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South Luangwa and Lower Zambezi in June


Swazicar

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safarigirl.se

@Swazicar I love that you use many words ? so nice to read about your walking experience at chikoko trails! I’m really looking forward to that part of our trip to SLNP next year. But I don’t think your sightings is standard, you are so lucky! ? lion 3 times, wow! Did you also get “close” to elephants? That’s on my wish list ? 

 

how long did you usually stay out for the night drives? Great photo of the honey badger! 

 

thanks for sharing this great report! Looking forward to the next chapter! 

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22 hours ago, bluebird said:

@Swazicar Just curious how your experience was flying on Emirates, layover in Dubai, etc. Any tips as far as that is concerned?
 

 

@bluebird I was, of course, in the economy section, but it was fine. It wasn't significantly different than the South African Airways flights I took a few years ago between JFK and Johannesburg.  I suspect business or some higher class is significantly more swanky, however.  For me, what makes all the difference is whether someone is in the middle seat for the long flights; we were 50-50 there.

 

We didn't have any problem with our baggage limit but, officially we were allowed only 7 kg of carry-on per person (and no personal item).  In Seattle, they did weigh our carry-ons when we checked in (our total was, I think, 17 kg, so were were over), but they didn't seem to care.  Perhaps if we were grossly over they may have said something, but I didn't get the impression they were out to "get" anyone.  (Megan did assert, however, that I invited her only to help carry my camera gear.)  And, flying to/from North America, one can of course check way more than one needs.  Elsewhere, our carry-ons on Emirates were not weighed.

 

Based on my experience, the only thing I'd do differently is:

 

Given the layover in Dubai, I would not have stayed a night in Lusaka and would have caught the latest flight from Lusaka to Mfuwe the same day we arrived in Lusaka.  However, I made the lodging arrangements long before I bought my plane ticket, so changing things would have required trying to add a night in South Luangwa and canceling the Lusaka night.  Combining that with the possibility of the Dubai-Lusaka flight being delayed--and potentially missing the Lusaka-Mfuwe flight and thus having to stay a night in Lusaka anyway--and it just wasn't worth making the adjustments, in my opinion.

 

 

21 hours ago, marg said:

@bluebird...do you know that with the long layover Emirates will put you up for the night?

 

@marg One point on this:  Whether Emirates will put you up depends, in part, on how much you paid for your ticket (technically, I assume it depends on the class of ticket--"Y," "T," "L," whatever).  In my case, my ticket was so cheap ($1,118 return from Seattle) that the fare didn't qualify for the "Dubai Connect" program.  If you book your ticket online using the Emirates web site, you can see whether the fare qualifies before you purchase.  Even though I knew my fare didn't qualify, I did follow up with a phone call to ask whether it qualified; they confirmed that it did not.

 

So, we paid $183 for a room in the airport hotel, which worked out well for us, as we really had no interest in seeing Dubai, frankly; maybe it would be different on a different trip, however.  With the $250 discount on my ticket, the cost ended up being about the same

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5 hours ago, safarigirl.se said:

@Swazicar  Did you also get “close” to elephants? That’s on my wish list ? 

 

how long did you usually stay out for the night drives?

 

Thank you, @safarigirl.se.  On foot, the guides clearly were most concerned about two animals:  buffalo and elephants.

 

Probably the closest we intentionally came to elephants was perhaps 50-60 meters.  (That's very much a guess but, in any case, the situation was deemed to be non-threatening.)  If we suddenly realized that elephants were nearby, the guides typically asked us to retreat quietly.  This happened a couple of times when we were downwind of elephants, so they didn't smell us coming, and because we didn't see or hear them initially, we were perhaps a little closer than we should have been.  But there are a lot of variables (apparently), especially including whether youngsters are present.

 

Frankly, it was hippos on land that, at least initially, spooked me a bit.  When we walked at Mwamba, the guide noted that the hippos seemed a bit jumpy; perhaps because as we were the first walking guests of the season, the hippos hadn't seen humans on foot yet this year.

 

Sunset was at perhaps 17:45 hours, give or take, when we were there. "Night" drives typically started at 16:00 and, depending on how much was "going on," ended between 19:30 and 20:00 hours.  We were told that lights can be used only until 20:00 hours.  Of course, the time budgeted for "drives" also is used for the apparently obligatory "sundowner."

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So, on to Lower Zambezi National Park, in which we would stay seven nights at a single camp:  Old Mondoro.  To lay the groundwork for the opinions that I assume I'll share at the end of the section, here are a few points that may be useful.

 

First, Lower Zambezi was absolutely an add-on to the trip.  When I began planning and was trying to keep costs below a certain level (so as to try to convince my wife to come along), I planned only for South Luangwa.  Subsequently, when my wife dropped out and Megan dropped in, I suggested the option of adding another stop, in part because 1) it would take us to a different setting 2) the direct Mfuwe-Jeki flight made it an "easy" transfer and 3) in the shoulder season, one can stay seven nights at Old Mondoro for the cost of four (and who does't like a deal?).

 

When we arrived at our final stop before Old Mondoro (Tafika) we received a revised itinerary from our travel agent, indicating that we were no longer on a direct Mfuwe-Jeki flight and, instead, would have to fly Mfuwe-Lusaka and then Lusaka-Jeki.  I assume (but don't know) that the direct flight for that date was canceled, perhaps because Megan and I turned out to be the only passengers booked on that route at that time.  So, that was an annoyance, but not the end of the world, certainly.

 

I didn't take any images of Old Mondoro (you can see them on the web site!), but I did like the physical infrastructure of the camp.  The tents (which is the term the staff used) were farther from the central dining area than at any of the places we stayed in South Luangwa, although a couple of them seemed a bit close to each other.  We stayed in #1, which has a river view.

 

To get the ball rolling, here are a few shots from our time in Lower Zambezi:

 

Two cubs waiting for Mom one evening:

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More in the next installment.

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There's a lot to like about Old Mondoro.  Based on our week there, here are the things that made the biggest impressions on me:

 

First, while we were there, all three of the camp's regular guides were in-camp.  If all eight guests in camp wanted to do a drive, it worked out that each of two couples got vehicles to themselves, while the remaining two couples shared a vehicle; that's not bad.  Additionally, the managers and head guide did a good job of mixing things up so that everyone got the "private" feel of being the only guests in a vehicle at some point during their stay.

 

Also, because Old Mondoro has two boats (and people to steer them), if just one couple wanted to do a boat ride, then all four couples ended up going on a private drive or boat ride.  Likewise, there were times that two groups did boat rides and, both times we were involved, each group got a private boat.  Taken as a whole, that's excellent service, in my opinion.

 

While we were there, canoe trips on the side channels off the river were not being offered because the guides felt it was unsafe; the water level was high, so it was difficult to predict where in the channels hippos would be.  Even though I wanted to do a canoe trip, I appreciated that staff took the time to visit the channels and assess conditions in advance.  When canoe trips are being offered, I would think the relatively private activity options I noted above are even more so.

 

I mentioned in the South Luangwa section that food really isn't that important to me; that said, I thought the food at Old Mondoro was really, really good.  (If I were the type of person who used superlatives, I would say the food was consistently "excellent";  I'm not that person, however. :)  But it was.  :) )

 

As elsewhere, I also enjoyed the staff.  Both Megan and I remarked that we especially enjoyed the river guide who captained our boat each of the six or seven times we went out on the river.  I already noted above that I also liked the physical infrastructure and lay-out of the camp.  Combining the physical camp itself, the low number of guests (8 maximum), and the almost-ridulously-generous guide-to-guest ratio, it was a  pleasant, super relaxing place to spend a week.

 

Some more images:

 

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One thing to mention about Old Mondoro and its sister camp, Chiawa, of course, is that they use red-filtered lights for spotting on night drives, believing that high-intensity white lights are, at best, disruptive to animals.  The camps also do not allow flash photography at night.  They do use a diffuse white light for sightings that are close enough for it to be of assistance (as with the two leopard cubs in post #29 above).

 

Personally, as I noted in the South Luangwa section above, I'm somewhat turned off by night drives due to all the shining of lights and the "artificiality" that can create.  (I do recognize that bumping around in a Land Cruiser is, in itself,  pretty artificial as well.)  That said, how lights are used does seem to vary widely by camp, and even by spotter.  Some practices (elsewhere, not at Old Mondoro), such as shining a beam directly in a leopard's face, made me wonder how the use of bright lights could be anything other than disruptive; other spotters, however (possibly directed by their guides), seemed to place the light beam near the leopard, rather than directly on her/his face.

 

I did take a few images under the red-filtered lights at Old Mondoro, but I haven't messed around with them very much, so I'm not yet sure whether I can color correct them.  That said, I wouldn't have any problem doing away with white lights on night drives, if science shows us that that would be a good thing.  But, I'm a relic in that way, believing in science and all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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So now we get to the point at which, despite all the nice things I've said about Old Mondoro, I say I probably will not go back to Lower Zambezi.

 

For me, there are two immediately obvious differences between Lower Zambezi NP and South Luangwa NP.  The first involves the size of the river (Zambezi vs. Luangwa) and the second is the environment adjacent to each river.  

 

Obviously, the Zambezi is a significantly wider river and provides a greater opportunity for water-based touristic activities.  I (and I think, we) enjoyed the option of hopping in a boat and spending three or four hours cruising up (or down) the river in search of hippos that would show us their teeth, crocodiles that would launch themselves into the river, and hadeda ibis that would return to their roosts each evening.  We opted for boat rides for 6 or 7 of the 14 activity periods (two per day) that we participated in, so we clearly liked the river.

 

The relatively large number of river trips we took, however, was due, in part, because I found the former floodplain environment adjacent to the Zambezi to be relatively uninteresting.  While there's a certain beauty to the winterthorn forest that now occupies the former floodplain, the area otherwise struck me as ecologically immature (if I may use that term) and thus lacking in diversity and complexity.  Away from the river (above the former floodplain), and especially farther west, nearing Chiawa, the environment was much more interesting, in my opinion, and I had a much more positive reaction to it.  

 

Others looking at exactly the same scenery might come to different conclusions.  I mention my reaction to the environment adjacent to the river only because that reaction colors my overall view of the park.  So, if one has a different reaction to the environment of the former floodplain, then one might logically have a different view of the park.  I'm not an ecologist or biologist, however, so I don't know what the "correct" answer is.  (It's also possible that I just don't like dams.)

 

In defense of Lower Zambezi, I'll point out that on the last two nights that we were there (when we were on the river), others saw aardvarks on both nights.  Now, I've never seen an aardvark, so perhaps I should have gone on a drive one of those nights, after all, rather than putzing along the river.  If I look at the number of large predators we saw while at Old Mondoro, and especially if I take into account that we spent about half our activity time on the river, rather than on drives, the numbers aren't significantly different than what we saw at various camps in South Luangwa.  At Old Mondoro, we saw four lions (some of them multiple times) and four leopards (some of them multiple times).  We saw no dogs, however.

 

The (I think) final opinion I'll give about Old Mondoro is that, overall, I view it as a really great place to spend a comfortable, relaxing vacation.  That's different, however, than recommending it as a "safari" destination.  If I had it to do over, my suggestion to myself would be to book it as a "pay-three-stay-four" night package before going to South Luangwa, rather than as a "pay-four-stay-seven" night package after South Luangwa.  That said, I'm not disappointed that I did the latter.

 

Some more shots from Old Mondoro:

 

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safarigirl.se
On 7/22/2018 at 10:42 PM, Swazicar said:

 

Thank you, @safarigirl.se.  On foot, the guides clearly were most concerned about two animals:  buffalo and elephants.

 

Probably the closest we intentionally came to elephants was perhaps 50-60 meters.  (That's very much a guess but, in any case, the situation was deemed to be non-threatening.)  If we suddenly realized that elephants were nearby, the guides typically asked us to retreat quietly.  This happened a couple of times when we were downwind of elephants, so they didn't smell us coming, and because we didn't see or hear them initially, we were perhaps a little closer than we should have been.  But there are a lot of variables (apparently), especially including whether youngsters are present.

 

Frankly, it was hippos on land that, at least initially, spooked me a bit.  When we walked at Mwamba, the guide noted that the hippos seemed a bit jumpy; perhaps because as we were the first walking guests of the season, the hippos hadn't seen humans on foot yet this year.

 

Sunset was at perhaps 17:45 hours, give or take, when we were there. "Night" drives typically started at 16:00 and, depending on how much was "going on," ended between 19:30 and 20:00 hours.  We were told that lights can be used only until 20:00 hours.  Of course, the time budgeted for "drives" also is used for the apparently obligatory "sundowner."

 

@Swazicar thanks! I see and I understand that they rather play safe... but 50 meters is fine by me. If we love it Stretch and Mana Pools is up on the list ?

 

i understand your concerns about hippos! In Uganda we were surpriced at night by a lone hippo bull in the bushes, for a few seconds I totally froze.. but he slowly walked away continued munching. 

 

Really looking forward to the walks! 

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I've enjoyed your report, especially your thoughts on what you would do next time. Of course, the pictures are beautiful but I very much appreciate how informative and helpful your report is, so please don't hold back on words.

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A couple of more points about Old Mondoro, both of which contribute to my view of the camp.  First, while we were there, the start time for the morning activity was 7:00 a.m., compared to 6:00-6:30 at the camps in which we stayed in South Luangwa.  I suspect the staff would do what they could to accommodate requests for an earlier start, but the relatively late start did contribute to my characterization of the camp as a good "vacation" spot.  Likewise, compared to the walks we did in South Luangwa (including walks at camps that were not strictly walking camps), the walks at Old Mondoro were less ambitious and (for me) less interesting.  For some, however, I'm sure they would be just fine.

 

Again, Old Mondoro has lots to offer, and I'm sure many, many people view it as one of their favorite camps; it's just not quite the best match for me.

Edited by Swazicar
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For those interested in such things, during our 16-night stay in South Luangwa and 7-night stay in Lower Zambezi, we saw at least 40 different lions, 22 different leopards, and 32 different dogs. I remember thinking that I was quite happy that we didn't have to be there in the depths of the hottest, driest portion of the dry season to see as much as we did.  I wouldn't hesitate to visit again in June, and I wonder whether I'd think the added cost and higher temperatures of going in September/October would be worth the potential trade-off of seeing predators and their prey in tighter concentrations.  But I guess every trip is different and, if money were no issue, I'd go to every country in every month of every year.

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4 hours ago, Swazicar said:

For those interested in such things, during our 16-night stay in South Luangwa and 7-night stay in Lower Zambezi, we saw at least 40 different lions, 22 different leopards, and 32 different dogs. I remember thinking that I was quite happy that we didn't have to be there in the depths of the hottest, driest portion of the dry season to see as much as we did.  I wouldn't hesitate to visit again in June.

 

That's a very impressive list of things you saw in what is thought to be an off-season period. My OH and I were just saying that when we can travel together to Africa again, we'll have to return to SLNP. I appreciate your thoughts on Lower Zembezi - there seems to be rather conflicting views on the area, but it does look like a pleasant place to rest. thank you for sharing your trip. 

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@Swazicar...so true that every trip is different.  We were in SLNP in September three years ago and it was hot.  October is said to be suicide month because of the heat.  Will let you know about early September this year!  And, have very much enjoyed your trip report.

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Superb photos and great report @Swazicar.

Hope some of our photos are as good as yours- we returned from Zambia Sunday evening - trip report sometime soon. 

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On 8/2/2018 at 2:08 AM, Julian said:

Superb photos and great report @Swazicar.

Hope some of our photos are as good as yours- we returned from Zambia Sunday evening - trip report sometime soon. 

 

Thank you for the kind words.  (And please don't tell anyone I use a mirrorless, crop-sensor camera.) :D

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vikramghanekar

Beautiful photographs and very informative words. Thoroughly enjoyed the trip report.

I really wonder if late starts are the norm in Zambia as mentioned by you and @janzin. That's a shame as one loses those precious moments before actual sunrise when light is heavenly. I will come to know soon, as I embark on my safari to SNLP next week. Old Mondoro and Lower Zambezi have been on my list for a long time but LZ will have to wait after reading your review. Walking in the park across the border is much more interesting and action packed but then leopards are a rarity on Mana side. Difficult decisions for 2019!

Thank you for again for a wonderful trip report! 

Vikram

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  • 3 weeks later...

@vikramghanekar I didn't find the morning departures in Zambia (with the exception of those at Old Mondoro) to be significantly different in timing than those in Botswana, when one when takes into account the time of sunrise.  In both countries, at most camps, we were on the road by about the time of local sunrise.  In the case of Zambia in winter, that was 6:15-6;30; in the case of Botswana in late spring, that was 5:30-ish.

 

For me, what differed was the approach of individual camps; in Zambia, Mwamba clearly made an effort to get people on the road by 6:00, before sunrise.  In Botswana, I appreciated how Great Plains did things:  delivering coffee (or tea) and a few biscuits to our tent and foregoing the hubbub of everyone meeting in the dining area before departure.

 

in our case, we were in Zambia in winter.  While I don't suggest that a half-hour before sunrise is no different than a half-hour after sunrise (in terms of what one might see), I do wonder if the difference (in winter) is so significant that it makes getting up an hour earlier "worth it."  Presumably, camp operators take that equation into account, along with park rules, etc.

 

As someone mentioned in responding to another trip report that discussed departure times, there likely are other guests, who perhaps don't want to get up that early and who paid just as much to be there, who need to be considered.

 

If getting out of camp before a particular time were important to me, I'd enquire about that in advance.  My sense is that most camps would attpemt to accommodate guests and, for many camps, that accommodation would be easiest via a private vehicle.

 

You should of course, take all of this with a grain of salt, as I'm relatively inexperienced in the high-end safari racket.

 

-tom a.

 

 

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