In Camp - Zambia

A gentle “good morning, good morning” wakes me; it is 5:30 and someone is filling the washbasin outside my tent. I am up, find my headlamp, find the clothes that I wore yesterday next to the futon bed and unzip the tent to splash warm water on my face. A visit to the pit toilet, and then join the others for breakfast.





The last several days have a comforting routine –
up at 5:30, breakfast of porridge and toast, leave for a walk at 6:15, stop for tea at 9:30, return to camp for a remarkable lunch at 11:30, siesta until 3:30 tea, leave for a walk at 4:00, stop for sundowner drinks at 6:30, return for a remarkable dinner at 7:30, in bed by 9:00. The meals are all made in camp from scratch over a wood fire, including baked bread, muffins and cookies in a ground oven. It is a mobile camp and will to pack up and move to the next campsite during our morning walk.

When we leave for today’s walk, we are with our guide, Jason and support team of Jimmy – the armed park ranger who is responsible for keeping us safe, and Geoff, - the camp naturalist guide who is also “tea bearer”. Our path varies from woodland to tall grass as we follow game trails near the bank of the Mupamadzi River. Jason is a native Zambian whose European parents came to the country in the 1950’s. Along the way, he is prone to say things like: “So, should we go around here and see if we can catch up to the lions?” or “The elephant hasn’t noticed us yet because we are downwind, but we don’t want to startle him, so if he gets any closer let’s hope he goes behind that bush so we can withdraw.” But mostly the walk is “Things seem pretty quiet just now.” and we observe a lot of birds, plants and small antelope. There are signs of wildlife everywhere – vultures on a kill in the middle of the river (maybe wild dogs?), roaring lions and irritated elephant trumpets in the distance, lion, leopard, hyena & elephant tracks, or monkey alarm calls from the trees (leopard nearby?), but mostly everything seems intent on avoiding us.

We stop for tea and freshly baked peanut cookies along the bank of the River and notice a small group of Cape Buffalo in the distance, on the far bank and decide to explore. The river is knee deep, cool, with a sandy bottom, so not a good habitat for crocodiles who like deep murky water, so that’s good to know. But there is a bit of a current, so I have to concentrate to keep my balance.


On the other side of the river we approach the buffalo from downwind, but they soon see us and act warily until they figure out our intent. In fact, everything in this remote part of South Luangwa National Park is a bit skittish because our camp has the only humans for maybe 50 miles and they are just not used to us. Every animal has a natural safety zone, and with the buffalo we cannot get within maybe 100 yards before they retreat. Jason’s experience has led him to believe that all the wildlife is rational and not necessarily a threat – except for the psychotic ones, which he tells us to supposedly be reassuring. In 30 years he has only heard for a handful of cases where a warning shot had to be fired to head off a bad encounter.

 

Following afternoon tea and fresh muffins, the second walk of the day is mostly a stroll with ample time to look back at the developing sunset. We end up on a bluff over the river where the camp vehicle has brought our setup for cocktails and fresh brochetta. When the sun is down, it is easy to spot Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in addition to the Moon. Mercury is up there somewhere, but may be behind a cloud.