We made it! We woke up at 5 to get to the airport to see if we could get some standby tickets. The entire time, I kept telling myself we weren’t going to get on so I wouldn’t be too disappointed. But everything worked out perfectly! Anne’s son works at the airport and we saw him before we boarded. He even helped us check our bags; without him we quite possibly would have messed it up.
The flight was a quick hour and ten minutes. Surprisingly, we got drinks, snacks, and a sweet. We landed at the very small Mfuwe airport and was greeted by Billy, one of the workers from the camp we’re staying at. He is a very jovial man and made us feel comfortable immediately. We hopped in the game vehicle (think of a pick-up truck with no roof and three huge seats in the back) and made our way to our camp. We drove on a very narrow tarmac road for about an hour, passing small thatch huts and little concrete buildings that are no bigger than the size of the playhouse my dad built for us. Several had interesting names, such as “Peace Love Drug Store” and “Mfuwe Shopping Centre” – a little misleading considering the size. Then we drove through the actual town of Mfuwe, which is really just ten concrete buildings standing side by side. Then it was onward to our camp, which is so awesome. They upgraded us for free to a nice chalet, which is a nice big room with its own bathroom (quite the novelty in Zambia), a porch facing the Luangwa river, and a high thatch roof. Pictures coming soon.
We met Conrad, a white South African man who told us what our schedule will be like. He also informed us that last night several lions wandered onto the campsite, killed an impala, and ate it, all within hearing distance of the restaurant. The rest of the day, we met some other workers, ate lunch (a meat pie and a salad), and then laid by the pool. The pool overlooks the Luangwa River, and we enjoyed watching the crocodiles and hippos. Then it was coffee/tea time (served with a bread-like cake) at 3:30 before our evening game drives. Game drives happen twice a day from 6-10 AM and 4-8 PM. Our game drive was amazing!! It was hot and sunny when we started. The sun sets just after six, so we had drinks and snacks while watching the sunset before resuming our drive. At that point, we drive with a spotter, a man who holds a spotlight and skillfully looks for the animals. It’s quite the task – these men are very well-trained and can spot animals in a split second. The guides are also extremely educated and have to go through vigorous testing in order to be a guide. I’ll give you a rundown of what we saw:
1) The most exciting thing was the leopard. Leopards are incredibly elusive and seeing them is a rare sight. The Australian tourists who are also staying here informed us that last night they saw a leopard kill and eat part of an impala before hyenas chased it off. Today, we saw the impala hanging off a branch of a tree. Apparently, the leopard somehow got the impala back from the hyenas and dragged it up the tree for safekeeping. We went back later and saw the leopard eating the impala with three hyenas sitting below the tree, waiting for a piece to fall for them. The leopard was so full of meat it looked like it had a watermelon in its stomach. It was so beautiful! Su, our driver, went off-roading with the vehicle so we could see it close up. This isn’t supposed to happen, but we’re thankful he broke the rules for us. We were merely feet away from the leopard and could hear it breaking the bones as it ate.
2) Hyenas, as mentioned above.
3) Elephants. Lots and lots of elephants! Two came extremely close to the vehicle. Later at night, one was upset with us for waking it up from its sleep and trumpeted at us.
4) Giraffes – one within minutes of entering the park.
5) Hippos – including a little baby! Probably only a week old – so adorable!
6) Tons of zebras – one was heavily pregnant.
7) Impala – probably thousands of them. They’re quite boring even to me now.
8) Waterbuck – another type of antelope. Not quite as common as impala.
9) Puku. See number 8.
10) Bushbuck – another type of anteleope, but very rare. Looked the same to me, to be honest…
11) Elephant shrew – a little mouse with a long nose, thus the name.
12) Large spotted genet – not much bigger than a house cat. Very pretty, striped, long and slender.
13) Scrub hare (rabbit)
14) Crocodiles – one very small
15) Porcupine – we chased it down the road for seriously at least ten minutes. It refused to get off the path and was galloping at a frantic pace for quite some time.
16) Cirit cat (much bigger than a genet, but not as big as a lion)
17) White tailed mongoose (kind of like little weasels – we saw probably twenty running around our chalet earlier in the day…which reminds me, we also saw a monitor lizard right outside our door too)
18) Saddlebilled stork – also called a German bird. It has shocking red, yellow, and black markings on its bill.
19) Squacko heron (not sure about that spelling – black and white)
20) Sacred ibis (a bird…again, not the biggest bird watcher, so I can’t quite remember which one this was)
21) Kingfisher (see 20)
22) Malibu stork (see 20)
23) Rachel wouldn’t think this counts, but I do: baboons (and other monkeys too). Right away when we got there, a monkey came into the kitchen area and started eating the cat food (put out for the little house cat, not the lions…haha). Conrad saw it and yelled at it to leave, and it shoved handfuls of cat food in its mouth as quickly as possible before he got to it. It looked so much like a human – hilarious.
Overall, a fantastic and successful day! The only big thing we didn’t see today was a lion, and we have several more game drives and are basically guaranteed to see it! We wake up at 5 tomorrow for breakfast and another game drive.
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