Fabulous Kafue trip with Phil Jeffrey& Tyrone McKeith

[jivor]

I wrote previously of several previous trips with Busanga safaris run by Tyrone's dad Tony. When he told me that Ty and Phil were opening their own lodge, Musekese in the Kafue NP I was interested having been to the Plains camp twice before and met them both. When I read that they were offering the lodge plus two fly camps in the Kafue at unvisited areas (Luansanza and Moshi), I booked with 4 friends. Luansanza was beautiful and gave some great viewing (300 plus ellies one day). A good variety of birds and on returning from a night drive an Aardvark, which snuffled undisturbed for several minutes! Then to Musekese, their HQ, sited on a hillock just inland from the Kafue. Access is a 20 minute boat trip upstream from Lufupa airstrip, a great viewing experience in itself. Here we walked, drove but the main attraction for me was the water, myriads of birdlife and elephants and other animals coming to drink. We also fished (5 Kg catfish, may not be big but took 8 mins. to land on light tackle!). They have also constructed a hide a short downstream river trip) where we viewed various animals unobserved as they came to drink,

Then on to Moshi fly camp sited near a dried up stream with a pond 200 metres away which was visited by many animals during the day. A very interesting drive to see the remains of the old Moshi airstrip (probably the first tourists here for 40 years!), still got a 60 mph road sign as the road was once tarred! Driving over the overgrown runway we came to a series of 6 interlinked lagoons with prolific birdlife, 4 painted snipe being the highlight. A night drive to the southern edge of the Busanga Plain gave us sightings of 9 wild dog, a species it has taken me 8 safaris to see and a memory I shall never forget. One of our party had brought a camera trap and caught good shots of leopard, hyena and civet.

The love of the Kafue that Ty and Phil have shone through and provided a memorable trip. They also have a superb chef in Newton and his baker Pride and we ate and drank extremely well. Already we talk of returning.

Any downsides? There are long driving days with the associated heat and rough roads. Fly camp loos and showers are shared and there were also the inevitable Kafue tsetse! So this trip probably suits seasoned safari goers (but two of our party had never safariied before and loved it ( and why not how many people saw wild dogs and aardvark on their first trip?!). Probably my best safari ever.

[owenshaffer]

I would like to stay with Jeffrey and Mckeith in combination with one of the camps on Busanga Plains,and possibly one other. I know that like Safaridude and other Safaritalkers that I would love Kafue. Furthermore, I'll be well prepared thanks to Safaridude for the tsetse flies.

[Sangeeta]

@@jivor - I thought I was imagining this new report when I first saw the heading! A very warm welcome to ST. How much of a coincidence are all these recent new Kafue & Tyrone threads just as I am in the process of planning my own safari with them? Wahoo!

 

Yay for the aardvark and the dogs and the sable and roan and even for the tsetses who are keeping humans at bay.

 

Please tell us a little more about your sightings and the fly camping and walking. I think Tyrone was planning to discourage me from the fly camping portion but you've let the cat out of the bag now

 

How many days were you there and in which month? Did you go to the Plains camp as well? Fully agree with you that both Tyrone and Phil bring a deep love of and commitment towards Kafue that are hard to beat and we're lucky to catch them before they become rich & famous

[pault]

All of your photos are rather like the last - a fisherman showing off his rather impressive catch. You have three there that i've yet to see in the wild. It's great to hear newcomers enjoyed this kind of safari - but as you said, why not?

[wilddog]

@@jivor Great to see a report from Northern Kafue and one from J and M safaris first season. Like you I have travelled to Kafue several times through Tony and know Tyrone, so I found your comments particularly interesting

 

You obviously had some good sightings with the dogs and aardvark, as well as a great catch!

 

I wondered if you had any photographs of your accommodation including the fly camping(which personally I really enjoy)?

[Treepol]

Welcome to Safaritalk.

 

Thanks for writing about this little visited park and especially the new M&K camp and fly camps. It must have been quite strange driving over the disused airstrip and seeing road signs from a different era.

 

Sounds like a wonderful safari and the photos of the aardvark and roan and calf are memorable. Do you have photos of the painted snipe?