African Safari 2007

Arriving in Mfuwe we were met by Braston and taken to the Nkwali Camp. We stopped along the way to drop two other guests at the park for a night drive; we were all tired from traveling and really wanted a shower. The drive to camp took about 50 minutes. We were greeted by most of the staff and shown around the main lodge. It has a spectacular view of the river with chairs and a deck right up to the edge. We sat and had a drink, enjoying the view. On the horizon there were some storms with lightning visible.

We were then shown our rooms. Each one has a large bedroom and a bathroom almost as big as the bedroom. The cabins are open air, with mosquito netting over a large king bed. The bathrooms were great, with views to the grounds and a fantastic double shower. We took showers, changed and then went back to the main tent to relax with a cocktail. We started hearing loud thunking noises and realized that Zambian sand crickets  (they are 3 inches long!)  were starting to move in as it got dark. A little while later Ari and Britt, whom we had dropped off at the park, came back and joined us. We all headed over to the dining area, which is a separate thatched roof structure nearby. Dinner was delicious. While we were eating a large storm came through, with sheets of rain pouring down. It was quite a show.

After dinner we headed to our room to find that the sand crickets and termites had invaded. We sprayed 'doom' all over and killed the ones we could see. Unfortunately more kept coming in, a couple even made it into the mosquito netting. It made for a tense and mostly sleepless night...

Our wakeup drums were at 5:15, with breakfast at 5:30. At 6am we headed into the park in our jeep. The drive to the park is about half an hour and the roads through the park were still dirt, but much smoother than we had in the other parks. That's the difference between a game preserve and a national park. We saw some elephants, one with a baby as well as another sleepy lion.

After driving around a bit we saw another car which had caught a glimpse of a leopard in the brush. We drove around a bit looking for it. Finally we saw it through the trees (and were able to get a picture of it to prove it!) On the way out of the park we saw lots of monkeys in a tree, all staring back at us. On the drive back Randy was getting a bit sleepy and tried to hide it by pulling his hat down.

We had lunch just before noon, then lounged around during our siesta. Later in the afternoon we watched as a big thunderstorm moved in from the north, strong winds swirling around as it came across the river and obscured our view of the far bank. It dumped rain for twenty minutes or so, then the sky cleared up. Typical summer weather. After afternoon tea we headed back to the park where we saw a number of giraffe and more elephants, one female which was sheltering it's tiny baby underneath it to protect it from us. After a sunset cocktail we started our return journey with the searchlight scouring the dark. We saw several baby impala and some big toads in the road. As it got darker we were confronted with more and more termites flying around. It got so bad that we all put on our sunglasses and pulled our rain jackets up around our faces to block them. Randy was startled when a beetle flew into his ear. Joseph had to stop the car to help him get it out. Yuck.

Once we made it back to camp we went to our room and found (to our dismay) that when they had turned down the bed they had left the lights on. There were bugs everywhere, many inside the netting. Rick sprayed some 'doom' around and started stomping crickets while Randy headed to the main tent to hide out. Rick talked to the staff who sent someone to clean up the room while we had dinner. At dinner we had them turn out the lights, but pretty much everything was still moving and jumping around. Before bed Rick squished a few more crickets, then we went to sleep (Randy with the aid of a sleeping pill). Randy awoke at 4am to the sound of Rick moving around the room smacking crickets with his shoe, one of which made a loud chirping sound as he was chased. That made us both laugh and eased the tension somewhat. (Rick counted 48 cricket carcasses before we went to breakfast!) We found out from Dan and Assana that they had a similar experience during the night, though not quite as severe.

We had a leisurely breakfast and left camp around 6:30 with Size along, a guide from the national park. In the park we saw more giraffes and elephants before we parked the jeep and did an hour and a half walking tour. While walking we saw antelope, baboons and wart hogs. On the way back to camp the 30 minute distance from camp to the park was getting a bit old...

We had lunch at 11:30, right on the veranda by the lake, which was very nice. Randy and Assana briefly entertained the idea of heading to Capetown a day early, but the idea was dropped when we learned that our flight from Mfuwe was not a daily one. Randy and Rick decided to spend the afternoon lounging at camp, while Dan and Assana went for an afternoon drive to check out the local textiles market. When they returned Assana had bought several very nice hand made items and it sounded like they had quite an adventure finding mangos and exchanging dollars to pay for them. Joseph had also talked to a friend about carving a wooden baobob tree for us which would be ready Thursday morning!

We had decided not to go out for a game drive tonight so we had our sundowners down on the sand in the riverbed in front of the lodge. It was a great view of the sunset. Since it had not rained during the afternoon, the sand crickets were staying in their holes. Afterwards we had dinner with, thankfully, far fewer bugs on the table. Our room was also virtually bug free!

This morning we woke up extra early at 5am as we wanted to be able to go deeper into the park before it got too warm. We ate breakfast and drove into the park, skipping the usual stops for the impala and baboons along the way. The park was definitely quieter, we only saw one or two cars before 9am. We came upon a single young male elephant eating mangos under a tree. He didn't seem to want us around and gave us a mock charge and then trumpeted. Very fun! Off in the distance we saw a spotted hyena near another jeep. We raced over to get a closer look, but it ran away.

We drove through some areas which were very dense, and others that were almost open plains. Then we saw three elephants wallowing in some mud, covering themselves up to protect themselves from the sun. The biggest one was grabbing dirt with her trunk and deftly spraying it over her back as a fine cloud. The little one was trying to imitate her, but all he could manage was to pick up clumps of mud and rocks and hit the top of his head with them. The middle one was happy rolling around in the mud, getting it all caked on.

By the river we could see the camp on the opposite bank and a big group of hippos spread out downstream. After some more driving it was time for morning coffee so we stopped on the top of a hill where we could get a good view of the surrounding landscape. On our way back we learned that we would be taken across the river in a small boat, which saved us about an hour of driving, very nice! Back at camp we had lunch and relaxed during our siesta.

For afternoon tea today the staff took us on a short walk through the woods to one of the two houses that are part of the camp. This one holds 8 people in 4 luxurious rooms. It has a small infinity pool and a deck that's on stilts next to a watering hole. We had our sundowners on the deck and watched the sunset. It was very nice. Back at camp another guest, Molly, had arrived and joined us for dinner. We were all feeling pretty warn out, so we headed to bed right after dinner.

We didn't have to get up until 7am. After breakfast we finished packing and then at 8 we piled into the van for the trip to the airport. This was to be a full day of travel. On the way into town we stopped to pick up the carved baobob tree that Joseph had commissioned for us two days earlier. It was very interesting, but his friend unfortunately had not been able to finish it in time. Ah well, what were we expecting for $5.

Our first flight was about an our, from Mfuwe back to Lusaka. In Lusaka, David from Tours Africa took good care of us, chatting with us in his office and then walking us through the check-in process. Due to the fact that a Gold United Mileage Plus Visa card looks remarkably like a United Gold Frequent Flier card, we were treated to the brand new South African Airways departure lounge. Hee hee!

From Lusaka we had a 2 hour flight to Johannesburg. Once there we had a bit of dinner in the domestic terminal, then boarded our final flight. It took us 2 hours to reach Capetown, where we collected our luggage and picked up a brand new Mercedes C200 sedan. After pulling Linguo (our Garmin GPS) out of a suitcase, we were on our way to Colona Castle. We arrived at about 10pm and were greeted by Nicole and her husband. They showed us to our fantastic rooms and then we all showered and promptly passed out. (But not together!)

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