Zambia Trip - August 15-27, 2004

Zambia is a country you hear a lot about these days largely because of the problems in Zimbabwe. Many of the white farmers are relocating there and luxury game lodges are opening on a regular basis to pick up on the increased tourism. The Zambian side of Victoria Falls has become a real boomtown taking much of the tourism from the Zimbabwe side. So I decided to come and see for myself what Zambia was like.

I organized a ten-day trip with Star of Africa, a Zambian company operating 5 upscale lodges and camps throughout the country. At the end I added another camp called Sausage Tree as it was near my last stop on the Zambezi River. I started in Livingston, which is just the other side of the border from Victoria Falls. There are direct flights from Johannesburg on BA or Nationwide and obviously you can fly in from Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. You can also walk across from Zimbabwean side if you want to have a day trip to see the falls from the Zambian side. Unfortunately the reverse is a bit more complicated as you need a proper visa to go in to Zimbabwe even for a couple of hours and that costs $30 for most overseas visitors. You then have to pay an additional $20 entrance fee to the Falls.

Livingston is about 100 years old and looks like a lazy African town with one main street, an Internet café, several restaurants and curios shops. The top hotels are spread out along the Zambezi River upstream from the Falls. The closest, where I stayed, Sussi & Chuma, is about a 15-minute drive from town. Other lodges such as Tongabezi and Royal Chundu are a bit further out. Sussi & Chuma was named after the two African porters that carried David Livingston's body out of the bush after he died.

The lodge is made up of ten round thatched and wood chalets built on platforms overlooking the river. Completely private and very romantic with the possibility of seeing buffalo, elephant or hippo come out of the river right under your room. As I write this I am staring at a hippo about 100 meters away in the water.

The rooms are all connected to the main lounge/restaurant area by raised walkways so that anything could be walking underneath. There are no cats here so it is more or less safe as long as you don't go walking down by the river at night. The lodge has it's own boat to take sunset cruises along the Zambezi and during our first evening we saw hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffalo, giraffe, warthogs, waterbucks and baboons all along the river bank or in the water. It is a magical setting and even gets a bit thrilling when you get caught up in some of the rapids leading to the falls. But I gather we never were closer than 8 KM's so there was not much chance of going over them but I didn't realize that at the time. The boats are small, seating 9 people at most with drinks and snacks offered.

When you get back there is the Sunset Bar where you can continue watching the sun go down and have another drink. Dinner was on the open deck around the swimming pool. The lodge also has a curio shop and the possibility of checking email via a permanent online connection.

The next morning we headed off to Mosi -Oa-Tunya Park for an early game drive. The park is only 10 Sq.Km. but gives you the feeling of being in a much larger park and the game was fine. It is set along the river bank so the scenery is quite beautiful and we ran into a breading heard of about ten elephants, several sittings of giraffe, water bucks, impalas, monkeys, warthogs and the three resident white rhinos. Apparently this is the only place in Zambia that you can see white rhinos: a gift from South Africa many years ago. You can also arrange a walking tour with the rhinos as we saw a group of about six tourists along with a couple of rangers come up behind the rhinos and got within about 20 feet: these were very relaxed rhinos: I was not so sure about the tourists!

The whole Livingston experience is about activities, much like the Victoria Falls side, though perhaps not quite as organized. You can take helicopter rides to and into the Falls or try micolighting over them. White water rafting and bungee jumping are available as well as trips to local villages. But no doubt the main reason for visiting Livingston is the magnificent Victoria Falls themselves. After lunch we drove back to the Falls, which lie in part of the same national Park as we did our morning game drive so there is a $10 entry fee. I think that the view from the Zim side is more spectacular as the heaviest surges of water are on that side but none the less, this was pretty special and quite ethereal as you looked into the mist and listened to the roar of the water cascading down. It also may be less dangerous as the walk way along the edge of the gorge is better fenced that on the Zim side making it much more difficult to fall over: You see many people, especially Japanese tourists who try and push the limits for a "special" photo getting, in my opinion, much too close to the edge. On the Zim side it is much easier to slip off. Having said that there is a bridge on the Zambian side that you walk across and I suggest you look down at your own peril! The path is extremely wet and at times you are covered in the mist given up by the water pounding over the side and cascading down into the abysses. I would suggest taking a waterproof poncho along or renting one at the gate (about $1). You also want to make sure you wear shoes with rubber soles that can grip wet surfaces. We must have spent almost two hours there and it seemed to go much too fast. You also get a magnificent view of the bridge that connects Zambia to Zimbabwe that is world famous for bungee jumping.

Timing can be important for photos as from the Zambian side in late afternoon you are looking into the sun towards Zimbabwe so the morning might make a better option except that about half way along the walk, looking back was a spectacular rainbow going from the bottom of the gorge up to the heavens. As it was getting late, we decided to stay for the sunset. You are supposed to be out of the park by 6 PM but no one seemed to be paying any attention to this so we just hung around until about 6:10PM or so (in August). As a bonus, there was a group of local high school students with their teacher who seemed to be on a singing tour of Zambia and they preformed several songs as we waited for the sun to go down. The setting sun over the roar of the Falls looking into Zimbabwe was simply spectacular and the singing made it a rather special "African" moment. In the end, I might prefer the sunset view but if possible do both.

The next morning I set out to visit my second lodge from Star of Africa in a park I knew nothing about Lochinver National Park. In what I simply come to expect as the dysfunctional method of doing things in this part of the world my rent a car was no where to be found. The lodge drove me out to Avis at the airport at 8:30 with the understanding that they opened at 8 only to find no one there. The airport was quite empty as the first flights only come in around 11. Actually nothing appeared to be open and seeing me standing helplessly in front of the locked Avis door a lovely older gentleman came over to ask if he could help. I explained the situation and he immediately took me across the hall to the pay phone where he proceeds to call the number Avis left in case of emergencies. He had written the number down on his hand. From what I could gather if you just tell someone to call you back there is no charge. He assured me he had spoken to the girl from Avis and she would call right back. When she didn't we proceeded to the Lost and Found where he tried this trick again. Again no one called back. It was never clear to me where she was supposed to call. Finally in frustration, my new friend grabbed me and dragged through security, which was not actually functioning, as there were no passengers and into the International departures Lounge and then into the Priority Club/First Class lounge. I am probably making the airport sound larger than it is. It only takes ten seconds to get from one end to the other. I could not even believe that they even had a First Class/Priority Club lounge. Once inside we called again to Avis and I actually spoke to the agent. She assured me that the good news was she was on her way and would be there in ten minutes but the bad news was she didn't have a reservation for me and she only had one car that was supposed to be picked up by someone else. But she told me we would sort this out when she got there.

Hearing about my dilemma, my new friend announced that his brother could rent me a car. When I pointed out that I would be leaving the car two days later in Lusaka airport he said that wasn't a problem as there was a cousin who could pick it up. By now I had discovered this lovely gentleman was the head of security for the airport and I at least agreed to talk to his brother. So he calls the brother and explains the situation. His brother assures him he is on the way to the airport to save me. After paying about $2 to the lounge attendant for the phone calls, we go out and wait.

About 25 minutes later the Avis girl shows up and she commiserates with me when she sees my reservation confirmation and Avis VIP card. It seems this happens with some regularity in Livingston. So she calls the head office in Lusaka to ask what to do and the decision is to give me the one car they have. It seems the other booking is for an executive with Avis and they decided he could wait around until someone drives a new car from Lusaka. Thinking I am now on my way, Avis now announces that the car was not cleaned from the last renter. I assure her this is not a problem that I loved dirty cars. But then she says there is one other minor problem, the speedometer is not working and as I am paying by the mile she wants to have it checked. I suggested we both knew the distance from here to Lusaka Airport where I would be dropping the car in two days so I preferred to get going and not wait around any longer. She insisted it would only take ten minutes to run to the garage with the car. It seems I was being given no choice and my friend's brother still had not shown up. So off she goes with my car. Another 20 minutes later she comes back, just as the brother is driving in. I am assured that the broken speedometer is not a problem and they will sort out the mileage at the drop off. Having gone this far, I felt it best to stick with Avis (after all I may still get some airline miles out of this rental!)

I gave a nice tip to my new friend from security and headed off into darkest Africa with a dirty car and a speedometer that just went back and forth like crazy. I had no idea how fast I was going but then I didn't see any speed limit signs so I guess it didn't matter.

Right on schedule after almost 3 hours I arrived at the turn off for the Lochinvar National Park and my destination, Lechwe Planes Tented Camp. I knew Lochinvar was not meant to contain a lot of game but the setting was supposed to beautiful and that it was a bird watchers paradise with something like 428 different varieties depending on the time of year. But now the road became dirt and things slowed down. I drove past the first turning as the sign was only positioned at the point where you should turn and it was a bit worn. Luckily I saw it and was able to back up. The road now got a bit worse but all in all was not bad for a dirt road. After about 27 KM's (18 miles) I almost missed the next turn but again was able to back up for it. But after about 1 KM (out of the 14 KM remaining) the road split into three with no obvious choice. So I stuck with the one on the right for no particular reason. From here the road deteriorated into something abysmal and I was luckily to go 30KM per hour with a lot up bumps and scratches. Needless to say a 4-wheel drive with more clearance would have been preferable. Twice along the way I ran into locals and asked if this was the way to the Park and they said yes but then I had no way of knowing if they knew what I was asking for.

Finally and with much relive I arrived at the gate. 14 KM can seem like a very long time on a miserable road that you are not sure is the right one in the middle of Africa! When I suggested to the guard that perhaps they should put up a sign where the road splits he replied that it didn't matter which road I took, they all come out the same place in the end!

I paid my $3 car fee (I think the lodge takes care of the entrance fee which should be $10) and found out I was still 17.5 KM from the lodge but was assured I only had to go straight and I would run into it. I was told not to make any turns. After about 4 KM (and the road had not improved) I came to some buildings and driving straight on as told I arrived in an abandoned "lodge". I drove around and came out and saw one other road I could take to the right but something suggested I go back to the one building I saw with cars parked in front and see if there was any one to ask. As I pulled up the cars I had seen parked in front had clearly been abandoned years ago and I was beginning to doubt anyone was around. But then, as if my magic, a gentleman came over and explained that the road I wanted was just after the entrance to the lodge and I should look for gate to the right. He then proceeds to draw in the sand the route. But again, as if my magic, I saw a car from Star of Africa drive by and pull over. I could not imagine how they could have know I was there but I was not going to ask any questions, I was happy to see a familiar face (the driver I had met at the last lodge two days earlier). He told me that I would never make it to the lodge in my car and offered to take me back. So I locked up my car and jumped into his.

I now saw where I should have turned and there is no way I would have figured that out. If possible the road deteriorated even more and I was extremely grateful that I was not driving my little Toyota. It turned out the lodge was 17.5 KM from where I was picked up, not the gate, so I realized I was in for a long drive over a miserable road. Half way I inquired how he knew to come and get me and was told he didn't, he was on his way to the village to get a piece for the water pump which had broken when he saw me. This lead me to the next obvious question, if we needed new water pump, did that mean we didn't have water? The answer was that we didn't but he would go back after he dropped me off and get the pump fixed or replaced. I really felt bad has he had only 4 KM's on a much better road to get to the village at the park entrance and now was going to have to drive me 17.5 KM and then go all the way back. I offered to turn around but he said not to worry we'd be there soon. As it turned out I should have worried as there ended up being no water that day. I also found out I was the only guest! Petrus, the manager, greeted me and assured and me me he was on top of the situation and that we would have the water working soon.

In the meantime they had prepared a nice lunch for me overlooking the water. Lechwe Plans is set on the edge of a huge lagoon that is fed by the Kafue River and surrounded by hundreds of Lechwe's. These are beautiful reddish antelopes that like to live by the river and watching them prance through a foot or so or water was incredible. You can also find the Red Lechwe's in Botswana and the Caprivi Strip in Namibia but these have a back mark on the legs as opposed to being all red and are called Kafue Lechwe's.

After lunch I went out on a makuru with my guide. This is the local version of a dug out canoe and these were no less stable that the ones I had ridden on last year in Botswana; you constantly think you are going over into the hands of crock's or hippos (none of which we saw, thankfully, on this excursion!) It is amazingly peaceful to float along and watch Lechwe's on the shore and hundreds of different birds most of which seemed to be fishing. There was even one enormous white backed vulture feeding on the carcass of a dead lechwe. I am not a birder by any definition but even I could appreciate the many different varieties and my guide knew them all.

Eventually we headed back only to find the water still not on but I was assured they would drain some water from the lagoon and warm up some water for a shower. As I was expected at the fire for drinks at 7:15 by 7:20 I was concerned. Then came a knock knock at my tent saying they had arrived with the water and asking if they could come in. I could not imagine what they were going to do in the room as the shower was outside but I welcomed them in. Two minutes later after hearing a pouring noise they left and said they would be back with cold water. I had no idea what they were talking about but when I went to the bathroom I realized that they had poured the hot water into the bathtub and now were going to get cold water to cool it down. When no one came back after another ten minutes or so, I decided to go to the fire/bar which was next to my tent where I ran into Petrus who explained the bath situation. When I suggested that I thought I was having a shower he seemed surprised. Anyway, I took a glass of red wine and watched while the guys went back into my room with the cold water. Not really wanting to take a bath at this point but not wanted to hurt anyone's feelings, they had obviously made a big effort, I said I would take a quick bath and be right back. When I got to the tent, I realized I only had about 3 inches of water after all this effort and there was no way my 6'2" body was going to have a bath in 3 inches of water. But I improvised a sort of sponge bath leaning over the side so I could at least put on a clean shirt and then headed back to dinner. Petrus and I ate alone and discussed the situation in his home country of Zimbabwe, which is fascinating but extremely sad.

It was early to bed, as usual, as I was meant to be up at 6:30 to take a more involved boat ride on the river on a motorboat to see some hippos and crocks. They turn the generator off at 10 so there isn't much choice other than sleeping and I must say, I had the best night sleep of the trip. Bright and early I was up and on my boat trip while Petrus went back into town to try and fix the pump. This time the boat was a bit larger than the mukuru and had a motor. For reasons I didn't quite understand we never made out of the lagoon to the Kafue river or the hippos but we did see a fantastic array of birds and hundreds of lechwe's gracefully leaping through the water as we rode by.

Back on shore we finally got the water situation resolved so I had a much-needed shower before lunch. The setting in Lechwe Planes is so serine and being the only guest, I actually had a few hours to just be by myself and read. In the afternoon we headed off on a game drive but there is really not much to see other than lots of birds and of course, Lechwe. But we ran across several sightings of orybies, which are like small impala and found mainly in this area: something I had not seen before and a beautiful secretary bird that flew off spreading its enormous wings. We also came across some huge vultures feeding on a dead monitor lizard and some fish eagles soaring in front of us. Not exactly exciting by game standards but very peaceful and pleasant. No doubt for birders this would take on a special meaning and I would highly recommend coming here. I gather the bird population is seasonal as there are different birds to see in the winter and the summer so if birding is your thing, check with the lodge to find out when you can see what interests you most.

The next morning I left early to go to the Hot Springs in the hopes of finding buffalo and some of the other game we missed but that are found in the park such as zebra, wildebeest and bushbuck. The drive started out normal enough and we did see some zebra as well as lechwe, of course, another beautiful secretary bird that flew right in front of us and then a group of bush pigs, something I had never seen, scurried in front of the vehicle. I had been assured you only see them at night, but as usual, the pigs had not read the same books as the guides. There must have been 6 or 7 and they were rather large. The drive progressed smoothly seeing lots of birds until we had a flat tire. Normally this is something to be expected and is generally no cause for concern but this was not going to be a normal flat. I got out and milled around the other side of the vehicle as the driver went about, or so I thought, changing the tire. Normally this is goes very smoothly, at least for the rangers as they do it quite often. After about 15 minutes I walked around to see what our progress was and found the driver digging away at the dirt with the tire iron! I asked him what he was doing and he answered that he had broken the jack and was trying to dig out a hole so he could remove the old tire. I pointed out that this could take hours and that we should call the lodge to send help. He advised me that the lodge didn't have another vehicle. So I suggested we call the park headquarters where I had left my car and which he said was about 5 KM away. He said he could only call the lodge with his radio. So I suggested he call the lodge and ask them to call the park rangers. He tried to do this but no one was answering at the lodge. I pointed out that I did have to catch a plane that afternoon and it was at least a 4-5 hour drive from where my car was. So the driver suggested he could run to my car, 5KM, and come back with it if I didn't mind waiting. I felt bad for him but didn't really see any other option. He assured me he would be back in 20 minutes, took off his shoes and started running. While it never occurred to me that he could actually be back so soon, after about 20 minutes I heard the rumbling of an engine. I didn't think it could be mine and soon a large truck packed to overflowing with locals came thundering down the road. At this point I thought either they will kill me or help fix the flat.

They stopped and I explained the situation. The driver asked me if I wanted to have the tire changed. I said yes and the truck pulled off the road. As we were blocking the road he didn't have much choice one way or the other to get around. But instead of stopping to help, they just drove on. After another half hour or so my driver came back with someone to help him dig out a hole under the tire. I offered that he could use my jack but he said it was too small. After much difficulty, I managed to get the car turned around; the road was only big enough for one car and was surrounded by ditches on either side. Feeling relieved to have my car but sorry I had to leave the guys to dig out the tire, I headed off. The road was nothing that a car with low clearance should have tackled but I wasn't left with much choice. Needless to say there were several forks in the road that were unmarked causing additional anxiety. There is nothing quite like being on a road and not knowing if you are going in the right direction or headed off into the endless bush. But I finally made it to the gate and out of the park. But once again the road forked several ways and I had to make a choice. Remembering that coming in all the roads met at the same place, I hoped the reverse applied. It took about 30 minutes to cover the 14 KM to the next junction where I knew I was on the right road. Another 30 minutes and I was back on the main road and eventually made it to Lusaka airport. Luckily I had studied the map of Lusaka, as there were no signs until just as you got to the airport.

It was obvious that the Avis people in Zambia had not realized that they were supposed be "trying harder" as there was no one at the Avis desk. So I waited, and waited, even going behind the counter to try and phone the number on the door to call in case no one was there. But I couldn't get the phone to work and about 20 minutes later someone finally showed up. I don't think I was ever so relieved to turn in a car in my life!

I eventually found the office of Airwaves, the carrier that was to take me to my next destination, Mfeuwe, the airport for the South Luangwa National Park and my next destination, Puku Tented Camp. Airwaves had my ticket waiting but told me I needed to pay my departure tax of $5. They pointed to what looked like an endless line of people and told me to get in back assuring me I had time until the flight left. 25 minutes later, having paid my $5 I came back to check in and was told I had to go through security and then check in, in the Departure Lounge. This didn't make sense but I was beginning to understand that in Zambia you go with the flow and just went along with the instructions. So having passed through security, I checked in my bag and then went out again to the Internet Café to check email for what would be the last time before getting back to JoBerg 8 days later.

The flight was perfectly fine and took about one hour. A driver from Puku met me and we drove about 90 minutes to get there. We crossed the Luangwa River by means of what they call the "pontoon". This is a sort of raft that the vehicle drives onto rather perilously and then two guys pull the raft over to the other side using a strange sort of hook on a metal cable. It was a rather interesting experience and the drive was quite pleasant passing a herd of elephants and lots of warthogs, impala and yellow baboons which are unique to this park: apparently they are only "yellowish" in the summer so to me they looked like most other baboons, only a bit smaller.

After an eventful day, I was really very happy when we pulled into the camp. Puku is a really beautiful tented camp overlooking a flood plane that was mostly dry but full of game. I was very content to sit on the deck and watch a parade of animals come across including warthogs, impala, puku (my first sighting), elephants and giraffes. I was told that just prior to arriving they had seen a lion from the deck chasing a warthog and that apparently the lion was still around the last tent, the one next to mine! I didn't see the lion but had a most relaxing time, showered and then had a wonderful dinner with my friend Geraldine who had arrived from London and had been out on the afternoon game drive when I arrived. We were the only actual guests in the camp, there was another couple from Malawi who were friends of the manager and they ate alone with their infant baby while we ate with our ranger/manager, Rogers and a temporary camp hostess, Julia.

The next morning we were up early and out on what turned out to be a very lovely game drive. We had lots of sightings including several small herds of elephants, buffalo and a pride of 9 lions who had just finished a buffalo breakfast and were deciding if they could handle the impalas about 100 yards away. While watching to see what they would do a couple of elephants walked by but didn't seem to cause anyone any concern. The park was quite green, even though it was the dry season and we saw lots of game. The lions opted to sleep, something they seem to do a lot of and so we left.

Upon arriving back at the lodge, Julia greets us with the news that our lion from the day before had just taken down a Puku about 30 minutes earlier and dragged it off into the bushes at the end of the camp. So Rogers suggested we jump back in and try and find it. We went over some ups and down's that I really don't think the vehicle was meant to do but our search was in vain. Coming back we ran into an huge heard of buffalo blocking the way but Rogers just drove through, parting them as if it was the Red Sea. We had a couple of hundred dirty looks but made it though without incident and back to the camp. Rogers was not very convinced that they actually saw a lion, much less one with a kill, as we found no trace of it. But he set out and spent the rest of the afternoon looking around.

After a light brunch and a relaxing afternoon watching the game parade across our front yard it was back out for our evening game drive. No doubt to find the lion lurking under one of our tents. Rogers assured us that there was no lion, as it was inconceivable for him to not be able to find it. But we set out and after traversing some more terrain that I am sure was not meant for vehicles we gave up and went on with our evening drive, eventually settling in for a sundowner chatting with the new people we picked up on our drive who had just arrived.

The next day we had decided to do an all day drive so we could cover more of the park. South Luangwa is a really beautiful game park with a variety of different terrains. If possible it would be best to stay at two lodges in different parts of the park. I was moving to another lodge that night, Chichele President Lodge but it was only 1 KM from Puku so the terrain was the same. On our all day drive we went about 60KM north near to another camp called Kaingo run by Derek Shenton a well-known safari guide and operator in the park. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to visit here but based on the different terrain we encountered, I definitely think it makes sense to stay at both ends of the park and I understand that Kaingo is a fabulous experience.

South Luangwa is full of game, though perhaps not as many cats as I would have liked but lots of other animals and you are always looking at something. It is rare to have a really dry spell where you don't see something. We stopped along the Luangwa River for coffee and muffins at a beautiful spot full of hippos and had some elephants come down for a drink. There are lots of herds of elephants so you keep running into them. Not massive like in South Africa or Botswana but 8-12 at a time and very relaxed. It seems that most of the game here is smaller and more relaxed that normal: smaller apparently because of less to eat and more relaxed because there are fewer predators. At lunch we again stopped on the river and sat in the shade watching more hippos and a crock and sure enough a lone bull elephant came down. Of course there were the usual herds if impala, puku and even some waterbuck, zebra, giraffe and warthogs.

At the turn around point we came upon several pods of hippos, hundreds actually, fighting for territory, which made for quite a sight. Finally we headed back arriving at the lodge for sunset and a much needed gin & tonic. 12 hour game drives can be fun but somewhat tiring and a bit dusty to say the least. We also had changed lodges and wanted to get a look at the new place, Chichele Presidential Lodge. While Puku was a luxury tented camp, Chichele was the former home of the president of Zambia that Star of Africa had renovated in 2001 turning it into a small version of the Mt. Kenya Safari Club with six rooms. It is set on a hill with spectacular views with occasional visits by hippos, elephants and pukus. Our first morning had a herd of Pukus right outside our terrace and as I write this there is an elephant coming across in front. At night we had a hippo come right across the grass in front of where we were having dinner about 30 feet away!

Having spent all day in the vehicle, the next morning we had planed on a walk to try and burn of the hundreds of extra pounds gained on the trip. The idea, or so we thought, was to drive a couple of hours and then walk back for about 90 minutes. But about 15 minutes into the drive, the lodge called us to say they had seen a lion go into a ravine near where we were driving so we went over and looked around. After not being able to find the other lion the lodge staff had seen, Rogers, somewhat skeptical at this point, was determined to find this one, especially as they had just seen it. When our search proved fruitless I suggested, jokingly, that perhaps we should do our walk and look for the lion! Five minutes later, we stop and Rogers tells us to get out that we are going to try and track the lion on foot! So with our armed guard, Jackson, in the lead, we head of in grass so tall you could have stepped on a lion without knowing it. We found the ravine where he was supposed have disappeared and with danger lurking around every corner and blade of grass we continued our search. We ended up walking for about 21/2 hours and didn't find the lion. We did see elephant, giraffe, impala, puku but no lion. Upon getting back to the lodge and questioning the bartender who saw the lion, it seems he had sent us in the wrong direction. Actually one of the other vehicles from the lodge found the lion, it seems there were two males, and had we not been told about them on the radio and diverted from our original plan, we were headed to where they were in the first place and would have found them on our own!!

But such is life in the bush and the next day it was off to the Lower Zambezi National Park and the end of the trip.

Getting to Kalefue Camp took longer than I had expected. While another group of ten people staying at the lodge had their own charter and flew directly, I had to fly back to Lusaka and then take another flight to Jeki airstrip where Kalefu Camp picked me up. Altogether it took from 8 AM to 5 PM to do what should have been about a 90-minute flight. The final flight was in the smallest commercial plane I have been in, only 4 seats including the pilot but it seemed to have more legroom that most large jets give you in economy. As we landed you could see the lush green vegetation surrounded the Zambezi River as it wound its way through the countryside. As we came down to land we saw from the air two herds of elephants, one crossing the river. Having had several people on this trip tell us how much game they had seen visiting the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi at Mana Pools, my expectations for game viewing were somewhat high.

The drive to the camp from the airstrip was about 90 minutes and after a brief hello, we went right out on a sunset cruise as it was already 5. The river was full of hippo but that was about all. Back at the camp, managed by Andy and Catherine, we settled in to our tent, which was somewhat basic but typical of the tented camps prior to the trend to do luxury tents as we had at Lechwe Plains or Puku Ridge. But it was comfortable enough and set right on the river bank about 50 meters from the Zambezi. We heard the hippos all night and I am sure they were right outside the tent while we slept.

Next morning we were off on a game drive and but didn't see all that much to my surprise. There were huge herds of impala all over the place, more than I have seen anywhere and lots of baboons and waterbucks. We saw a few zebra and kudu but only one buffalo and a brief sighting of one elephant's behind way off in the bushes. The bird life seemed to be prolific as in most parks in Zambia but the game situation was disappointing.

In the afternoon we set off on a canoe trip two hours downstream, three to a canoe with a guide doing all the paddling. Not quite as authentic as the three-day trip our friends did from Mana Pools but a good introduction to being in a canoe on a river full of dangerous things! We slid by some very large pods of hippos on at least a dozen occasions. As the river narrowed into channels the encounters took on a more ominous feeling but it seems the hippos had no real intention of killing us and at one point raced off in a panic. I have to admit that the thought of canoeing past hippos had always but about where I thought I would draw the line on my safari adventures but this cured me of that and now I would look forward to a more ambitious trip, maybe!

But other than one lone elephant and three buffalo towards the end we didn't see any other game, though again lots of birds. I don't know where the huge herds of elephants and buffalo that I had heard about were and there was no trace of any cats. Apparently they don't have cheetah (or giraffe) here and our ranger said he had only seen two leopards in the past month and very few lion. So altogether the game around Kalefu was disappointing setting was probably the most beautiful of any place I had been in Africa. The next morning it was off to Sausage Tree Camp further upstream opposite Mana Pools on the Zim side.

I was driven to Old Modola, the bush camp owned by Sausage Tree and which also sits right on the Zambezi. Here I waited for my ride up river to the main camp watching even more hippos. I was picked up in a small boat and as soon as we left I saw some elephants coming down to drink. Along the way there were dozens of great hippo sightings both in and out of the water, a huge crocodile and several more wonderful elephant sightings. At one we just pulled up in front of a herd of about ten at the river's edge, drinking, spraying themselves and taking a mud bath. There was a baby who kept getting stuck in the mud and the moment was magical. The whole way to the camp was what I had imagined the Lower Zambezi experience to be. At the camp there was a hippo in front and an elephant nearby. I can't imagine why there was such a difference in the game life between the two camps as they are not that far apart. No doubt it was just the luck of the draw and could have been the other way around just as easily. Along the way we stopped at the "airport connection" and picked up some other guests that had just flown in.

Arriving at the camp we were met by the owner, Jason, and his girlfriend who explained a bit about the camp and its history and offered us some refreshments. After which we had a wonderful lunch overlooking the river. Sausage Tree is a rather upscale camp consisting of six Bedouin style tents spread out along the riverbank. After lunch my butler, Friday, showed me to my tent, which is something, really special with a beautiful attached but open bathroom. As I was unpacking and getting ready to go sit on the bench 10M in front of the tent and overlooking the river, I heard a loud noise. I turned around and saw two huge elephants staring me in the eyes. I was so startled that it took me a minute to collect my wits and get the video but I managed to capture them as the walked by heading towards the main lounge. Friday had shown me the walki talki that is in each tent to call for help so I tried to call them to alert them of the pending danger but no one responded. I lost track of the ele's in the trees but heard a loud noise and thought that perhaps the main lounge is no longer there. I also heard some more ele's trumpeting in the same direction as these two came from and noticed that a hippo was swimming towards me. It occurred to me that had I been sitting on my bench, the ele's would have come between me and my tent and with the hippo approaching from the water, I am not sure how that would have played out! I am now writing from the safety of the tent as my beautifully scenic bench has taken on a new dimension.

Eventually Friday came to get me for the afternoon game drive and told me the elephants come through all the time and the walkie talkis are only used at night.

This side of the park doesn't to have the same magnificent forest scenery as near Kalefu but there seems to be more game. We saw lots of elephants but most of them were quite skittish so we didn't linger. There also seemed to be fewer impala on this area but we came across a huge herd of maybe 300 buffalo that had kicked up a dust storm giving them an ethereal quality. There were also the usual waterbucks, baboons, etc. After our sundowner watching a brilliant orange sun, we headed back to the camp coming across more elephants but speed away as quickly as possible as elephants in the dark are even scarier that in the light and the elephants in this part of the world really didn't seem to like people. We also found a couple of genets, a hyena and a civet.

Dinner was a real treat and the crowd at Sausage Tree provided great company.

The next morning I joined the group doing another canoe trip down the Zambezi. This time it was a full half-day trip floating down one of the channels that borders the main river and the scenery was spectacular. We saw buffalo, elephants, impala, waterbucks, baboons and, of course, hippos. Actually we saw quite a lot of hippos and at one point our guides seemed a bit bewildered as to what to do about an angry bull that didn't appear to want us near or passing him. As the channel was quite narrow, we didn't have much room to maneuver and had to sort of stare him down, especially as we were in essence in the middle of a large pod of hippos getting dirty looks from many sides. I can only say that coming across the hippos in a canoe is like coming across elephants on foot: you feel extremely vulnerable with limited options. In my opinion this stand off could have gone either way but eventually we prevailed; we had all been given detailed instructions of what to do if a hippo knocks over the canoe and it only reminded me of the instruction to stand your ground if a lion attacks! We got by this situation only to be confronted with an even bigger pod a hundred yards down making a lot of noise. This we were told was hippo city and potentially the most dangerous part of the trip until we got to the main part of the river! The idea that it could get more dangerous took awhile to register but we got through and wisely stopped on the riverbank for morning coffee. As it turned out, some of the other guests who had opted, wisely in my opinion, for a game drive, were just opposite hippo city photographing, so had anything untoward happened, at least there would have been photos of our last moments. The trip proceeded down river and I had to stop counting the number of hippos we passed. At the rendezvous point, Jason, the owner, was there with a powerboat to take us back to camp.

Once safely back in camp we were told we had half an hour until lunch so I went back to my room collect my wits after the morning adventure: About 15 minutes later, I heard a noise outside the room and saw an elephant in front of my neighbor. He started coming towards me and as I backed into my tent he came right along side so I ran up to my elevated outdoor bath and there he was literally 10 feet away coming closer! He stopped right at a tree next to me with only the open-air bathroom wall between us. Caught between being mesmerized and terrified I videoed until I realized he was moving a bit away towards my other neighbor. As I walked back into the tent, I saw a huge grey form filling the entrance. I had to bend down to see it was another elephant and as he saw me he turned and came right towards the tent. He came literally to the entrance and turned and walked along my wall towards his friend. They both then stayed between my tent and my neighbor for at least 10-15 more minutes before moving on. I was now back in the "safety" of my bathroom watching them when I heard another noise directly ahead and saw a 3d elephant in the bushes just where the path to the lounge area was. By now about 40 minutes had passed and I decided that I would skip lunch rather than take a chance of becoming lunch!! But shortly one of the rangers came to collect me and my neighbors in the next tent. We managed to get to the main deck and lounge area and after exchanging elephant stories were asked to sit down for lunch. Actually lunch was a buffet and as we were in line, one of the elephants come right down the path towards us and actually came so close he stuck his trunk into the lunch tent over the buffet. He then, having decided what we were having didn't suit him, preceded to have his own lunch on a bush literally adjacent the lunch tent. We all watched and videoed for about 15 minutes until his head actually moved around the bush and we only had a view of his behind. We deemed this a good opportunity to serve ourselves in case he turned around again. I have never actually seen about 12 guests lined up at a buffet with the backside of an elephant 6 feet way acting as this was perfectly normal!

Lunch went off without further ado and we were escorted back to our tents until the afternoon game drive.

My last drive turned out to be a fitting end to this adventure and I saw my first lion kill of the trip!

The next morning I was up early for the drive to the airstrip and my flight back to Lusaka, Livingston and eventually JoBerg. This turned out to be more eventful that I would have expected or hoped for! It was just Friday and myself and we kept coming across herds of elephants that really didn't want us around. The first one just gave us dirty looks and I was glad to be by them. About ten minutes later we ran right into the middle of a breading heard who made it clear they were not going to let us pass. After about ten minutes of pretending we weren't there and hoping they would move on we decided that a more aggressive position was necessary. So we revved the engine and made a lot of noise only to find that really irritated one who started to come after us. We put it in gear and raced off while this elephant came charging for what seemed like an eternity. No doubt only a few hundred years but when you see a huge elephant coming after you time sort of stops. I had experienced some very nervous elephants in Botswana but only one episode similar to this. Having survived this I was seriously hoping that was the last excitement of the morning but it was not to be. I was told we were only now ten minutes from the airstrip when suddenly a huge lone bull appeared right in the middle of the road!

Perhaps he was related to the one we had outrun earlier as he didn't seem to want us to get by either and as he was in the road, there wasn't much we could do. We now heard my plane coming in and so some decision had to me made. We decided that the only option was to go off into the bush and circle around and hope the elephant would be happy munching away at the tree he was destroying.

With a lot of tension and as much speed as we could muster, we charged thorough the bush and eventually came out on the other side of our large friend and made it to the airstrip. No doubt the past two days at Sausage Tree were the most heart thumping elephant experience I have had in all my safari trips. I can't wait to come back!!