South Luangwa NP, Zambia - Day 1

Luangwa leopard

We woke to the sound of something big crossing the Luangwa River – it could only be elephants.  And sure enough, a small herd of elephants had just crossed the river and were on the plain in front of the camp.  We were up and had the roof tent packed pretty quickly as we wanted to get to the gate as soon as possible to do the paperwork for park entry.  

Luckily the park authorities were already there by the time we got there before 6am, so we sorted the details out and paid them for 3 days.  They promised to have the permit ready for when we left the park that day, so we headed into the park without a permit (it’s their normal way of doing things) and into South Luangwa for the first time this trip.

Grey-crowned crane on the banks of the Luangwa river

Our first photo for the morning was a beautiful grey-crowned crane in stunning morning light perched on the banks on the Luangwa River, but otherwise the morning was pretty quiet in terms of sightings and we didn’t see anything of significance despite having meandered along the river all the way to Chichele.  It was a bit of a let-down after our exciting end to the day with wild dogs in the camp, but it was soon about to change.

Egyptian geese

We came across a safari vehicle driven by a guy that we had seen at the gate – conspicuous as he was one of the few white guys driving a safari vehicle.  So we stopped to chat and see if they’d seen anything for the morning – turns out that not only had they seen a leopard, but they had left the leopard resting and he was only about 5 minutes drive away.  He sounded German (found out later he’s Dutch) and then proceeded to give us very German-like directions – very precise and extremely detailed – easy to follow for us and not something we get often from the guides 😉

Zebras grazing on the plain

Thanking him profusely, we quickly headed off in the direction he’d come from and soon enough – reward! A leopard right on the side of the road resting in the shade of some bushes. He perked up when we arrived, but soon settled down just relaxing on a makeshift pillow made from a rock with  an old tortoise shell lying close by as if he had been playing with it.

Sleepy cat

It was a great sighting, but unfortunately not a great photo opportunity to shoot because the leopard had placed himself nicely in an open area, but right next to the road there were bushes and so the twigs and branches prevented us from getting a clear shot. 

After about 10 minutes of sitting with him and him quite comfortable with the car – he was actually having a cat nap, we decided to try and roll the car forward so as not to disturb him and see if we could get a gap in the branches.  And the move paid off – one little gap in the bushes allowed us to get a clear shot of his head and body. 

Watching us

He was a pretty chilled out cat, and looked set to spend the rest of the morning there.  He had chosen the perfect spot with plenty of shade no matter the position of the sun, and we were convinced that unless something disturbed him, he’d probably be there for the rest of the day.  Our dilemma was what to do – just sit with him or leave him be?  

Close up

We were on a narrow byroad that an approaching vehicle wouldn’t be able to pass us and then all the vehicle noise may disturb him, but to leave a leopard is almost unthinkable!  But at the same time, even a sleeping leopard isn’t the most exciting prospect and it was only our first day – we also wanted to explore.  Ah, good choices to have!

Suddenly on high alert

In the end the leopard decided for us.  Actually, a troupe of baboons made the decision.  While watching the leopard, he suddenly when into alert mode – it’s quite amazing to watch a sleeping leopard go from relaxed into stalk mode in less than a second.

Watching the baboons

Following his gaze, we soon spotted a troupe of chacma baboons coming down the road behind us, unaware of the leopard’s presence but that soon changed as he’d quickly got up and moved towards them.  I’m not sure if he was intent on stalking them or just trying to get out of the area undetected, but the moment one of the baboons spotted him all hell broke loose!

Being that close to a whole troupe of screaming baboons is quite the experience, and to top it all he was growling at them – a full throated growl that we’d not heard before.  Then proceeded as sort of cat and mouse – or cat and baboon – he would surge forward and the baboons would scamper up the nearby trees while raising the noise level.  Then 4 or 5 of the male baboons would come down and chase him, causing him to retreat a bit and then the tables would be turned again. 

Baboons may look innocent, but they can be vicious!

This went on for a few times before the leopard decided to get out of there and was actually chased by the male baboons – at some stage 4 big males managed to corner him while he growled and bared his teeth at them.  Eventually he made a dash for it into thicker cover and despite the baboons chasing him they couldn’t find him again.  It was quite the thing to witness!  Unfortunately, it also happened behind our car and because the road was so narrow and the bush so dense that it was impossible to turn the car around quickly, so no photos were taken!

White fronted bee-eater

After a fruitless search for the leopard, we decided to move on and see what else there was around.  Before long we came across a safari vehicle and they gave us news that we were waiting for – wild dogs!  South Luangwa is known for its wild dogs but as we have learnt, it can be luck of the draw if you see them.  Because they move so quickly and never hang around in one particular area for very long unless they are denning, we knew we had to chase up this lead, because we may not see them again during our trip.

Buffalo skull

But it was quite far away with some dodgy directions – past Chichele and across the river. We had planned to head out the park and have lunch at our campsite, but this new information had us changing plans.  And that’s one of the perks of us carrying everything with us – we are pretty flexible in moving around and so decided to see if we could find the dogs and since they were about an hour and a half from the gate from what we could gauge, we’d just have lunch in the park.

Thornicroft giraffe

We eventually worked our way towards where we thought the guide’s directions were sending us and it turned out the river that we’d been worried about crossing was actually a dry river bed, not the main Luangwa river. That was a relief although there was plenty of sand so you could easily get bogged down if you weren’t careful.

There was another car that was also on the lookout for the dogs but hadn’t spotted them yet, so we worried that the dogs had slunk off into the thick bush to sleep through the heat of the day as it was already close to midday and stinking hot.

Goliath heron

But just as Dru was talking to the game guide, I looked river bank behind us that we had just cross and there spotted a speck of white – the dogs!  They had taken up residence on the opposite bank under the shade of a big tree, but since we were in the riverbed you couldn’t really see them unless you knew where to look – turns out the guide’s dodgy directions weren’t so bad after all!  This was the big dog pack of about 21 individuals that we’d seen on a previous trip and the one that we’d hoped to see again on this trip – so we were stoked, and all on the first day!

Found the wild dogs sleeping on the river bank

The game drive vehicle decided to drive in the river bed to get a closer look, but it wasn’t something we were prepared to chance – we’d definitely get stuck and the photos wouldn’t be worth the effort.  And he soon abandoned the chase as well, after getting himself stuck for a while.

Now that we knew where the dogs were and doubted that they would move through the heat of the day, we decided to find ourselves a nice lunch spot, since the only tree in the area that the dogs were was taken up by the dogs themselves 😉

A nice spot to have lunch

We’d never been to the area before, so spent some time meandering along another dry riverbed in what was quite a pretty area dotted with massive trees.  We eventually selected a really nice big tree that overlooked a bend in the river bed, but which still had water in it, making it a magnet for small birds.  While having lunch a small herd of zebras arrived as well and kept us entertained as they first headed to the water to drink and then did a bit of sparring amongst themselves.

Zebras doing a bit of sparring

Lunch done and we headed back to the dogs.  A bit of panic ensued when we couldn’t find them from our vantage point on the opposite side of the dry riverbed, but it turned out they had just gone further into the shade – now there was almost nothing of them to see.  Eventually one of them got up and we were hopeful that it would move into a better position for us, but unfortunately, he just moved further down the riverbed and eventually took up a spot under the shade of a tree, even further away from us, preventing us from getting any worthy photos.

Zebras were full of beans

An hour later there still hadn’t been any significant movement besides a few dogs walking to join the other dog under the tree.  We’d tried without success to find some shade and still have a sighting of the dogs, so we’d eventually moved to the shade of a tree where we couldn’t see the dogs with a plan to move back when it got a bit cooler. 

A baby elephant scampers across the road

It was just before 4pm and we were starting to worry that we’d need to leave before the dogs decided to move.  We weren’t sure how long it would take us to get back to the gate before the 6pm close but estimated it would be at least an hour on the main road – probably a bit more so we need to leave in about an hour to be sure we’d get them in time for closing.

Greeting ceremony of the dogs

Just then there was a flurry of activity – it seemed like some of the dogs in the pack had been elsewhere and they’d come back and the greeting ceremony was taking place.  This is quite amusing to watch – just like a dog at home greets its owner – only this is 20 odd dogs greeting each other with a greater level of enthusiasm.

Lots of excitement!

We were hoping that now that all the dogs were up that they’d start moving, but obviously they had different ideas and decided it was still too hot to be moving around so they all flopped down and went back to resting under the shade tree, except for one that decided the other side of the river bed (the one we were on) was a better option and lay in the shade of the bank instead.

Solo dog using the shade to chill out

We worked out that we probably only had another half an hour before we had to leave and there was still no sign of the dogs moving.  We were debating if we should rather be happy that we’d seen the dogs and cut our losses to have a leisurely drive back, or wait it out.

The chase is on!

Just like the leopard, the dogs made the decision for us.  Suddenly in a flash all the dogs were up and staring intently in one direction.  Turns out an unsuspecting impala had walked towards the riverbed and became the target of the dogs’ attention.  Luckily for the impala she was far enough away for a good head start when the dogs started running, but she gave the run of her life while about 5 of the pack chased her. 

Keeping a close eye

There were a few moments of pandemonium as dogs ran in different directions, followed by the few cars that were there trying to sight them.  The only thing that wasn’t there was the impala – she’s probably still running!

Alpha male after the chase

The unsuccessful and soon aborted chase did result in one thing – some of the dogs were up and had moved closer to the road in the river.  This allowed us to take a few photos of one of the main dogs – denoted by the collar they wear while the remaining hunters lay in the grass and the rest of the pack returned to their same shady tree.

Back to chilling out

The drama was really exciting but unfortunately didn’t result in any great shots except a few of the collared dog, and soon we made a decision that it was time to leave.  And it was a bit of race to get back to the gate, especially since we didn’t know which was the quickest route to take.  Eventually we made it with time to spare and were able to get our permit before the gate closed, but not the kind of wild ride that you want to be doing on a daily basis 😉

Back to camp and our first braai of the trip – as usual it was a hit.  We make it a point to braai when we’re at South Luangwa in the campsite – it’s just so special to have a fire in front of the mighty Luangwa river and soon we were in bed falling asleep to the sound of hippos laughing in the river.

Intro << Day 1 >> Day 2 Day 3  Day 4  Day 5  Day 6  Day 7