop onto the dirt road. One female lion walked so close to me, I could have reached out to touch her.

What an amazing day – and this was just our first in the South Luangwa National Park!

Location on Map: LINK


Update re photos. I’ll be adding photos to https://www.elanezphotography.com/ over the next few days. Apologies for the delay – each day has been wonderfully full and exciting, and finding time to process the hundreds and hundreds of photos has been the priority.

Elane Zelcer