South Luangwa NP, Zambia - Day 1

Vultures and marabou storks fight over a buffalo carcass

We knew that the park opens at 6 a.m. so we were up at 5 to get sorted in time to be at the gate by opening time. It is about a 20-minute drive from the camp to the park gate and we were there at about quarter to 6. We were surprised to find that the park officials were already there and working and that the gate was open but surprisingly no vehicles were around. We had expected that they'd be a queue of cars waiting to get in but maybe a combination of the pandemic and relaxed attitude to gate times meant that we didn't need to stand in a queue.

Phone pic of the map on the wall - our guide to the park!

We have had some complicated gate procedures in the past especially in East Africa so it was quite a pleasant surprise that this was a very straightforward process. All they did was pull out a permit for us and then issue a receipt for our payment.   All of this took about 10 minutes and when it started taking longer than they expected, they actually let us through the gates without the permits with the idea that we would collect it when we passed that way later on. We hadn’t found a map anywhere and the gate had no map for sale but took a photo of a sketch on the wall as our only guide to the park. 

Bird of prey flies over our campsite

And so we were in the park.

Unsure of which way to go, we decided to turn left and keep more or less to the main road until we hit the river and just generally explore.  That was going well until we came across a first roadblock - a big bull elephant that didn't appear to want to get off the road.  So we did the only thing you do in that situation - let him have the right of way, and we found a different less used track to circumvent him.  Turned out to be quite a good idea, as we ended up in a really nice area and open plain right on the banks of the river.

Our first roadblock in the park

Unlike other river parks that we have visited, this one is somewhat unique in that one side of the river actually has a high Bank and this is where you drive along. So the river is actually quite far below you rather than lapping at your tyres.  

The cliffs of the Luangwa river

The steep banks are what draws the Southern Carmine and White-fronted bee-eaters during this time of year, as they breed in nesting cavities along the river banks and is a very popular tourist attraction for the park from August to December.  In fact, we had already seen a few Carmines flying overhead and we were really excited as it had been a long time since we had seen these beautifully colourful birds.

Southern Carmine bee-eater, a local special.

The open area also showed us our first puku of the trip - a medium sized plain brown antelope that is found in wet grassland so South Luangwa is ideal habitat.  The last time we’d seen puku was over a decade ago in Northern Botswana, so it was nice to see them again in big numbers, and of course take a few photos of them.

Our first puku since Botswana a decade ago

Since it was our first time in the park, we meandered further along the river and it is really a beautiful landscape, with riverine woodland dotted with savannah grassland.  We didn’t really know where we were going, trying to follow the park map that we’d taken a photo of at the gate.

Spotted Hyena, busy as always

Turning down a road, we came across a hyena - our first predator of the park.  Considering we’d seen so few hyenas in Malawi, it was a nice surprise to finally catch one, especially in the daytime. 

Plenty of hippos in the Luangwa river

Unexpectedly, the road led us down to the river through a break in the cliff and we were able to get eye level with the water.  We followed a couple of game vehicles through some thick sand right to the water’s edge came upon a float (yes, that’s the word) of crocodiles in the water, while others basked on the bank, with a few hippos thrown in for good measure.  

Too many crocs to count

We’ve never seen so many crocodiles in one place so close up and in such good light, made for some good photos.  A bonus thrown in is that we saw an Orange-winged pytilia - a lifer for us and the only new bird for the trip.  A herd of buffalo also came to the river to drink but left before we could get to them and only caught the tail end of them.

A big fat croc basking on a sand bank.

Heading further west, we got our first sighting of the Crayshaw zebra, a subspecies to the plains zebra that is usually around, which can be found in East Zambia.  

Poor baby hippo has lost his ear

We kept traveling west until we got to Chichele hill, which was the western most section of the Mfuwe area.  We didn’t see too much there except a lodge, but stopped for a few animals, when suddenly we heard the baboons start to alarm call.  We retraced our steps to find a big male baboon in a tree shouting like mad while looking downwards into the bush.  It took us a while to work out what the cause of the ruckus was, but eventually we caught a glimpse through the bushes - leopard!

First sighting of the Crayshaw zebra

Unfortunately he didn’t stick around for long and slunk into the bush, all the while the baboons were still alarming.  We drove around the grove that he’d disappeared into but he never made another appearance, and eventually even the baboons lost interest.  We decided that was probably our cue to give up as well - it was getting hot and we figured he wouldn’t be moving any time soon.

Orange-winged pytilia - a lifer for us

Since we’d done the drive along the river in the morning, we cut back through the main road just to become more familiar with the park, but it was definitely not as picturesque as the river drive.  Eventually we cut back towards the river when we finally figured out where we were and then carried on towards the gate.  It was getting onto midday and since we had such a nice campsite, we’d thought it would be nice to rather have lunch there under the trees than in the heat of the car.  

A view from our campsite of elephants drinking

And so a mini tradition started - get back to the wildlife camp, head to the bar and have a couple of lunch beers before heading to our campsite for lunch.  The lodge also has 2 hides, one near the bar and one near the campsite which we wanted to check out. 

Ground level hides at the camp offer great opportunities. 

Unfortunately the bar hide was being occupied by baboons when we got there, so we went to check out the back one near the campsite.  We got there just in time for a few elephants to arrive, which gave us some close up photos of drinking elephants.

The hide behind campsite offers ground level views.

The elephant action continued as we enjoyed a herd coming to drink at the river in front of our camp while we were having lunch.  We relaxed around the campsite in the heat of the day (and it was hot!!) before heading back to the park for the evening drive. 

Sometimes the elephants at the hide were too close!

As we’d done the western side of the park in the morning, we wanted to explore the smaller eastern side, so after entering the gate we passed by the famous Mfuwe lodge (that has elephants walking through their reception during Marula season) and turned right on to the Norman Carr drive to explore that area.

Yellow-billed stork in flight

We meandered through a forested area past the Mushroom lodge, before finding a clearing that opened onto the river on one side and a big waterhole at Luangwa Wafwa.  The waterhole was particularly interesting as we found scores of pelicans in the water, as well as half a dozen grey-crowned cranes, an elegant and beautifully coloured bird.  

Grey crowned cranes. 

And amongst all the birds, camouflaged by the mud was a wallowing hyena, who was resting near the carcass of a buffalo that had died from being stuck in the mud.  We only managed to catch sight of him thanks to the white-backed vultures flying down to the carcass, he was just so well hidden!  We spent quite a bit of time with the vultures, the pelicans and the hyena before continuing on to explore the area.

Great white pelican landing on water

The main attraction is the Luangwa Wafwa, a horseshoe dry riverbed adjacent to the river and although it looked promising it didn’t deliver anything exciting except for a small herd of elephants.  

Caked in mud, staying close to a kill.

We drove all the way north towards Lion camp, but besides a lovely waterhole that was devoid of animals there didn’t seem to be anything that appealed to us, so we headed back south and eventually decided to cross the main road back to where we had driven in the morning for the last bit of our drive before we had to leave the park.

Plenty of pelicans at Wafwa.

We came across a big lagoon near the river that had a herd of elephants, including one of the smallest elephants that we’d seen - he looked like he had been born quite recently. 

Fishing pelicans

We passed by our camping neighbours and they told us that they hadn’t seen much in the afternoon except plenty of bee-eaters.  We’d only seen a few bee-eaters so we drove to the river edge in the hopes of catching some more of these beautiful birds.

Yellow billed storks.

Stopping at the cliff of the river, it was shortly after that we heard the alarm call of a monkey.  Hearing alarm calls always gets us excited and we figured that it was coming from the direction we’d just been, so we quickly headed back that way and soon came onto the same lagoon we’d been to but the other end of it.  Now we could see the monkeys and they were still alarm calling, but they were joined by some guineafowl, also alarming.  

Ellies were plenty and common but not in large herds. 

We know that guinea fowls tend to mob a cat if that’s the predator and once we found the birds, the cat was revealed - leopard!  In the dusk light, she was hard to see as she was lying flat drinking from the lagoon. 

White-backed vulture coming in to land

It was amusing to watch her completely ignoring the guinea fowls while they shouted their heads off, but eventually she had drunk her fill and sauntered off while the birds followed her as she disappeared into the bush.  A great sighting to end our first day in South Luangwa!

Leopard, nailed on the first day by some excellent tracking. 

Now, did I mention that it is hot in Zambia in November?  It’s really, really hot at the end of October as it's just before the rainy season starts - hot and humid.  Which makes it extremely difficult to move without sweating, even in the night. 

A quick look in poor light before she moved off

We have adapted our roof tent by putting in a mosquito net so that all the sides can be opened completely, but even so it’s hard to sleep in the tent.  Combine that with the noises around the campsite thanks to hippos and elephants and even the predators, sleep is quite difficult, but worth the loss for such an awesome view ;)

 

Hyena keeps a beady eye on a vulture as he passes by

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