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Chapter two: Kafue


marg

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up, up and away.....it's a beautiful morning and we go a balloon ride.  The previous afternoon had been windy, but this morning it was calm with just enough wind to take us away.  We skimmed the grass and floated up over the tree tops.  

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It is a different perspective to see birds from above.  In the water:  Yellow-billed Stork with a Little Egret.  In flight:  Little Egret.  Eye-level in a tree:  Fish Eagle.  On the ground:  Goliath Heron, Fish Eagle. and Open-billed Stork.

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Edited by marg
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Fascinating to see the plains from above with all the channels @marg, whilst there was still water about on our visit at the start of October (2015) there looks to have been much more when you were there.

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The balloon flight must be wonderful, very scenic photos, beautiful! It seems it was flying pretty low?

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@Africlan...this was our first trip in the area so I do not know if the water was normal or not for this time of the year.  And, there was no mention of it.

@michael-ibk...sometimes we were low and the highest was just skimming the tree tops. It will be more evident when I post the red lechwe photos. I had always wanted to do a balloon ride and this was the perfect place.  We loved it.

Edited by marg
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Red lechwe and birds...

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Edited by marg
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they are nearly everywhere...

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 We finished with champagne at the fig tree.  It was a great experience!

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@marg The lechwe are wonderful. The photos look like stills from a David Attenborough wildlife documentary. And I love the way the Saddle-billed stork's red bill just glows in the morning light, even though it's from a distance. Champagne under a fig tree - how perfect! :D

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@marg,  as the wife wants to have a balloon ride for her 70th in 2020, this does look to be the ideal place. For the balloon to be taken so low to the ground giving an opportunity to photograph wildlife so close up, has to be something special. 

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@Amylovescritters and @Galago..thank you!

@CDL111...what a wonderful birthday gift that would be for your wife.  You must do it!

 

Eric is involved with conservation and the helicopter anti-poaching team in the area.  Four days prior to our ride they came across an elephant that had been killed.

 

After the ride we had our first sighting of Papyrus Pride members... two females, two 1 1/2 year old males and a younger one.  And, a Wattled Lapwing.  It was a great morning!

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In the afternoon we spotted a few more lions,  piglet with mom, and, oribi.

 

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Edited by marg
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Crowned Cranes....there must have been at least one hundred of them.  At sundowner time it was smokey at the tree line and on the way back to camp we could see flames in the distance.

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The next morning starts out as a normal day with nice sightings....  hippos,  Coppery-tailed Coucal,  Red-necked Spurfowl and a young puku.  

Then.....

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On 11/18/2018 at 2:33 AM, Galago said:

@marg I've just returned from Musekese and what a great camp it is! We were at the other end from you, in Fig. And there were two other ST'ers there - @ElaineAust and @stokeygirl. So it looks as though all four rooms are official ST rooms! Looking forward to reading more of your TR. 

 

@Galago  if this was the last tent at the other end, then I was in it as well. i just can't recall the name. 

 

@marg your photos of musekese brings back fond memories. very sad to hear about the lion Three and the ongoing snare problem. 

Edited by Kitsafari
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wow the plains looks spectacular from above! 

 

So @marg what happens next????? come on, quickly, with the next instalment. 

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Just before 7:30 a.m. we spotted a game vehicle parked and went to see what was there.  BBC was to our left and four lions were in front of us.  The two males, named Scar and Nervous, arrived this year and are the new dominant males of the Papyrus Pride.  @Bush dog and I overlap with some of these sightings and his photos are much better.  It is a shame that we did not know that we were both in the area at the same time.  One of the females, a daughter of Queen,  left and walked toward the island of trees in the distance.  The two males and Queen, the ten year old female stayed.  Nervous is the dirty one and the one left out of the action this morning.

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We spent much of the morning watching them.

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It will be interesting as to when the BBC show this, just having the pleasure of watching "Dynasties" with Sir David Attenborough which took two years of filming at each of the locations. Must offer to carry their bags for them when they next go filming. 

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@CDL111..sorry for the confusion.  BBC is Busanga Bush Camp

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Then they moved directly in front of us.  It was not until looking at the photos that I noticed that she is missing her canine teeth on the left side.

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