Three Rivers Safari: Luambe, Kafue, Vic Falls

[Atravelynn]

Forgot to mention the black mamba--you got it from head to toe and lived to tell about it.

[michael-ibk]

Really loved this report, your writing style brings the reader right into the bush. Thank you! This brought back lovely memories of Musekese, it is such a great camp. Of course I also conversed with the Frogs, had very elaborate discussions with our tent guardian "Charlie". :-) 

 

Cool you found a White-Backed Night Heron, that would be a lifer for me. And great photos of the Twinspot, that's such a marvellous little bird.

Edited February 24, 2019 by michael-ibk

[Galago]

@Atravelynn Thank you. And you're going to Musekese - fabulous! It really is a lovely camp. I look forward to reading about it andoes seeing your photos. Yes,the mamba was exciting and a lifer for me. Its speed was amazing.

[Galago]

@michael-ibk Glad to hear you're another frog converser! And thank you for your kind comments. You've probably seen on Facebook that I'm in Cuba at the mo. Not a birding trip but I'm managing to do a bit - Cuban endemics are really cool: Tody, Trogon, Grassquit.  Watching around 50 Cuban Grackles taking a bath in the river outside our little room which was Fidel's favourite when he stayed here! And really hoping to see Bee Hummingbird 

Edited February 24, 2019 by Galago

[Caracal]

Have so enjoyed your report with your engaging descriptions and great photos.

 

Excellent sightings including a python and black mamba plus the usually shy bushpigs.

 

Waterberry Lodge is my go to place in Livingstone - glad you took the village/school tour - what they're achieving is really impressive.

[Alexander33]

On 2/4/2019 at 11:56 AM, Galago said:

Tears well up, as always. A part of my heart stays in the bush. Pascal Mercier describes that feeling so well in Night Train to Lisbon:

"We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place. We stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there."

 

A lovely sentiment and a lovely report. I really appreciate your stream-of-consciousness style of writing. It transports the reader back into your shoes, if you will. Thank you so much for sharing your experience in an area with which I am completely unfamiliar.

 

(Is it just me, or was your husband truly a reverse good-luck talisman? It seems that every time he stayed behind in camp, you saw a leopard — or two!)

 

Edited February 26, 2019 by Alexander33

[Galago]

@Alexander33  Thank you very much. I did feel rather bad that the best leopard sightings were when he stayed in camp but he was philosophical about it!

[Zarek Cockar]

On 1/31/2019 at 2:34 AM, Tom Kellie said:

 

~ @Galago

 

Thank you so much for your lepidopteric (is that even a word?) sleuthing.

 

It's impressive, as such arcane information isn't easy to obtain.

 

Who might be able to confirm is @armchair bushman from Nairobi, who is a skilled entomologist.

 

When @Zarek Cockar returns from Southeast Asia, it will be well worth posing this identification question to him.

    

Hi @Tom Kellie and @Galago

I can't seem to find the moth you're referring to and my internet is a little slow, so it's taking forever for all the photos to load on each page.  Please can you respond by tagging me and "quote" the photo?  

 

Thanks!

[Galago]

 

@Zarek Cockar @Tom Kellie Thanks for your message Zarek. Here are a couple of photos of the moth taken 30/10/18 at 0630, on a river bed, Luambe NP. I'd love to know what you think.

 

 

 

[Towlersonsafari]

I was only thinking about your mystery moth the other day @Galago  as i was failing miserably to photograph  male orange tip butterflies! 

[Galago]

@Towlersonsafari haha! Yes, it's a long-standing mystery and I'm really hoping that @Zarek Cockar can solve it for us! 

[Galana]

Just read this entertaining report from start to finish in one swell foop.

Wonderful photos and excellent writing. Having been a very early 'guest' up in Luambe in 2006 it was especially poignant to learn of the new lodge and the 'owner' problems there.

[BRACQUENE]

 

@Galago

 

Since joining Safaritalk in november Zambia has been my main concern so it is a shame I didn’t read your marvelous report in depth until this early morning and the message of @Galana ; by the way it is easy to mix up your names : I must say that when planning my next trip to North and South Luangwa in July I was at a certain moment thinking to add Luambe to my trip and even asked one company to make me a proposition including the camp you went to ; of course the management issues you have described would have stopped me also to consider it so in a way I am glad I didn’t even if the price was very tempting 

The wildlife is awesome though and perhaps things have already changed in the meantime I am asking myself? 

[Galana]

10 hours ago, BRACQUENE said:

by the way it is easy to mix up your names :

Just don't make the same mistake in the flesh. We may have similar avaturs but I am no Bushbaby"

The real "Galana" is one of my adopted ellies at DSWT.

Here is an old snap of her saying hello to my wife.

[Soukous]

19 minutes ago, Galana said:

The real "Galana" is one of my adopted ellies at DSWT

 

and there was me thinking it was just your favourite river

[BRACQUENE]

@Galana

 

Well of course I meant the smilarity in avaturs and a possible mistake as they are close to each other , but now I am happy I know about your adoptions !

[Galago]

@Galana  Thank you very much indeed and I love the fact you did the whole thang in a sell fwoop. That's a lotta reading!  How interesting that you visited Luambe in '06. I first went to the Valley in '01 and I think I'd vaguely heard of Luambe but didn't really know anything about it until I flew over it in 2010 on the way to North Park. At that time it was described as 'nothing much there' and only a few people drive through. So going there in '06 must've been pretty intrepid. Were you self-driving? I believe there was a camp there at some point. Did you use that? I imagine the game must've been very skittish, given the poaching that used to happen there. I'd be so interested to know what it was like then.

 

And, yes, we have been muddled up before, as I'm sure you remember. The extraordinary thing is that we have remarkably similar avatars which increases the confusion! Mine is from the Kafue being driven along the Spinal Road by Tom Heineken when he was at Kaingu. She was a young female, around 2 years old, being hassled by Helmeted Guineafowl. Where did you take yours? Oh, and the picture of your wife in serious conversation with the said ele is just gorgeous!

 

Thank you @Soukous for clarifying the name Galana! I'd always assumed it was the scientific name for 'whatever' and it turns out it's a river in Kenya. Fab!

 

@BRACQUENE Thank you for your kind words. Ah, so you have a trip coming up. I'm envious! In a way, it's a shame you're not going to Luambe because I'd love to know if they have made improvements. This year they opened a second camp and I'm curious to know about that as well. I do hope we'll get a report on ST and find out.

 

Finally, thank you all for reminding me of my 'Mal d'Afrique' I soooo need to be back in the bush! And I'm back in 55 days in Zakouma, Chad!

Edited January 14, 2020 by Galago

[BRACQUENE]

@Galago

 

Well as you can read in the planned trips for 2020 and also in my topic about my first safari to South  Luangwa in 2014 returning to that ‘’first ‘’ love and adding Mwaleshi in the North was inevitable in the end and Luambe would have been a bit to much disposing only of two weeks  at most but never say never...; thanks  for your reply !

[Galana]

@Galago

Where to start?

My Avatur was taken in Lake Mburo NP in Uganda. It's a crop of one in this sequence.

 

 

Luambe. We had like others driven through on the way to North Park and another year got to stay there, so we did.

The game was skittish. When we came upon some Ellies we had to run to catch them up as it was hard to persuade our trusty minders that that was why we had come, so we left them behind. The poor lady Ranger pictured, Virginia I recall, now sadly in the big park in the sky,  was having none of that.

 

Accommodation was 'rustic chic!' but we loved it.

As you may have seen from my TR I had not been back to South Luangwa for ten years before last month.

 

Galana. Pleased you like the photo. I don't show many of these for obvious reasons.

Galana is named after the river as most of DSWT orphans are named after the location they were located.

She was presenting her, at the time new, wild born baby "Gawa"  to us.

 

mal d'Afrique. I get my remission next month, in just over 3 weeks actually when I celebrate Leap years extra day by being in Uganda for most of the 29 days.

 

You better have your thread back.

Edited January 14, 2020 by Galana
photograph

[Galago]

@Galana wonderful, safari njema!