'Stuff doing stuff' - A return to the Kafue.

[offshorebirder]

Really excellent TR @Zim Girl.   Thanks for the narrative and photos.   I especially like the one where you show the Half-collared Kingfisher with its head cocked, showing its chin.

 

Looks like y'all had a great time with Mr. Phil - glad he produced such great sightings and memories for you.

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

9 hours ago, offshorebirder said:

Really excellent TR @Zim Girl.   Thanks for the narrative and photos.   I especially like the one where you show the Half-collared Kingfisher with its head cocked, showing its chin.

 

Looks like y'all had a great time with Mr. Phil - glad he produced such great sightings and memories for you.

 

 

 

Thank you.  Being able to glide in quietly on the boat sure makes getting closer to the birds a whole lot easier.

Absolutely, Phil was great company.

[Zim Girl]

So this is now our last morning.  We have time for a last game drive as we are booked in for an overnight at Pioneer camp.

We slowly drove along the edges of the lagoon to see if there was anything happening.  We actually saw a Puku in the distance with a very young fawn, probably not long born.  We didn't disturb it.

 

Then we got a call from the other vehicle to say they had spotted a leopard but it was on the move.  They were some distance away but they waited until we got close enough to pinpoint the leopard before they moved on.  It was a male but very hard to see as it was walking through the grass and scrub a long way off the road.  We carefully followed off road until we could see it had laid down under some trees.  Such a shame it wasn't a clear view as the light was amazing.

 

 

It got up and started walking again.

 

 

It settled down again, but in the long grass.

He was a big male but another one that Phil didn't recognise.  He also took plenty of pictures this time.

 

He gave no signs of moving so we left him alone and made our way back to the road.  

Mrs Tripod had been found with the collared female and one of the subadult cubs, so we went over to see them for a last goodbye.

 

Mrs Tripod was just away from the other two lying under a bush.

 

I wish I had taken a wide view of the female and cub because on one side of them was a monitor lizard sitting absolutely stock still watching carefully and on the other was a nightjar sitting in the open just a few feet away.  The female was partly hidden in the grass but the 3 year old posed nicely for us.

The monitor lizard didn't move a inch.

The nightjar sunning itself on the sand.

 

We drove back to the lagoon for one last look and to have a tea break before going back to camp.

 

We got back into camp for 10am.  We had to drive in the back way through the staff quarters as that elephant was wandering around the path again to the main area.  Diane had very kindly arranged a packed lunch for us for the drive back to Lusaka.  So it was with some sadness that we said goodbye to Musekese for the second time.

 

Roy and Diane and the team were all marvellous, with special mention to Victor, the barman.  Anyone who met him will know he is an absolute star.  We met Tyrone for a short chat and also bumped into Tony again a couple of times along the way.

Phil was great company as we knew he would be and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with him.

It was also lovely to meet 2 new safaritalkers, @Galagoand @Seniortraveller.

 

The End.

 

[wilddog]

What a wonderful trip you had; all those leopards! Thanks for sharing. So pleased for you. 

[michael-ibk]

Just fabulous Angie, you had such terrific sightings. I´m happy you had such a successful trip! Great photos and narrative all the way, very enjoyable to read - thank you!

[Zim Girl]

37 minutes ago, wilddog said:

What a wonderful trip you had; all those leopards! Thanks for sharing. So pleased for you. 

Thank you.  Yes, these last 2 trips to Zambia have given us more leopards than we have ever seen in nearly 20 years of safari.

 

16 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

Just fabulous Angie, you had such terrific sightings. I´m happy you had such a successful trip! Great photos and narrative all the way, very enjoyable to read - thank you!

Thank you very much Michael.  

[Galago]

Sooo enjoyed reading this and it was great to catch up with what happened after we left. Yes, you're right about the leopards, it was a silly number of sightings of so many different ones. I heard from Chef Kapaipi yesterday and he said they had rain a few days ago, so I imagine the baby puku and impala are all over the place now. 

 

And couldn't agree more about the team. It's difficult to single out any individual because they were all so brilliant, but Victor was amazing!

[Athene]

@Zim Girl Very enjoyable trip report and all those wonderful leopard sightings you had!

[Galago]

On 11/17/2022 at 1:38 PM, Zim Girl said:

I have just been comparing and I think you could be right @Galago.  The markings around the eyes look the same and there is a very small 'V' nick on the top of his left ear.  You can't see it on my picture without zooming right in, but it is there, and can also be seen on your picture.

Phil asked me to send him my pictures, which I did, and he sent them to MC to add to their database for ID purposes.

I've heard from Phil and it is the same leopard, now identified and named. I'll write it up as a post-script on the September Saga TR.

Edited November 24, 2022 by Galago

[TonyQ]

Thank you for a great report. You certainly had some wonderful sightings!

[Atravelynn]

  Stuff doing stuff.  I'm going to steal that.  You saw lots of stuff doing very interesting stuff.  You really caught the tawny and fish eagle altercation!  Bush pigs, way to go!  I'm glad your ele encounter in camp did not result

in doing any stuff.  A private trip with Phil for 10 nights is really great stuff!

 

Roan and sable were abundant, such lovely antelope.  Got a kick out of the inverted hippo shot, who was doing a bit of kicking as well. 

 

A little drama with the stuck boat.  Glad Phil got you out quickly. 

 

What a tremendously successful trip!

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Atravelynn

[Zim Girl]

Thank you @TonyQand @Atravelynn.  

It was a great trip.  We were very happy with how it all went.

With the stuck boat, we were only worried about Phil getting nipped by a bold croc, we had our eyes peeled for anything moving in the water!

[Atravelynn]

5 hours ago, Zim Girl said:

Thank you @TonyQand @Atravelynn.  

It was a great trip.  We were very happy with how it all went. Your glowing report will likely encourage others to visit.  You went at an active time.

With the stuck boat, we were only worried about Phil getting nipped by a bold croc, we had our eyes peeled for anything moving in the water!  I'd also be worried about a nip or much worse.  And if you had seen something in the water, then what?  Would Phil have been able to hop back on the boat?

 

[AfricIan]

Thanks for a great TR @Zim Girl, it's always good to read other peoples thoughts on the folks at Musekese though I'm a bit jealous of all that you saw compared to our visit earlier in the year - having said that I can't complain as we've had great sightings in previous visits 

[Zim Girl]

On 12/2/2022 at 5:55 PM, Atravelynn said:

With the stuck boat, we were only worried about Phil getting nipped by a bold croc, we had our eyes peeled for anything moving in the water!  I'd also be worried about a nip or much worse.  And if you had seen something in the water, then what?  Would Phil have been able to hop back on the boat?

It was very shallow, jumping back in didn't cause Phil any problems and I am sure if anything had been in the water there would have been added incentive to make that process much quicker.

 

18 hours ago, AfricIan said:

Thanks for a great TR @Zim Girl, it's always good to read other peoples thoughts on the folks at Musekese though I'm a bit jealous of all that you saw compared to our visit earlier in the year - having said that I can't complain as we've had great sightings in previous visits 

Thank you, Ian.  As always, it is 'right place, right time', we were very lucky, especially with the dogs.

[Galana]

A great report which I have just come across and read from 'cover to cover'. Something for my 'to do list' for the future I hope.

[pedro maia]

I’m glad I dropped by here and found this YR, what a great trip, I’ particularly envious of the dogs sightings.

[Kitsafari]

gorgeous male leopard on the banks. it's like watching a jaguar!

[Kitsafari]

Finally caught up with the entire TR. loads of leopards! i remember when we were there many many moons ago, we saw one leopard in Musekesee and it was incredibly shy. now the leopards are used to human traffic and more are coming, recognising the safe haven that Musekesee concession offers. smart cats. 

Thank you for sharing your trip. 

I think I may ask my OH if he'll consider perhaps a combo of a return to SLNP+musekesee in the near future. I'll tell him to read your TR for inspiration! 

[Zim Girl]

Thank you @pedro maia and @Kitsafari for reading along!