SafariChick and Sangeeta's Adventures through Kafue and Liuwa Plain National Parks

[Geoff]

@@SafariChick Nice looking bush camp facilities. Any images of the immediate surrounds around the camp.

 

As I vaguely recall when I met Phil Jeffery @@PhilJ at Busunga Bush Camp in 2008 there was a lovely young woman there who might have had something to do with the little touches at Musekese.

[graceland]

Wow, that is a bit snazzy I think.

Glass bowl and all; a mirror you can actually see a reflection - no way

 

Yes they are either metrosexuals/GQ style, or a lady friend was giving some advice. And I bet they don't carry messenger bags, so it had to be a lady friend!

 

Love your details. I was thinking of a booking with them, so looking forward! Like the idea of a boat ride to the camp. Very "African Queen".

 

I too wondered how I'd be in a tent ALL BY MYSELF

[SafariChick]

@@Geoff well @@PhilJ did mention a girlfriend, so perhaps she is the one who helped with decorating. There was also a young woman named Jessie who was volunteering for a couple of months helping with management and all sorts of things (even younger than Phil and Tyrone) who helped keep things running smoothly but I doubt she had to do with the set up as she'd not been there that long.

 

Geoff, I don't seem to have much in the way of photos of the common areas, should have taken some, but they have some nice ones on their website here:

 

http://www.jmsafaris-zambia.com/about/musekese-camp/#

[Safaridude]

@@SafariChick Nice looking bush camp facilities. Any images of the immediate surrounds around the camp.

 

As I vaguely recall when I met Phil Jeffery @@PhilJ at Busunga Bush Camp in 2008 there was a lovely young woman there who might have had something to do with the little touches at Musekese.

 

@@Geoff @@PhilJ

 

I was also at Busanga Bush in 2008 (late August to be exact) when I met Phil. Did we cross paths?

[Galago]

@safarichick This brings back some memories! Yes, the Kafue is dreadful for tsetse at this time of year. I noticed that despite your bugsuit protection you had some blue showing but it's best to avoid anything in blue or black because the tsetses really home in on it. (And if you think tsetses are colour blind, well the best repellent I ever had was two people siting behind me in the vehicle, both dressed in blue and black. It was the only time tsetses left me alone!) Not only is Ferrison a good driver, he is an exceptionally good birder and we had some excellent days in the northern Kafue. If you get to Busanga I hope you are able to see the tree climbing lions.

 

I envy your trip to Musekese. We had to make another plan last year because the rains came early and closed the camp. Look forward to reading all about it.

[Geoff]

 

@@Geoff @@PhilJ

 

I was also at Busanga Bush in 2008 (late August to be exact) when I met Phil. Did we cross paths?

 

 

@@Safaridude Missed you by about a month. I was there late September and then went to SLNP (Kaingo / Mwamba).

 

Did you witness the lead lioness from the Busanga pride get killed during a buffalo hunt?

[SafariChick]

@@Galago I do know about the black and blue, and tried hard not to wear any - I just went back and looked at the photo and I do see I had my blue headband peeking out of the hood, but usually that was hidden! The bugs couldn't get through the bug shirt though so if any was showing underneath it, they were out of luck! Shame you didn't make it to Musekese - where did you go instead? It's definitely worth a visit another time.

 

We were the only guests in camp aside from a couple from Sweden and their guide, Paul (the owner of Pioneer Camp I mentioned earlier). It felt very peaceful and private and like we were in the middle of the wilderness with no other people around. The first afternoon, after a yummy lunch, we took a boat ride on the Kafue River. We were hoping to see birds, hippos, crocs, but also the possibility of Leopard. Phil said their best leopard sightings had been from the river lately. We also got the message though that the recent rain may have dispersed some of the wildlife.

 

The Kafue River is huge, very wide. We definitely saw Hippos - quite a few.

 

 

and crocs

 

 

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and plenty of birds

 

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I like this photo I took of what I think is a Damselfly

 

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then a nice surprise, we happened upon three male elephants eating along the riverbank. We cut the motor and floated along quietly with them as they moved slowly along. It was really peaceful and lovely to accompany them as they walked along. I wasn't able to get a photo of more than one of them at at time, as they would be in and out behind the tall grasses and trees.

 

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Eventually they wandered off into the trees where we could no longer see them, so we headed on towards what they call Skimmer Island. There had been more Skimmers there but now there were perhaps only about a dozen left. Still, it was a beautiful sunny day and they were a lovely sight. I tried very hard to get photos of them in flight, but it was a challenge for me! Here are some attempts

 

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and I like this photo - can't remember what kind of bird it is though

 

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Here's one of the few hippos we saw (mostly) out of water:

 

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and finally, a lovely sunset, accompanied by my sundowner of chose, Amarula, as we made our way back to camp.

 

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Now I felt that I was really on safari!

Edited December 4, 2014 by SafariChick

[TonyQ]

@@SafariChick

It looks like a reqally enjoyable boat trip - I like the close up of the hippo, and the elephants. Beautiful sunset with the Amarula!

[graceland]

Nothing like seeing the elies grazing from the seat of a boat. Pretty birds flying about; and of course sunsets with amarula... what lovely way to end a boatride

[Kitsafari]

Must have been such an experience just watching the elephants and absorbing their calm energy.I love doing that.

 

The tents look very comfy, and certainly not very small in comparison with the Asilia tents we stayed in in Tanzania.

 

the hippo's progress is being supervised by a bird - is that a plover or now called a lapwing? (or is it the other way round? i can't remember).

[SafariChick]

@@Kitsafari I cannot say about the bird - but maybe someone else can! @@graceland and @@TonyQ yes it was a very relaxing and enjoyable boat safari.

[Africalover]

Wonderful place, I have to go there in the future, love reading your tripreport.

Thanks.

[ZaminOz]

@@SafariChick

Your unidentified bird looks like a Pied Kingfisher.

Wonderful trip report and photos by the way.

[Soukous]

yup, the mystery bird in post #32 looks like a Pied Kingfisher

[SafariChick]

Thanks everyone for all the comments and encouragement. But, there are two birds in post #32 - one with the hippo and one by itself in the photo just before it - I think the one alone is a Pied Kingfisher but what about the one with the hippo, all you bird experts?

Edited December 4, 2014 by SafariChick

[wilddog]

The one with the hippo looks like a Water Thickknee. Used to be called 'dikkop'. I love their song

[Tdgraves]

I agree with @@wilddog thickknee (what a cool name for a bird!)

[Galago]

@@SafariChick. Yep, tsetses will get you one way or another! As a couple of people said, it's a Pied kingfisher, also known as the flying crossword puzzle. You have an African jacana in the photo with the African skimmer. Difficult to see the lapwing with the hippo but it looks like African wattled lapwing.

We went to KaingU as Musekese was inaccessible/ flooded out, but I'd love to get to Musekese sometime.

 

@@Kitsafari - lapwings now, except when it comes to Blacksmith and everyone refuses to go with the name change and it's always Blacksmith plover in my experience!

[SafariChick]

MODERATORS: I don't know what i did but some of the titles I gave to my photos turned into links and I didn't intend that - maybe someone can fix it? Or just ignore it, don't click on it!

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I forgot to mention, while we were on the river we saw hundreds of swifts flying around. I think Phil or Tyrone said they were coming to get all the insects that were coming out after the rain (more about those in a bit!) It was really spectacular to see but I didn't get any good photos. I should have tried video but I didn't think of it at the time.

 

I really appreciated how smoothly the camp was managed. For instance, whatever guide was with us would ask if we would like a shower to be ready when we got back and would radio back to camp so that by the time we arrived, it would be all ready. And the food was really good. Lunches were a buffet, and dinner was three courses that were served to the guests at the table. They were great about preparing vegetarian food for Sangeeta and I.

 

Something we saw frequently around camp and elsewhere were these pretty little bugs called Red Velvet Mites

 

 

 

They come out after the rain and we had to be careful not to step on them, there were so many!

 

The next morning, Phil had suggested we do a bush walk. He wanted us to experience all the different activities they do there - so boat, bush walk and game drive. A ZAWA ranger or scout is assigned to the camp at all times for the season and lives on the premises, and must accompany when any bush walk is taking place. Each scout will be on duty for 30 days, then gets leave and a new one will come on duty. Their job is to accompany bush walks and monitor the wildlife and of course, watch out for poachers. Phil carried a rifle and the scout carried something more serious - semi-automatic machine gun?

 

To start the walk, we took a short boat ride, just to the opposite bank. One of the staff dropped us off so they could take the boat back with them and pick us up later. Here's us on the boat. Phil is standing, Sangeeta is sitting in front of him, Paul of Pioneer Camp is at the front and the other gentleman is the Swedish guest.

 

 

The walk was very quiet - we saw many birds, puku and impala, including babies. It was nice to be walking and come across the wildlife on foot, even though we didn't see that much of it. Also seen - a tree Phil said was for me - the Marula Tree - since I do love Amarula.

 

 

and this raptor:

 

 

a snake, but I've forgotten what kind - this was the best photo I could get:

 

 

Some very pretty jewel dung beetles

 

 

 

Towards the end of the walk, we saw a hippo out of water, grazing

 

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and on the boat ride back a mama and baby hippo (this baby is barely visible)

 

 

Luckily the weather was cool for much of our walk, from about 6 to 9 a.m. but then it started getting hotter, and I think Phil radioed for us to be picked up about 9:30 a.m. After lunch, we felt it too hot to hang out in the tents so we lounged and chatted and read in the common area for a while, but eventually sleepiness took over and I did go back and nap in the tent.

Edited December 5, 2014 by SafariChick

[SafariChick]

Something else I forgot to mention: the one night that we stayed at Mukambi, we were awoken at about 4 a.m. by the faint sound of what sounded like drumming and singing. It was very odd to us and we almost thought we'd dreamed it. But in the morning, while we were waiting to find out whether Cecil would be able to drive us to Musekese in his vehicle, we started chatting with the ZAWA ranger who was stationed at Mukambi, a woman. She reminded us that there was some kind of ZAWA training camp on the edge of Mukambi. Apparently, there were scout/ranger trainees currently staying there and in training. She said one of the things they do in training is to make the trainees stay up all night drumming and singing. She said it is to teach them to handle any kind of adversity as they may encounter very difficult situations while on the job. We found this quite fascinating - these people do need to be really tough and apparently their training prepares them well for it.

 

Back to Musekese now. For the afternoon we had a decision to make. Phil had initially suggested we might like a game drive as then we'd have experienced all the different activities. However, it had been decided that the following day, our last full day, we'd have a go and driving up to Busanga Plains so we'd be in a vehicle all day. He wondered if we'd prefer to again to do a boat ride instead, in light of the long day in the vehicle ahead. Sangeeta and I conferred and decided we'd still like to do a game drive. The other couple from Sweden decided to do the boat again instead. They were quite into birding, so they knew they'd be happy doing that. Sangeeta and I were hoping to see more mammals. If my memory serves me correctly, Tyrone had returned from S. Luangwa that afternoon so he could go on the boat ride with the Swedish couple. He'd brought with him his friends that were visiting from England, a young couple, and they went on the boat ride as well. Phil was assigned to taking us out on the game drive.

 

We took one of the boats (they have two) back to where we'd first arrived as that is where they keep their game drive vehicles. There is another camp at that location, whose name is escaping me at the moment. It only now is used by O.A.T. Cecil had by now managed to get the vehicle working to come back to Musekese in, but they were not sure if it would now start again. Phil and Cecil worked on it a little but it was not working again, so we took off in the other vehicle. The only unfortunate thing is that the second vehicle did not have any cover, so if it rained or was hot, we'd be out of luck.

 

We enjoyed the drive, though it was quite bumpy - the tracks were especially bad due to the rain, and sometimes Phil had to drive out around larger puddles for fear of getting stuck in them. Here's a list I made of what we saw before stopping for a sundowner

 

terrapin hanging out in mud puddle on the track (dangerous - luckily we saw him - or her)

spur-winged goose

Wattled crane

two waterbuck

vervet monkey

wattled cranes

two different monitor lizards

white-tailed mongoose

 

and here are some photos of those I managed to get photos of:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped for a sundowner near a sausage tree:

 

 

and I realized that it was the last time I'd have a chance to take a photo with Phil as he was leaving for Lusaka the next day, so even though the light wasn't good Sangeeta got this snap of us;

 

[url=https://flic.kr/p/q1aJqQ]

 

We then were getting ready to leave - I think we were in the vehicle already - and suddenly saw something marvelous a little ways away in the clearing: a bush pig! Of course I didn't get a photo - it was dusk and the sighting was only about 30 seconds before it ran off but it was really cool - never had seen one and I think Sangeeta hadn't either!

 

On the way back, we had some more good sightings, none of which I managed to capture, sadly:

 

two buffalo, a genet. and a bushbaby

 

All in all, it was an enjoyable drive.

[egilio]

For the snake...does olive grass snake or black mamba ring a bell? How long was it approximately? And how thick?

[SafariChick]

@@egilio I'm not sure but I'm suddenly thinking I remember - could it be a Boomslang?

[Soukous]

@@SafariChick, that looks a bit like a water thick knee but I wouldn't bet my house on it

[TonyQ]

@@SafariChick

Good to see this continuing

The mite and the jewel beetle are interesting and very colourful.

Is the monitor lizard looking for food?

[Safaridude]

 

 

@@Geoff @@PhilJ

 

I was also at Busanga Bush in 2008 (late August to be exact) when I met Phil. Did we cross paths?

 

 

@@Safaridude Missed you by about a month. I was there late September and then went to SLNP (Kaingo / Mwamba).

 

Did you witness the lead lioness from the Busanga pride get killed during a buffalo hunt?

 

 

I seem to recall that incident happened just before we arrived. @@Geoff