MAY 21, 2019 - CHONGWE to NSOLO BUSH CAMP

May 21, 2019

Alarm ringing at 5AM, it’s departure day! Our flight leaves at 9AM so we have to be all packed up this morning. But first our guide Hugo is taking us on a sunrise boat cruise. A short hop away from camp we pull onto a small sandy spit where we gather for coffee and tea and wait for the sun to break the horizon. It’s 6:15AM on the water and a balmy enough morning that coats are not needed - which is good because I am also air drying my hair. We stand sipping our beverages watching the daybreak soaking up our surroundings and reflect upon this beautiful place in the world. I am thinking that this is my favorite location so far for the diversity of terrain, the activities offered, the camp setting, just all of it. But we never know what the next camp will bring so we just marvel at the uniqueness of each location. We have a leisurely breakfast back at camp, then a short drive to the remote airstrip nearby. Almost on cue, our plane arrives minutes later, and we board our Cessna 206 for Lusaka. John gets right seat privileges when the pilot finds out that John is also a pilot. This old bird is vintage 1963 with 11,000 hours - a workhorse! I am glad I didn’t know these stats before taking off or I would have been even more of an anxious flyer! We fly at 6500 feet over the Zambian mountain range between camp and Lusaka, about a half hour flight. The scenery is beautiful and the 30 minutes goes by quickly, with John and the pilot chatting on their headsets the whole way. We have a brief layover in Lusaka before boarding the same Proflight 30 passenger jet to Mfuwe, northeast of Lusaka. We get off the plane to a heat blast as it is much warmer in Mfuwe than where we just came from. It is about 12:30 pm so nearing the hottest part of the day. I have long pants on and long sleeved lightweight shirt but I am soon very uncomfortably warm. Our guide for the next two days, Julius, meets us inside the terminal and informs us that it is a 2 hour drive to camp - oh! We are all a little surprised. We gather our luggage and head outside where there are 3 safari vehicles parked, 2 of which have canopies and one is open air. “Please please don’t go to the open car” I am thinking, but that was our vehicle! We loaded up, greased ourselves with sunscreen, put on hats and sunglasses and prepared for the journey. It wasn’t too brutal as long as we kept moving. We drove for the first 30 minutes on paved roads, or sporadic paved roads with dirt and gravel in between as we passed through the town of Mfuwe which was a vibrant and alive village. School children in uniform of all ages lined the roads as they mostly walked and occasionally biked to their destinations. Some of the young girls carried their books on their heads, a skill I am sure their mothers taught them, while other kids lugged the ubiquitous school backpack. Vendors of all types lined the road, selling basics like clothing, food, hardware, while sprinkled with a souvenir or craft store here and there. Beth and I are focused on visiting a local prominent textile store in Mfuwe before we leave and plan to fill our suitcases to near bursting with the colorful fabrics of Africa. After about an hour of driving we arrive at the main gate of South Luangwa National Park and after our guide clears our entry with the rangers we continue into the park. A short drive later we pulled off under a shady tree overlooking a small water hole filled shore to shore with Nile Cabbage, a massive green carpet of water plants. Baboons are playing on the opposite shore and hundreds of water are birds perched in the water. All of a sudden I notice a patch of cabbage vegetation slowly moving along - a croc in camouflage! He glides in the narrowest part of the lagoon with barely enough water to conceal himself but somehow the cabbage has adhered itself to the top of his body so he has the perfect cover. A baboon wanders down to the edge near the croc’s hidden location, wanting to cross over but sensing danger. The other baboons are screeching the alarm warning, so he ends up going a little farther away and quickly hopping over to the other side scampering up the bank to his baboon family. I just chuckled over the croc in camouflage even if unintentional he had the perfect disguise. Another 45 minute drive through the forest and open Savanna brought us to our new camp which was pictured in our brochure as being on the water, but the river isn’t running right now, so it’s a dried up river bed. Contrary to our part of the world, the rains are heavy in the hot summer (November to March) which is when the rivers fill up. In cooler winter times, everything eventually dries up. This makes for optimal animal viewing as there are higher concentrations of animals around the watering holes. But we are at the beginning of winter season so the animals are still quite spread out. This camp, Nsolo, is off the power grid so no WiFi, cell service, and everything is solar powered. Despite this, our rooms are spacious, the towels are thick, and once again we have an outdoor shower and loo. The loo is a flushing loo, don’t get me wrong, we aren’t roughing it that much! After a brief respite, we gather again at 4PM to do our afternoon activity which is a game drive. The roads here are very well maintained and smooth, unlike most of our previous locations where we are truly off roading and frequently in low range gear to get through the thick sand or get up steep rocky slopes. We don’t see much of anything new in terms of game except a relative of the impala family called a “Puku” which we hadn’t seen before, and a new member of the “bok” family the Grysbok, a very small solitary deer like creature, similar to a steenbok.. After a brief stop to have a cocktail and watch the sunset, we contine on with a night game drive with the spotlight looking for nocturnal animals. In the far distance our spotter, “Chris,” who is also a rifle toting park ranger, spies bush babies but they too far away to watch. We see a few genets and occasional impala herd huddled together for the night, but didn’t find any big cats. A big warthog came into the light scurrying along which was an unusual sighting as they are normally tucked away in the dens for the night. They dig a deep hole with a switchback then, after ushering in any young ones, the female backs down the hole facing outward so that any inquisitive predators will be met with her not so insubstantial tusks! We see an elephant shrew which is also a new one for us and part of the “small 5” of things to see in Africa. It has a long narrow snout similar to an elephant. We arrive back in camp, it’s 25 degrees cooler than when we left but still around 65 degrees so very pleasant. We are seated next to the head guide and manager at our communal dinner and our 5 fellow guests are all travel agents which makes for interesting dinner conversation. When it is time for our armed escort back to our tent, our guide tells us they can hear a leopard in the bush close by, but that they won’t bother us. Yikes. This camp is very different from all the others, much more minimalistic, so far not my favorite stop because of the terrain, but apparently this is the oldest safari camp in Zambia. We have been so spoiled on this trip.