Safari time!

As I mentioned in the last update, I went to Mushroom Lodge in South Luangwa National Park for three nights and it was wonderful. We arrived at the lodge at 16 hours, just in time for the evening game drive. Just driving into the lodge we saw elephants, impala, a monitor lizard, monkeys and baboons. We were greeted at the lodge with cold wash cloths and juice, we quickly left our things and got back in the vehicle super excited for the game drive. Luckily we were the only people staying at the lodge that week so we could do anything we wanted for the drives. We were exhausted from the crazy travel day and we still had not slept in close to 36 hours so we decided to come back a little early for dinner and bed. Still, the first thing we saw on the drive was a pack of 5 wild dogs which are very endangered and difficult to see because the move around so much. They were beautiful and we very quickly forgot all the craziness of our travel, from then on we could only think of how amazing everything was at the park. We saw elephants, hippos, giraffes, zebra, various antelope, and then after dark we saw two spotted genets (small cat-related things), some hyenas, a civet, and some hippos coming out of water to forage for the night. Dinner was delicious plus on each drive you stop somewhere for drinks and a snack and the first night’s snack was chips and salsa: not only delicious, but greatly appreciated by our hungry stomachs that had not seen food since 5 in the morning when we got to the PC house in eastern and raided their left-over Halloween treats. After dinner we went straight to bed and woke up at 5 the next morning. I immediately opened the blinds to enjoy the lovely scenery as we prepared for the morning drive which left at 6. Right outside the window was a hippo walking back towards the water for the day. I had never seen a hippo out of water before and it was pretty neat. Not a bad way to start the day. At 5:30 they have tea, biscuits, toast, cereal, and juice: just a quick snack to get you through the first two hours of the drive, before you stop for another quick snack. They definitely kept us well fed and rice krispies was one of the cereal options so that was exciting enough on its own. (For the record at markets you can generally only get corn flakes, which taste fine, but I miss the cereal variety in America. There is one store in Mkushi Boma that sometimes has special K and/or All Bran that is more expensive but a nice treat every now and then.) With the morning light we were able to see everything better so we stopped to watch some of the giraffes, elephants, and zebras. Our guide assumed that like most other tourists we just wanted to see something take a photo and move on, but we quickly explained that we both enjoy just watching them, even if they seem not to be doing much. We saw several huge crocodiles, some pretty birds, these cute squirrels, mongoose, and a bunch of buffalo. The buffalo were hilarious- at first we saw about 15 and it seemed like they were in line for a breakfast buffet. We slowly drove by them and realized the single file line went on for about 2 kms. It turns out they were headed to the pond for water and for whatever reason they had formed a single file line for their journey. They don’t have ostriches in Zambia which is odd because they can be found in most of the countries around Zambia, but we did see crowned cranes which are beautiful, storks, weaver birds, fish eagles, and many other beautiful birds that I can’t identify. Our guide took us back really early which was disappointing but by the time we realized we were back at the lodge we thought it was too late to say anything, not to mention he was not very personable and always made us feel like we were inconveniencing him (as someone who formerly worked at the Breakers, I’m not really sure why this man still has a job at such a fancy safari lodge.) After that we decided we just had to demand what we wanted because we were paying customers, even if it was the discounted rate, and he needed to do his job. Back at the lodge we rested a bit, then had a huge brunch before moving on to the pool deck for the rest of the afternoon. We swam, tanned, and watched the antelope, birds, primates, zebras, giraffes, etc. the wandered by in the empty river bed in front of the lodge. It was a perfect relaxing afternoon. 15:30 was tea time and then off on another evening drive. This time after dark, we saw 2 leopards! Our driver was the first to spot the large male leopard by the river and we got pretty close to watch him for a bit. He was beautiful with very dark rosettes and his tail actually curled which is unusual but pretty. We were about to leave when we noticed another leopard, that I assume was a female. Leopards are very secretive and they are rarely found together. In fact they only meet up for mating and then the female stays with her cubs until they are weaned and trained to hunt. Therefore, seeing the two together was fairly unique and a really neat experience. We also saw more hyenas, and another civet. Cats are by far my favorite animals and I had never seen leopards, genets or civets in the wild so it was awesome. And if this weren’t enough we saw a porcupine on our way back, it was pretty far away and we didn’t stop to observe, but it was still cool. After another delicious dinner we went to bed. I woke up in the night and was covered in sweat because the park is a much lower elevation, in the hottest part of the country and the hottest part of the year. I decided to sit outside where there was some breeze and I could read under the porch light without waking my friend up. After a little while I heard a lion roar in the distance and I got pretty excited. In the morning, we headed a different direction for the drive and we saw hundreds of elephants- they were everywhere! Apparently they often go in towards the village at night so many of them were returning to the park in the morning and others were just foraging nearby. Chelsea would have loved it. We soon came across a pride of 17 lions all together lounging by the river where there is more of a breeze. It’s not very common to find them all together when they don’t have a kill. They were all females and juvenile males, no small cubs or adult males. The guide said the males never stay with the females, but I’ve seen males in every other pride I found on previous safaris. Regardless, they were beautiful and I was so happy to watch them. After a little while the guide would start to turn the engine back on and say “ok we go now” and I would say “wait one more minute” but one minute always turned into longer. I knew he was bored and wanted to go, but I just couldn’t tear myself away from the beautiful lions. By 7:00 they started to get up and move into the shade and they walked right by our vehicle which was a completely open cruiser with just a shade covering on top. It was more difficult to see them lounging under the trees but I still requested we watch them longer. Finally the guide convinced me to move on by saying that the lions wouldn’t leave the shade until dark so we could come back on the evening safari and watch them some more. So we moved on and found more of all the animals we had been seeing and we went to see a really old baobab tree that was huge and beautiful, it even had plenty of green leaves at the time. The rest of the afternoon was pretty much a repeat of the day before, relaxing by the pool, enjoying the water and the scenery. As promised we went back to visit the lions first thing on the evening drive, but there were only 5 or 6 still hanging out in that area. Still, they had left the shade and moved back near the river so it was easier to see them. We drove around a bit, but didn’t see much that night, then after dark we went back to the lions, hoping they would make a kill. All 17 were back together but they were just lying around, with no sign of a hunt for the night. We knew they had killed a buffalo just a few days before, but we still wanted to see them make another kill. After a bit of coaxing them to get up and kill something for me I jokingly asked our guide how I could make 17 sleeping lions get up and move around. Even if they were too lazy to kill anything they should at least move around so I could have more to watch. Instead of answering me, he made a nearly perfect buffalo call. Immediately, all the lions got up and formed a single file line and began heading out on the prowl. Unfortunately, there were no buffalo in the area, but there was a nearby hippo we thought they would go after. They soon noticed the hippo, but apparently they weren’t hungry enough to kill the hippo and they were only craving buffalo after hearing the call. Sadly, they were only slowly moving out as it was time for us to return for dinner, so we didn’t see them kill anything, but it was still great just to watch them. Originally, we planned to leave early on the morning of the 4th, but after the ordeal we had getting there and the fact that even at the discounted rate this vacation was definitely a splurge (although well worth it and I would love to go back again before I finish my service) we decided to stay for the morning drive and leave immediately afterwards. In hindsight, I am super glad we stayed because it was the best morning. We woke up early, packed our things and walked outside to enjoy the last views of wildlife from our porch, then we noticed 3 elephants eating the marula fruit off the tree on the other side of our chalet. (I think I need to add a tangent about our chalet which was spectacular. It had a table and chairs outside on the porch, large windows on two sides looking out at the river bed, a sitting area inside with a couch and two comfy chairs, a big desk and chair, two nice soft beds which they turned down every evening while we were out on safari, a small fridge, two rotating fans, indoor and outdoor showers, not sure why we needed both, and a big tub. Seriously, I could have just moved in and never left this place, it was so perfect even with the ridiculous heat throughout the night. It at least made me appreciate that in Central province even in the hot season it gets cool at night.) We were so happy that the elephants came right up to our lodge, it was a perfect goodbye. Then on the drive, we saw the same pack of wild dogs again and because they are so rare, even our guide didn’t mind watching them for awhile. We went back to the lion hangout but sadly, they were all gone. We drove along the river and saw some local fishermen in their dugout canoes, the wild dogs headed that way too and we saw them again briefly on their way towards the river. We stopped by the baobab tree again for our snacks and drinks which was beautiful enough on its own, but also we found two bull elephants nearby so that made the view even better. On the last little part of the last game drive we found the lions again in a different spot. As usual they were just lounging around like the lazy cats they are. I took some more pictures and after about 10 minutes we started to leave when we heard a loud and intense roar as if a lion were defending a kill. We drove around behind where the lions were and found two young males finally enjoying their chance at the killed buffalo now that all the others were clearly satisfied and more concerned with resting in the shade. We couldn’t stay long because we were in an open safari vehicle, off road next to two lions that were already roaring and showing their canines as they ripped into the buffalo, but it was so awesome, a perfect ending to such a wonderful vacation. I know I have used the words perfect, wonderful, awesome, amazing etc. repeatedly in this update, but there’s really no other way to describe this vacation.