July was cold! With tempratures often dipping below 12 degrees Celcius there certainly was no snow in sight, but here in Zambia we are not used to wearing jackets up to lunch time! But there is nothing on earth better to warm up freezing safari-enthusiasts than an early morning drive through one of the wildest places in Africa! And there is no better front-row-seat to this spectacle than Wildlife Camp!
Likes
Someone, he must have been a professor or something LIKE that, told me the other day that subliminal messages can persuade people to take action. So, the following paragraph, LIKE it or not, may contain some subliminal messages.
We’d LIKE to remind all of you of Wildlife Camp’s facebook page: www.facebook.com/WildlifeCamp
On this page, we LIKE to post updates on things happening here in the Luangwa, LIKE amazing animals sightings for example. Just the other day I posted some photos of a leopard and her two cubs feeding in a tree – leopards really LIKE trees, but I guess the poor puku did not LIKE being in the tree with them! And so, because we all LIKED seeing these beautiful cats, we shared it with the rest of world on facebook, who could then also LIKE it! You see, it is almost LIKE going on a mini-safari from the comfort of your own office chair – and we all LIKE going on safari do we not?
So, basically what I want to say is: Go and LIKE our facebook page at www.facebook.com/WildlifeCamp – You will really LIKE it!
Bring your Kwachas!
In the recent past the Zambian Government has introduced a couple of new laws that are influencing the tourism industry.
Many of these have no effect on our guests but there is one law that I’d like to bring to your attention: Without going into too much detail, one of the new laws basically says that all business transactions have to be done in Zambian Kwacha. In the past, guests were able to pay in US Dollars for a variety of products and services. Whether it was a beautiful wall-hanging at Tribal Textiles, airport taxes or their daily park-entry fees. We have also advised guests in the past that most major currencies would be accepted here in the Luangwa Valley as it meant skipping one extra stop at the bank to exchange money. But with the new law all payments must be done in the local currency and we therefore recommend future travellers to exchange money before coming to Wildlife Camp.
For a full list of applicable park fees, or other rates please e-mail Retha on info@wildlifezambia.com
The Luangwa River
The ever-changing Luangwa River is a fascinating body of water!
It forms an integral part of the Luangwa Valley and is the lifeblood for 110 species of mammals, over 470 species of birds and an uncountable amount of plants. It also forms the southern and eastern boundaries of South Luangwa National Park.
The thing I like most about the Luangwa, and especially the view Wildlife Camp has of it, is that it has never looked the same as it is looking today, and it will never look the same ever again. If it’s not the actual river changing its course or water levels going up or down, it’s the hippos that lie in a different place or water birds that fish in a different location.
To show you what I mean, look at the photo: it was taken from the same spot – the veranda of en-suite tent number 3 – but four months apart. The top photo was taken on the 23rd of March this year, and the bottom photo on the 23rd of July.
Moment of the month.
As always, it was difficult choosing the best moment of the month.
Earlier in July I was lucky enough to visit the yellow-billed stork breeding colony in Nsefu sector of South Luangwa National Park – it was fantastic watching the youngster trying to get to grips with the phenomenon of flight… and sure enough there were some impressive raptors around to take advantage of the birds who could not master their own wings. Billy and Lameck watched as a big male leopard made a kill in bright sunshine, and Joseph had a leopard crawl underneath his Land Rover just to get to the other side of the road! Out on a walk Su and his scout David were humbled by an angry elephant and here in camp the lions lazily walked past the chalets.
But the best moment does not necessarily have to involve a lot of animal action all at once. It can also involve a cup of steaming coffee in our restaurant while watching a small herd of elephants meticulously picking up the tamarind fruits from the lawn.
This family of five discovered our tamarind trees in mid June and returned nearly every day for a week to see if some more fruits had made it from the branches onto the floor. A couple of times we had to escort guests around the back of the office to get them from their chalets to the safety of the restaurant. On another occasion we locked up Sam & Boo, Wildlife Camp’s two dogs, to make sure that they did not upset our huge friends with their excited barks.
Fortunately Dora’s camera is always handy; between Retha and myself we managed to document this moment of the month. There are some more photos on our facebook page: www.facebook.com/WildlifeCamp under the album “Cheap Labour.”
And on that note I’ll end this newsletter.
Kind Regards from the whole team here at Wildlife Camp.
Conrad
