Zambia Safari Diary - Day Two
Kapani Lodge
An Early Start
Woken up, politely but firmly, at 5.00 a.m, for breakfast
around the campfire. Introduced to the camp cat (‘Baby Yowl’) (
) who was reported as being half African Wild Cat, but who has not
been claimed as a ‘sighting’ since all the evidence was that this
was a very soft domestic pussy indeed.
Morning Game Drive
The
morning game drive yielded giraffe, hippo and elephant, together with
our first sighting of the dramatically coloured carmine bee eater ().
Next a waterbuck, with its characteristic
thick grey coat, and circular ‘target’ on its rump (),
followed by a tree squirrel, monitor
lizard and zebra ().
However the highlight was a rare daytime sighting of a large civet (),
which clearly revealed why this animal should be classified in
the same family as the mongoose and genet (the viverridae), rather
than as the cat (felidae) that it so often resembles when encountered
briefly at night. The mid morning tea break gave us the opportunity
to examine a buffalo skull in detail (),
and the resumed drive yielded further elephant (very close) (),
hippo etc. A rare passing vehicle told of a lion sighting up ahead,
but we were unable to locate it. Further big cats continue to elude
us!
Lunch and Night Drive
A further delicious lunch of beef stew was followed
by siesta and tea, and the evening game drive finally landed a
magnificent pride of lions (),
in addition to a first sighting of buffalo,
together with a genet.
At sunset we were able to catch a glimpse across the river of the
intriguing Luangwa River Lodge which we were booked into for our
final night in the Valley. A number of Mosis and tales of bugs
and snakes then accompanied my favourite Beef Wellington, before
the usual early night.
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On his travels through Zambia, very close to where we ourselves were walking, the renowned Victorian explorer, David Livingstone, first came across the Red Mahogany tree (Khayanyasica), at that time unknown to him. It is reputed that, on asking his guide the name of this tree the latter duly replied with a name in his local language, and it was by this name that Livingstone duly recorded it in his journal. What he didn’t realise is that this word simply meant ‘I’ve no idea, mate’!
In a similar fashion, the early explorers of Australia were astounded to see a most bizarre animal, which kept its young in a pouch in front of its belly, hopping around, and enquired as to its name. Their aboriginal source didn’t know, and replied as such in his own language – ‘kangaroo’. Imagine if Livingstone had come across numerous previously undiscovered fauna and flora and had enquired of the same uninformed guide as to their local name. This would have given The Royal Society, back in London, something to think about. It’s almost Pythonesque.
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The Safari Diary
- Zambia Safari Introduction
- Day 1. London to Lusaka
- Day 2. Kapani Lodge
- Day 3. Kapani to Luwi Bush Camp
- Day 4. Luwi to Nsolo Bush Camp
- Day 5. Nsolo to Kakuli Bush Camp
- Day 6. Kakuli to Tafika Lodge
- Day 7. Tafika to Chikoko Bush Camp
- Day 8. Chikoko to Crocodile Bush Camp
- Day 9. Crocodile to Kaingo
- Day 10. Kaingo to Tena Tena
- Day 11. Tena Tena to Luangwa River Lodge
- Day 12. Luangwa River Lodge to Chaminuka
- Day 13. Lusaka to London
For your convenience we have produced a text version of the Zambia Safari Diary.
We believe that Zambia is the perfect safari destination. Whether you are new to safaris or an experienced traveller, Zambia simply excels.
