Shenton Safaris - Photographic Newsletter
February 2007 issue
Welcome back to the South Luangwa as Shenton Safaris sees it. It's early February and we have had extremely heavy rains to date. The river has not been seen this high since the floods of 1978.
It is not just main river, but many of the small tributaries which are spilling their banks. This has much of Mfuwe under water. 60,000 people live in the areas surrounding the South Luangwa National Park and many have lost their homes owing to these floods. The safari community is pulling together not just to help one another (as many of our camps have been flooded), but also to assist the local community.
Zambia's Vice President, Mr Rupiya Banda recently visited Mfuwe and stopped to chat with Derek regarding the needs of the community. Mr Banda originated from nearby Chipata and is a country leader who very much has the needs of the people driving his actions. Tents for housing have been promised and distribution of food relief has already begun.
This image shows the bridge clearing the water by only 2.5 metres -normally it clears the water by approximately 10ms.
So, the good news is we haven't had any rain for the past four days and the sun is shining. The camps that have been flooded (Kaingo being one of them) are starting to dry out and so the mop-up process begins.
Derek has been visiting Kaingo and bringing me video footage of his days there - swimming into the kitchen has to have been a novel experience (not to mention more than slightly dangerous - there is a big croc in that area that we know very well!!! You will see his wide open mouth further below in the August images).
So far there is very little structural damage to Kaingo and being only early February we have plenty of time to get the camp sparkling and new by May 20th (our Kaingo open date).
As per usual Mwamba will open on the 1st of June, and whilst the site is currently 100% underwater it is always a complete rebuild so there is no problem there.
Having spent days fretting about the river we decided to take an afternoon to enjoy it and boated out to a stunning water bird colony near the old Chinzombo site. Great White Egrets, Grey Herons and Open billed storks all nesting together on the one tree. I've included photos of this at the end of this newsletter.
And now back in time to August - the rest of these images were all taken back in August when rain was merely a distant memory.
The first image is of Derek playing cricket on the Mupamadzi airstrip in the North Park. We'd popped up to our friend's camp for a quick anniversary break and not finding a particularly inerested cricket companion in his wife Derek taught one of the guides to play. Shame I can't give you a bigger version of this picture, the smile on the guide's face as he managed to hit the ball for the first time was absolutely priceless.
This wild family group of elephants: mother, cheeky young bull and two year old baby are frequent visitors to Kaingo. We know this family very well and in fact the mother allowed us to view the baby within hours of it's birth in October 2004. No matter how well we "know" them, they are 100% wild and our guide's always remain with the guests when the elephants are around in camp.
Elephants crossing the Luangwa - images taken from the Hippo Hide at the Mwamba confluence.
A selection of photos of plains game
Derek and I woke to a resounding crash early one morning in August. We jumped up to the window with torches to investigate and found the entire Mwamba pride moving past our house. One of the teenage cubs had trodden on the solar panel and knocked it over hence the crash.
The young lioness in the three photos below is "Amber Eyes". She is so stunning and I think I have to say is probably my favourite of all our lions
The below was the first we saw of a tree climbing fettish that took over the Mwamba pride from August onwards. You will see much more of this in my September and October newsletters. This learnt behaviour will hopefully have stood the cubs in good stead during these hefty floods.
Thinking back to the animal behaviour seen at the 2004 Tsunami and their flood avoidance tactics it does make one wonder what 'sixth' sense animals have that help them survive during times like this.
August seemed to be a time of fertility - everything was mating. Or at least I seemed to keep bumping into mating animals with my camera: squirrels, white tailed mongoose and hippos - all firsts for me.
Here is one of our famous crocodiles - just having a yawn. The flap you can see at the back of his mouth is what you are supposed to push in order to make him let you go (because naturally shoving your arm or leg further into that toothy grin will be the first thing you'll want to do!) The crocodile's eyes are apparently not vulnerable, but if you force this flap open it will flood with water and force the croc to let you go. I seriously hope I never have to put that one to the test.
The venerable "stumpy" enjoying a Puku to himself just in front of the chitenge at Kaingo
A reminder why taking a dip in the Luangwa is not a good idea
A juvenile Pels' Fishing Owl at Kaingo
Our one eyed Giant Eagle Owl (now known as Verreaux's Eagle Owl)
A nest raiding baboon being bombed by an angry Blacksmith Lapwing
A fish eagle calling in flight
A saddlebill at leopard lagoon behind the Kaingo honeymoon suite
Marabou Storks also at Leopard Lagoon
Ian and Ali waiting for guests at sundowner time at Fish Eagle Lagoon
A couple of August sunsets
And now the water bird breeding colony, first the open billed storks and then the great white egrets.
Until next time
Jules
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