The Good,The Remote and the Rustic, a return to the Luangwa Valley

[Towlersonsafari]

Perhaps this photo shows the relaxed nature of at least some of the wildlife- we were having coffee at a clearly popular coffee spot and watched this giraffe 

[Towlersonsafari]

The South Luangwa is of course famous for its leopards and we had 2 fine sightings that were very different. We came across another mini scrum with a zonked out leopard. then jonathan noticed, alone amongst all the other vehicles, there was another leopard hiding a few yards behind and to the right- and positioned the vehcile to take advantage of its likely movements-again taken in low light- mother and daughter

Edited October 2, 2023 by Towlersonsafari

[Towlersonsafari]

The other sighting could not have been more different. running a bit late from a morning drive jonatahn decided to investigate a tree squirrel alarm - and in the tree , invisible from the road- a youngish leopard -i will not show the leopard actually pooing as that would be wrong-it then walked past so close Jane could have stroked it- a sighting all to ourselves

[Towlersonsafari]

And , some birds

[Towlersonsafari]

And the last lot from Flatdogs, our second favourite antelope including one from the camp- and a white tailed mongoose

[Towlersonsafari]

LUAMBE CAMP

 

As mentioned, we had a great time at Flatdogs and will certainly return. Our next camp was adverised as remote- and the only camp in Luambe national Park- between South and North Luangwa.we liked the idea of being the only vehicle, and we knew it was recovering from poaching in the past and that wildlife would be skittish. the camp, next to the Luangwa river was lovely and the sounds of hippos were a costant companion. the staff very good and the food was also a pleseant suprise- i think an earlier report on Safaritalk was critical but things had certainly improved and Jane's veggie meals were  also very good indeed.

The park has very varied scenery, from riverine forest, mahogany stands, mopane pollarded by elephants interspersed with  impressive plains. We had a really good time , and saw- but not photographed our 4th ever Pels fishing owl 9and yes we are boasting!!!) but it was very skittish and flew if we got too close in the vehicle.We did see its nest however. We also saw flying on 2 occasions 2 Bat hawks, ( we had seen one before) and Trish, the camp manager, had seen them fairly regularly.in fact she also, earlier in the season, spent 40 minutes watching the Pels eat a fish in camp! Birding seemed like it could be very good with mulitple bee eater sightings, a regular site for Racket tailed roller- except each time  we were looking. the varied habitats would make this a very good destination. they were also planning a bush camp

There are a couple of issues however, one fixable, one tricky and whilst they did not spoil things, they did take the edge off our total enjoyment

 

[Towlersonsafari]

The roads/ tracks were mostly terible, both getting to the park and in the park. we were told that the zambian wildlife authority had promised them the use of a grader for the roads for at least 10 days at the start of the season, but the tractor broke down.It was a very bumby 3.5-4 hour drive to and from flatdogs and the game viewing roads ( black cotton soil)were often corrugated and badly churned up.think of the dune roads in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier park but much worse! Hopefully this is something that can be put right next season, and they can also explore other areas of the park.

i still do not know how i feel about the second suprise.the camp is next to the reserve boundary.we were told that until about 5-6 years ago the other side of the river was a very well run and ethical (i am quoting) hunting concession where wildlife thrived.The last administration ( not the present government) refuised to renew the lease and it passed to "friends" of the government who did nothing with it.Peolpe and in aprticular fishermen moved in.Twice we were woken at about 3.00am by fishermen laughing and shouting, and they were a regular presence, providing a couple of  heart-stopping moments

[Towlersonsafari]

The man crossing the river was playing music-perhaps to warn the hippos off but we breathed a huge seigh of relief when he got safely across. people need to earn a living and we are just tourists-hopefully , like the south Luangwa, local folk can benefit from Luambe's re-birth

there were some parts of the mopane that re-introduced us to tetse flies but not to any great extent. whenw e first arrived we were offered a treat.a very nice dutch couple w ere already saying and had booked a sleep out-We could join at no extra cost.

[Towlersonsafari]

it was set in a lovely area overlooking the river, in an area where most of the lion and leopard sightings had been with a fire , guards and a toilet tent. The number of peole, hoever who i would be happy to allow see me in bed is very limited indeed, and as a gentleman of a certain age, trips to the loo at night are not rare!!!. Jane was not at all keen either and so we politely declined- we did enjoy the meal though! we were evry lucky in our fellow guests as after the Dutch couple left we were joined by a wonderful english couple who were old zambia experts. Initially our guide was to be Alec, an Englishman but born in Africa, but sadly he went down from Malaria- caught in Mfuwe and so we were guided by Malambo and Trish joined us.For someone who had only arrived a week ago from Livingstone, Malambo was very good indeed Especially with elephants.He had apparently been very involved in the Elephant/human conflict resolution team in livingstone and his was th eemergency number folk called if they ahd a problem elephant. the livingstone eleohants leaned to recognise the sound of his car!

the elphants at Luambe were, for the most aprk, very skittish and we had many mock charges.Molambo would turn off the engine and talk sternly to them, as we kept an eye on the elephants ears

[Towlersonsafari]

we were treated to a number of mock charges, the first charged twice, shock his head a lot and then hid behind a bush and shook it

[Towlersonsafari]

this mother was clearly tecahing the youngster how to scare humans

[Towlersonsafari]

And this ine got closest-shot at 100mm micro 4/3

[Towlersonsafari]

We had fine views of a Square tailed nightjar, female black bellied bustard and we saw quite a few white browed coucals

[Towlersonsafari]

and even an oribi stayed still long enough

[TonyQ]

Beautiful wildlife and landscape. I empathise with you sleep out choice!

[Towlersonsafari]

Thanks everyone and thanks @TonyQit just seemed a bit weird!. we had a fine time at Luambe- it was a good feeling being the only vehicle and the contarst in scenery-from plains, river, forest made drives interesting, as did the elephants! I hope they can sort the roads out and get good use of the grader.i think a birder would love it with the strong possibility of Pels and bat hawk not far from camp.in fact whilst the Pels was very shy, the local Harrier hawk was not as this shot taken from almost underneath it shows-

[Towlersonsafari]

And what was a eral highlight was watching several lesser bushbabies on night drives leaping from tree to tree- often it seemed up to 2-3 metres, and once watching one leaping lemur like along the ground! we had never seen that before.finally as is required here is a lilac breasted roller that refused to fly when I was poised to take those wonderful flight shots- 10 minutes we waited!

[Towlersonsafari]

NKONZI

 

our last lodge was Nkonzi- after a 3.5 hour trip back to Flatdogs where the Nkonzi vehcile picked us up. another 4 night stay and in a aprt of the reserve where there seemed to be no other camps- further north were the Shenton camps and Lion Camp and also the Norman Carr camps (if my geography is correct). We saw very fw other vehicles except for the all day drive we did to the north.We did mostly walks in the morning, led by Gavin Opie and with Frasncis as the scout. Bev was the camp manager and Jacob a welcome presence at the bar.this was a wonderful camp- rustic, bucket showers, no frills tents and a lovely setting- a throwback to camps of old, and we had a wonderful time.T any one liking a no frills but well run camp, with the ephasis on walking, you will love it. the food was splendid and they had a colony of Fruit bats in a tree next to the bar.

the elephants were between Flatdogs and Luambe on the Elephant skittish scale.there were some antelopes not found in the central area-Lichstensteins hartebeest (Nkonzi means hartebeest), and we saw Sharpes Grysbok, as well as one lonely Cooksons wildebeest .Kudu were more common and we had one sighting of about 5 eland

[Towlersonsafari]

We had one of the ebst sightings ever of a Martial Eagle- low down and you could really appreciate its size

[Towlersonsafari]

And on the day long drive we watched a harrier hawk hunting amongst some dead trees for about 10 minutes

[Towlersonsafari]

we had never been on a whole day drive before and whilst it was tiring it allowed us to recah the northern parts of the park that we rememebered from shenton safaris.we were lucky to see an elephant shrew in daylight- flushed by a slender mongoose, and during our stay we must have had about 4 honey badger sightings at night- you could almost guarentee them at one point in the road, digging in the road for what we did not find out

[Towlersonsafari]

not a brilliant picture! We were met at the pre-arranged luch spot on the luangwa river by osme of the nkonzi team with a very nice lunch indeed.so nice that several giraffes (what is the plural?) came to visit

[Towlersonsafari]

In the afternoon we came across what i think must be @Whyone? and @Biko's mother and sone leopards- the only other vechicles were from shenton's and there was talk of a daughetr still being around.The son was in a tree with an impala kill- and the mother resting in a gulley nearby

[AndrewB]

That first Leopard shot is stunning! (others not too shabby)

[Towlersonsafari]

On one of the walks, along the dry river ned, gavin came across a small piece of worked quartz- or rather the chipped off portion from a tool apparently archeologists had been looking for early hominid remains and whilst they did not find any in the locality, such quartz workings were not uncommon., showing an unbroken chain of occupation from over 500,000 years ago.in fact shortly after we got back i came across an article about the discovery of the earlist known example of wood being worked- in zambia, thought to be from Homo heidelbergensis-(Home Sapiens had not yet evolved)- a hominid that is known to have lasted a lot longer then previusly thought-these articles may be of interest

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/april/dating-the-broken-hill-skull--homo-heidelbergensis.html

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66846772

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06557-9

 

back at the camp there was an example of a worked stone ball- apparently not  that rare- thought to be made by a group similar the the San but why they were made is not known-it would have taken considerable resources