First time Zambia in the Suicide Season

[Kitsafari]

Pel's ! and seen twice too. lovely!

 

great photos by your OH.

 

 

[marg]

@Athene...still enjoying very much.  I think that some of your baboons are Vervet Monkeys.

[AKR1]

@Athene

Excellent trip report. Agree with others that the photography and image quality/composition is exceptional. The CBE photos are some of the best I have seen but also liked the cats, elephants, giraffes and other aviary shots. Thanks for sharing. 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful sequence of the Carmines - sitting by one of their colonies is one of my favourite things to do on safari.

[Athene]

@Kitsafari

Thank you very much, I didn't know that it is so difficult to find Pel's fishing owl.

[Athene]

Thank you @marg

I am sure you are right, it is the first time I try to identify animals - which ones were the Vervet monkeys?

[Athene]

Thanks a lot @AKR1, I will tell my husband, he will be pleased.

[Athene]

@michael-ibk thank you. It is also one of the things I like most.

 

[Athene]

Thank you very much @Bush dog and also for your correction of the stork. I find it difficult to distinguish between juvenile and adult birds.

 

[Athene]

@Blue Bird and @Towlersonsafari

Thank you very much for your kind words.

[Athene]

@ForWildlife

I had a look at the facebook pages. So much water, but it was needed wasn't it. Beautiful scenery.

 

[marg]

@Athene...the Vervet Monkeys have a band of white on the forehead, just above the eyes.

[Athene]

Thanks @marg I can see the difference now

[Athene]

Today was our last full day in the Luangwa River Camp.

On the following pictures you can see the steep driveway into the park

 

 

 

So far we had not seen any lions but today we were lucky, it was going to be a lion and dog day.

 

In the beautiful morning light we found a male lion on the river bank.

He was one of two nomads who had entered the area recently Chris told us.

 

 

 

 

 

He soon left and we tried to follow him

 

 

We found him on the other side inside some bushes. He soon fell asleep and we left him and carried on.

 

 

Before visiting the South Luangwa Valley I had heard about the famous Hollywood Pride and about Ginger and Garlic. I asked Chris and he said he didn‘t know about these lions. He said they don‘t name lions and leopards. I was surprised by that as I have heard otherwise.

 

Now more bee-eaters.

 

Not sure – little bee-eaters or white fronted bee-eaters?

 

 

CBE on a tree

 

 

 

White fronted bee-eater

 

 

 

now some giraffes

 

 

male on a mission

 

 

 

 

We found the wild dogs surrounded by at least 10 cars. This was the only time we saw so many vehicles. The dogs soon had had enough and left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bus full of schoolchildren on an outing to the park.

 

 

We found the dogs again. (I am not sure whether it was the same pack or another one - next time I take notes). It was very hot by then and there were no trees around. The dogs were resting under bushes. We got quite close without disturbing them.

 

 

 

 

 

We didn‘t stay long, it was far too hot (no shade) and headed back towards the river again.

At this lovely shady spot we had our >surprise< bush breakfast.

 

 

 

 

 

On our way back to camp we found a lion pride under a tree. The male was on his own further back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last sighting on our morning drive was a fish eagle

 

 

On our afternoon game drive:

 

a study of a croc‘s mouth

 

 

 

Most of the afternoon we spent with a different pride of lions with cubs. Not quite as many vehicles as with the dogs, but we were not alone...

There were five or six cubs. Now an overload of cub pictures:

 

a little bit shy in the beginning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

being nice with each other

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

looks very confident and a bit thin – I like the way it holds his tail

 

 

chewing on a splintered branch

 

 

 

 

 

 

on the other side of the road now - having a drink at the lagoon. Light beginning to fade.

 

 

views from a tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a mound playing King of the Castle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our night drive we were lucky too...

 

 

At the end of our game drive at the banks of the Luangwa River we saw the 2 nomadic brothers right next to the steep driveway down to the river.

We heard them roaring all night.

 

 

 

On our last morning at LRC we said good-bye to Daudi and Becky and the other staff. They had been really friendly and helpful. We can recommend this camp wholeheartedly.

 

We had a short game drive towards our change-over meeting place with our guide from Tena Tena. We would meet him at 8.30 a.m.

 

 

African grey hornbills? Not sure

 

 

 

Pukus in the morning light

 

 

 

A dust-bathing Zebra

 

 

 

 

 

 

friends..

 

 

 

 

spotted hyena

 

 

fish eagle

 

 

and a little bee-eater eating a moth

 

 

 

 

 

 

gone...

 

 

 

[Ginny]

More fantastic photos!!!  The cubs' paws look sooo big!  Love the cub

peeking out of the tree and the rolling zebra. 

[BRACQUENE]

Great photos again @Atheneand this time the last ones with the bee-eater and the insect left me in admiration !

[ForWildlife]

Great sightings and great photos!

Yes on the grey hornbills and little bee-eaters (little or white-fronted).

[Towlersonsafari]

hurrah! more splendid photos-I love those sad eyed lion cubs and the croc's mouth especially @Athene

[TonyQ]

Excellent writing and great photos from a superb park.

Carmine Bee eaters are stunning. 

[Julian]

So many truly stunning photos.

[Athene]

Thank you very much for your kind and encouraging comments @Ginny @BRACQUENE @ForWildlife @Towlersonsafari @TonyQ and @Julian

My next installment will be about Tena Tena, but OH has to edit some more pictures so it could take a few days.

[Athene]

Sorry, my next installment took longer than expected. OH had been very busy but in between he managed to edit more photos.

 

The hand over to Tena Tena was in a boat at the crossing of the Luangwa River at around 9 a.m.

 

 

Our guide at Tena Tena was Braston. He was a bit shy when we first met him and didn‘t talk much, but when we got to know him better, he was a very amiable person (I hope that is the right word- for the german speaking I mean „herzlich“) and also very knowledgeable. We liked him a lot.

 

The manager at Tena Tena was Bertram together with his assistant Shona. The whole atmosphere in this bush camp was very relaxed and laid back. The food, in my opinion, was a notch down from the Luangwa River Camp but still good.

 

Tena Tena camp pictures:

 

 

 

 

You can see where the river is in the background. During the rainy season the whole camp will be dismantled as otherwise it would be flooded.

 

Before we left for our first afternoon game drive Shona told us that a bushbuck had recently given birth in front of one of the tents. The mother probably felt more secure within the camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we came back from our game drive Shona was in tears. The baby bushbuck had been attacked by baboons when his mother was feeding outside the camp. She told us she scared the baboons away but the little one was already severly wounded.

 

During the following days she kept the baby inside her tent and looked after it. In the mornings and the evenings she hid it outside in the bushes so his mother could find it and suckle it. However, the baby got weaker every day and Shona thought his brain had been damaged by the baboons. It didn't blink when she clapped her hands so she thought it may be blind.

When we left it was barely alive. It was very sad for all the guests and especially Shona who got very attached to it.

 

 

Elephants on our our first afternoon game drive:

 

 

 

 

 

The area in the Nsefu sector looked much drier to me, not as scenic as around Luangwa River Camp. There were hardly any lagoons left. They were mostly dried up and the landscape in general looked a bit less scenic at this time of the year to me.

 

Two wild dogs resting under a tree:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kudu bachelors:

 

 

Hooded vulture?

 

 

We met a car from Zikomo camp this afternoon. The guide told Braston there is a lion pride around which just made a kill. He sent us north over hard backed cotton mud which was like driving over big cobble stones. I don‘t know how my back survived this. After half an hour there was still no sign of the lions or vultures so we drove back and finally found the lions. Here we met the Zikomo car again. Braston was very upset and accused the guide of sending us in the wrong direction. There was a back and forth in their native language and finally the Zikomo car left.

 

The lion pride was small, a collared female with a daughter and two sons. Only one of the males was around the kill. They were all panting very heavily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The light was disappearing fast...

The mother with the kill, she succeeded in turning the body of the dead buffalo around

 

 

 

 

 

At the kill there was a film crew who had been staying at Nsefu Camp for a few months

 

 

It was getting dark and we left but decided to come back early in the morning to look for the lions again.

 

On our way back to camp we found a leopard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our first afternoon at Tena Tena!

 

 

 

 

 

[BRACQUENE]

@Athene

 

Wonderful continuation of your report and waiting is no problem if the result is like that ; in Dutch we would say that Braston is  “ hartelijk en beminnelijk “ !

[Athene]

That's very kind, thank you @BRACQUENE 

These are the first flemish words I know so far

May I ask you if you are still planning to visit North and South Luangwa this year?

[madaboutcheetah]

@Athene - Just catching up with your report - Stunning photos!!! Can't single out any in particular, but, the Bee eaters are Superb!!!! 

 

Look forward to more!