Judithlorraines Trip to Zambia-May 2006
Jun 21st, 2006, 08:48 AM
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Judithlorraines Trip to Zambia-May 2006
(thought this deserved it's own thread)
hi all fodorites....my report is a bit bare bones next to stefanie´s, but hope it is of use you some of you. we had a great trip as a whole and the south luangwa park is an absolute dream. the scenery is stunning and the birdlife and vegetation in may fabulous. wildlife viewing very good too, but at that time of the year a good and ENTHUSIASTIC guide is essential. we didn´t get in as much walking as we´d hoped, but again later in the season all should be different. in direct comparison to our trip with kwando in november i´d rate it a bit tame. but then as as i say we are very keen. certainly the camps didn´t have the true safari atmophere that we experience there, but that isn´the topic under discussion. read on, ...take your time cos it´s a long one....if i manage to get it posted that is....
trip report part 1 - south luangwa, zambia 12may-1june 2006
the basics:
british airways flight (online booking)düsseldorf-heathrow-lusaka and return. quick check-in. excellent service and catering on board. good inflight entertainment - thanx
i booked flatdogs and wildlife camp directly. both very efficient with excellent communication. both VERY helpful. i´ll sing their praises in more detail later........
flatdogs organised our tourist visa waiver which worked out perfectly. this couldn´t be said of other more upmarket organisations.......we witnessed lots of bone fide tourists paying for visa before continuing to their prepaid safaris. we also met plenty of clients along the way (particularly those travelling with bushcamp co) who´d had same problem. to be fair visa waiver is never guaranteed.
nkwali, nsefu, tena tena (robin pope safaris) and kapamba (bush camp co) were booked thru expert africa (ex sunvil UK). we had a few hiccups at the outset thru poor communication, but they more than redeemed themselves. they passed along excellent rates.....even carrying the costs themselves where a mistake had to be rectified. can recommend this well known UK agency (owner manager is the author of bradt guides zambia, botswana, namibia). special thanx to anna!!!
http://www.expertafrica.com/
www.sunvil.co.uk/africa
part 2 - trip report south luangwa, zambia 12may-1june 2006
flatdogs 13 - 16 may
i´ll surprise (or maybe not!!) you all and say the outset that in hindsight we wish that we had stayed here far longer. the experience taken as a whole was the best of the complete trip. we took their new treehouse with complete package of meals and activities. we peeked at the other accommodation while we there too. chalets looked fine and we thought that the new safari tents directly on the river looked particularly attractive.
very warm welcome here from jess + adrian. we were made to feel a part of things at all times, rather than being tolerated as paying clients. nice to be at a bar with a bit of reality. expect the staff from other camps simply feel friendlier when they´re not forced into your presence - and who can blame them?
camp and facilites are immaculate. housekeeping excellent.
food yummy, of good standard and well presented. thank goodness you can still get a huge english breakfast here (this might just be the BEST breakfast in the south luangwa). much preferable after a game drive to the later lunches served at most of the other camps. we much prefered chowing down immediately on return and then having the whole afternoon free for and in privacy .... we were served two romantic dinners on our private and lovely deck.
ALL staff very friendly and efficient at all times....remember exactly how you take your tea or eggs etc. very nice to see local FEMALE members of staff sadly missed at other camps with the exception of wildlife.
setting is gorgeous......local wildlife must think so too!! we had some superb sightings in and around camp. ele´s crossing river at dawn etc, but more of this under "treehouse"
game viewing activities superb and flexible. our guide joseph was exceptional. very knowledeable - had just taken and attained grade 1 giude level. good and careful driver. experienced in positioning vehicle for those special photographic moments. cheerful, attentive and very conscious of our particular interests. we ´re very keen and i think he enjoyed showing us those little things that make a safari come alive. he went to great effort to make each drive a true "event"....there wasn´t a boring moment with him and we would have been happy to have spent weeks rather than days in his company. only equalled by nyambe at wildlife (more later).........we saw predators on virtually every drive, a couple of kills at night, incredible birding and flowers. absolute highlights include mating hippos and hyena cubs in the morning, lionesses stalking and killing an impala at night, giraffes necking and fascinating giraffe courtship behaviour (flehmen!), nest raiding gymnogene , monitor lizard stalking and lunging at woodland kingfisher out on a branch - oh don´t í wish i had all of these on camera, a giraffe herd approaching us (!) at a tea break to a distance of ca 10 meters, a lovely male leopard AND a long look at a serval in the afternoon light.....i could go on and on. the tea and sundowner spots were invariably scenic and quiet. thanks too to our spotter mr benson. we feel that game viewing activities take priority here rather than something to do between meals.
our accommodation at the treehouse was just delightful. take a look at http://www.flatdogscamp.com/press.htm for more details. we were simply over the moon (AND it was full during our stay) with this romantic and very private spot. the sightings across "our" dambo in the afternoon included a breeding herd of ele´s just in front of us and one young bull at a distance of ca 2 meters, vervet monkeys, baboons, hippo´s, puku, impala, zebra, giraffes (feeding in foliage above our bed!), frogs, geckos, butterflies,.....a multitude of birds - virtually all those that we saw within the park AND bishop birds in breeding plumage which we didn´t see! this was every afternoon ALL afternoon and hard to tear yourself away from. night noises lying in bed under just the mozzie net (hyenas, leopard,ele´s hippos, skops owls, fruit bats.........WONDERFUL!!
really could have cried when we had to leave here......can´t wait to get back. many thanx to all at flatdogs!!!
kapamba (bushcamp co) 16 - 20 may http://www.bushcampcompany.com/camp-kapamba.htm
we had a truly lovely and relaxing stay here at this beautiful and luxurious camp way to the south of the mfuwe area. very special thanks to temporary manager sean (from luangwa river lodge) for being such a charming and entertaining host. he was very generous with his time and advice. simply a very nice guy to be around. will look forward to meeting him again at his own lodge of which we´ve heard good things.
catering and hospitality at kapamba simply outstanding - best of the whole trip. all staff very well trained and efficient AND truly friendly. each meal was imaginative, delicious and always presented beautifully. fantastic table decorations too. even the snack at sundown were more than an event!! we had a very special champagne sundowner in the river near here....... in honour of two lovely honeymoon guests (christina + john from madrid), thanx for letting us join in - it remained a true highlight of the trip! in fact the very special atmosphere of the camp itself and the truly amazing hospitality team gave us some of our favourite memories. thankyou sean, mr david, mr stanley, mr benson and all the team!!
beautiful chalet. huge and very well appointed. very stylish bathroom with enormous bath (pool?) and camp layout allows plenty of privacy for wallowing. bit of a pity that the polished concrete bedstands didn´t allow twins in our chalet to be moved together. my better-half was a long way away!!! must remember to book a double in future! linens etc lovely - pity not from zambia, but they are from neighbouring malawi where main business is based. excellent housekeeping.
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the area around kapamba is really beautiful. riverfront position lovely. game viewing here was however very challenging. grass was still very (shoulder) high and foliage very dense after late and heavy rains. game also very shy after long summer closure. it must have been very hard work indeed for our guide gilbert particularly at night. but as i´ve said we´re very keen. we enjoy the small things too and didn´t expect to have things as easy as around mfuwe area. the vegetation + birding was simply stunning so no complaints about that. we enjoyed having no other vehicles (other than the dreaded grader!!!!)or walking parties around. we had come to the area primarily for walking and we did have some very pleasant, gentle paced walks. we did feel some of the activities were rather short and sometimes not quite as enthusiastic as we would have hoped. but high grass did mean that we were limited to where we could walk in relative safety and we are maybe too (?) keen. safety standards here were very good. we did do some walking in shoulder high grass, but our very tall scout and tea bearer could see over it even if we couldn´t! the walking and enthusiasm of guide was certainly better than later in the trip at nsefu tho it didn´t reach the heights of the walking we´d experienced on a previous trips to botswana (in particular "footsteps across the delta). i would expect however that later in the season walks could be spectacular. on a very positive note it was fascinating to listen to guide in the evenings talk about his own childhood in and near the park. yet another example of the wonderful atmosphere we shared at this camp. we were made to feel as if we "belonged".
we did have a few game viewing highlights too including one wonderful morning walking (very cautiously)in long grass close to a herd of buffalo, walking into the sunset near the confluence of kapamba and luangwa rivers, leopard stalking a scrub-hare in camp about 50m from deck where were having our after dinner drink- certainly surprised sean who´d been escorting our hoeymooners back to an early night in their chalet.........birding was stunning all and every day!
vehicles were a bit uncomfortable here, but i believe that they were due a refit and bushcamp co is afterall mainly a walking experience. one comment however regarding the transfers between mfuwe and kapamba.....only longer route via hills was open and we did think it a pity that drivers felt they needed to try to break the land-speed record along this lovely track. we had to slow them way down in both directions...... there´s a safety consideration here too of course. i did checked that there was no urgent need for the haste!!
AND a quick mention of tsetse flies....no big problem walking, but we did pick up a LOT of bites in the vehicles. there are a lot of traps, but there are still plenty of the beasties around. good insect repellent, as louise warned us, is essential (i´d recommend "bushman" if you can get your hands on this excellent australian product) i´d picked up about 50 bites before i noticed them (reaction can be delayed up to 24 hours) - VERY itchy indeed.....and that for over a week!!!
we´d enjoy returning to this area later in the season in combination with walking from other bushcamp co camps....if they´ll have us of course!!
trip report part 4
wildlife camp 22-24 may http://www.wildlifecamp-zambia.com/g...nformation.htm
patsy and herman are running a wonderful, friendly and relaxed camp here and we experienced a very warm welcome from the whole team. special thanks to new managers miriam and oscar for their unstinting hospitality..... way beyond the call of duty! all staff very friendly at all times. we felt very much at home. we had our very best and most exciting here game viewing experience here of the trip ...more later. recommend taking the excellent value complete package here. would have loved to stay longer which is hardly surprising with the standard of guiding we experienced here in addition to the great atmosphere. can´t wait to return to enjoy the walking camps etc.
gorgeous setting along the river (virtually next door to nkwali)
chalets attractive and simple, but more than adequate and very good value!! set in pleasant garden with river views. good standards of housekeeping. new ensuite tents in the seperate camping area a few hundred meters along the river looked lovely....maybe next time?
delicious and quite extensive menu in the restaurant and what a relief to be able to choose what + when we ate again! in particular great breakfasts! thanx.....
excellent pool with glorious sunset bar (nicest setting of the trip!!!)......quiet on our visit and no doubt loads of fun when the campers and overlanders roll in
very good briefing re safety issues and with the luxury of being able to stroll around this huge camp during daylight hours....heaven!
activites are a real priority here and were just superb. thank goodness meals etc planned around them rather than the reverse. nyambe our guide was equal to joseph at flatdogs (all south luangwa guides are trained to the same standards. one wonders whether the guides at more upmarket camps are not resting rather too much on their laurels???) we had some wonderful game viewing and particular care was taken to accommodate our special interests. real attention to detail and very interesting cultural background information in particular on the use of herbs and plants. vehicles were new and comfortable, standard of driving and safety excellent. great care taken to position vehicle for best photo light. the vehicles can accommodate quite large parties, but we had a private vehicle + guide (lucky us!!) for most of our visit.
don´t even know where to start with the highlights.......maybe best to just stick one....
.....on what turned out to be the best night drive of our lives we had been having our sundowner watching four lionesses in the failing light....they were at quite a distance and there were several other vehicles nearer to them. as darkness fell we saw them melt away into the long grass . ......the other vehicles drove on in convoy and started combing the trees for leopards......we could see the spot lights in a row along the track. guide nyambe grinned and asked if we wanted to watch the lions hunting. what else....sure! that smart guy took a long loop out and around the back of where the lions had headed. no one followed. to cut a long story short.....we arrived just in time to hear the frenzied warning calls of a herd of puku.....in our headlights we could see the four lionesses stalking, 2 left, 2 right...scissor action....headlights out, infrared on .......bated breath.....an explosion power, a blur of honeyed lightening as the snarling lionesses take down a puku a few meters in front of us. the puku screams its last and it´s a fast clean kill. we see light in the puku´s eyes fade as they began to feed - voraciously as always...... the show isn´t over..... out of the shadows we see a hyena begin to circle... yelping excitedly...she´s joined by a second and a third. they gain confidence as they´re joined by 4 more of their kind....they ´re ambitious enough now to try to steal the kill.....can´t begin the describe the noise of th screams, snarls, roars and howls as the eight hyenas and four lionesses war over the remains of the kill...shivers down the spine,every hair stands on end....both sides are wounded, the lionesses win the day....but still it isn´t over. from the lagoon we see a huge crocodile approach - surely not?? yupp.....we´d now got three predators on one kill! talk about an attenborough moment!! we´d been watching this for about twenty minutes by now when finally a second vehicle showed up.....we laughed to see that it was our friend joseph from flatdogs - obviously about great minds think alike......i suspect that if i live to be a hundred i´ll never experience anything quite so amazing ever again. incredibly on the way back to camp we spotted two young male lions stalking impala on the side of the track. we sat for a few minutes but we were running behind time and had to admit that it was more than time to leave to park and the animals for their few hours of peace. we did have lots more great sightings - necking giraffes, young ele bulls testing their strength and our nerves, a huge python crossing the track, some excellent sightings of shy bushbuck...so close that we were able to get a few photo´s....and as always those wonderful birds.
trip report part 5....RPS, Nkwali, tena tena, nsefu
and so to robin pope safaris 20 - 22 may (and 24 - 31 may) nkwali, tena tena and nsefu....now before i launch into this i do want to point out that most of the people we met were thoroughly enjoying their trip with RPS. they are a no doubt a very professional and slick operation. safety standards are very high. their game viewing vehicles are the best equipped (rests and bean bags for photographers etc) and most comfortable we have ever been in. all the accommodation is very nice indeed. if they didn´t have the reputation as being one of, if not indeed THE best, operator in africa we would possibly have been less disappointed. as it stands we weren´t too thrilled. we have had some fantastic guides in the past and are generally, because of a deep interest in all things "wild", perhaps more discerning than many guests. that being said we don´t demand constant predator sightings and are perfectly happy spending hours viewing impala or ele behaviour (love it!!), birding, looking at plants or insects. we are fascinated by termites for instance....and an enthusiastic guide will find us very easy to please. we were particularly disappointed at RPS with the guiding. with the exception of obi at nkwali (usually looks after guests staying at robin´s house) who was wonderful and a couple of very pleasant drives with rocky from tena tena we had some mediocre and very lacklustre guiding......we had a lot of different guides here - also unfortunate. activities in general seemed to be planned around transfers (not necessarily your own), meals and other "pressing" logistics considerations rather than the opposite way round. this can be understandable should not be the norm. to be fair we were there early season and this was most noticably a transitionary period. tena tena and nsefu were just opening. first fly camping trips of the season starting and preparations for early season mobiles underway too. rates are lower at this time too - so maybe we should have expected this....who knows.
oddly and very annoyingly smoking is tolerated in game viewing vehicles. for two days (!!)we had a gentleman in our vehicle who smoked a pipe constantly. we had objected strongly...we go to africa to enjoy the scents of the bush not to inhale somebody elses poison! the same gentleman was asked to sit at the very rear of the vehicle but this didn´t improve matters hugely since he then couldn´t hear the guide and bellowed questions (very nice chap but LOUD believe me!!) at the worst possible moments. imagine having two honey badgers right next to your vehicle (!!!) just a split second.....a roar from the rear...and they´re gone. yupp - i know i can´t blame RPS for that, but the man was really a plague...
anybody who receives the RPS monday newsletter would expect that the atmosphere to be warm, almost chummy......not really i´m afraid. i often got the feeling that we were tolerated rather than truly welcomed. all very professional and courteous of course. there were a few issues which i´ve also addressed here that we´d spoken our minds about - admittedly i can be blunt - and i do realise this probably didn´t help, but all the same.......
they have an odd camp host system here (maybe it´s the same at other upmarket camps in the valley?) of employing attractive, young and very charming ladies known as "caterers". this year´s influx arrived on the same plane as we did from heathrow and some had had no previous personal experience of africa at all. they do work and try very hard but on a day to day basis i would personally prefer to address any comments regarding our stay to a weather beaten old africa hand.....to, at the very least, someone who knows the difference between a leopard and cheetah.....but then this isn´t their fault is it?
would have loved to have met resident dog researcher kelly mentioned so often in the monday dispatches, or at least heard how the studies progress. we do have more than a passing interest (to say the least!) but no doubt she´s glad of her privacy. and there wasn´t anybody else around with time to tell us more. sorry to anybody who might have hoped we had more to report.
nkwali (two stays here 20-22 may and 24-26 may)
http://www.robinpopesafaris.net/experience/nkwali.php
setting here is stunning. there are some truly gorgeous old ebony trees and the chalets are strung out along the river bank. they´re completely open-fronted airy structures and should be great for enjoying the view . they´re comfortable and very well fitted with much thought having gone into providing little extras like bathrobes and sarongs (which is a good thing since altho privacy shouldn´t be a problem if guests kept to paths BEHIND the rooms as was no doubt originally planned, we unfortunately had a constant stream of people walking back and to across the front of both of our our chalets on both of our stays here during siestas. there are curtains but who wants to shut out the view? we did point this out to staff. but gave up after we spotted a VERY senior member of the team escorting clients this way. disappointing, unnecessary and most annoying) bathrooms are lovely and fortunately very private. unless that is you object to a bird, gecko or an odd frog or two observing your ablutions! we thought they were great - especially the little "loo hut"......
lovely deck, open lounge and bar with enchanting river views
there´s a large and very nice pool. no view unfortunately (it had originally been the pope´s private facility and is consequently well hidden) but good changing facilities etc. you need to find a member of staff to escort you the 3 minute stroll here.......let them know how long you want to stay and and you´ll be picked up on the dot and trotted back safely to your hut. i really meant it when i said they take safety seriously here!
professional and informative welcome
"camp" and facilties immaculate
catering fair (did hear one amusing comment from a guest who found them very reminiscent of school)
hospitality team efficient and polite and rarely seen
safari factory nkwali....only six chalets you may think - is the hub of the RPS empire. you feel just how much is going on behind the scenes. the prevailing atmosphere is "busy busy" and doesn´t make for an intimate experience. robin´s house, luangwa house, visiting promotors and journalists, travel agents.....you never really know who or indeed how many "guests" might show up in the camp. an example.........we were rushed back to camp one evening shortening our evening drive to find the riverside deck beautifully set out for dinner.... oh how lovely!!! wrong......this wasn´t for the guests but for visiting journalists and promotors. we were allowed to have drinks with these illustruous visitors and then politely herded to the rear of the camp where we were served our dinner. tactless and a bit tacky i would say! this was also the only time during our 9 day stay with RPS when we caught a glimpse of either of the pope family.
activities and guiding see general comments re RPS above..........from nkwali park can be accessed from camp by boat, pontoon or drive via main gate which should be an advantage. theoretically you can choose between walks, drives and full day trips into the park which sounds marvellous. this often works well but is of course dependent on the number of guides and vehicles to numbers of guests (see note above on visitors) we sadly didn´t get the opportunity to do anything but game drives.....but then we had been encouraged to believe that we´d have lots of chances during our 5 days in the nsefu area.....so we didn´t worry unduly
our drives from nkwali using the area accessed from pontoon or by boat were often rather short and generally quite disappointing. there was really very little game around find. other guests on the same days taken to the busier (and at this time of the year more game rich) central mfuwe area via main gate were more fortunate with their sightings. yes - we did request a change in area, no this didn´t happen until i had a burst of temper back at camp. sorry kim! things did improve a little then, tho there were still strange incidents including a guide "missing" a 200 strong buffalo herd. i´d assumed that he was just trying find a better spot stop. we had afterall been looking for (? give me the wheel!!) these animals for over an hour....we continued and were then told it was too late to go back before lunch. you guessed....at camp we waited over an hour for another vehicle bringing visitors in just for lunch...
obi, a great guide, saved RPS honour here by taking us on a few longer and very interesting drives indeed. these were unfortunately marred by puffing billy and his pipe who i mentioned previously. one truly interesting sighting does spring to mind......we saw (with obi) a baboon chase down, kill and feed on a vervet monkey! shame the honey badgers were frightened off.....
trip report part 6...the final one folks!!
26 -31 may nsefu area....a general observations.......lovely area, but game rather sparser than we might have expected even taking the time of year into consideration. night drives in particular were rather disappointing and i imagine very hard and frustrating work for the guides (......unless trying for world record in elephant shrew spotting which was fun!) our drives at tena tena were always fun even when not hugely "productive". not so at nsefu. with the exception of one night sighting of a leopard at nsefu and a few hyenas at tena tena we saw no predators. neither did we see many lion prints. we did hear lions roaring across the river. we also regularly heard gunfire from hunting camps in the area....not pleasant! see comment on hyena behaviour below....one guide (who shall remain unnamed) told us that we couldn´t expect to see many predators in the area and that he hadn´t seen and wasn´t personally aware of one single older pride male lion in the whole of the park between kapamba and nsefu! the young pride males that we had seen so often in the central area were 4-5 years old and had yet to grow full manes.....he also felt that animal numbers were down in the nsefu area and getting worse.one wonders how badly the hunting concessions/poaching are affecting populations??? we saw several animals with horrible snare wounds in the park.....buffalo, elephant, antelope........
tena tena 26 -28 may http://www.robinpopesafaris.net/experience/tena.php
special thanks here to caterer jo for offering genuine hospitality, to rocky our friendly and enthusiastic guide and thanks too to chris for ensuring that our further drives were smoke free!
tena tena is a truly lovely camp. our favourite by far of the three RPS camps we visited. setting, atmosphere and tents all wonderful. had some privacy here and a wonderful view onto a dambo. bathroom equally gorgeous with the same view. has a real safari camp feel.....the only one we visited in the south luangwa by the way where we did feel this.......
very good catering here, best of the three RPS camps and excellent, very hospitable staff
housekeeping and grounds immaculate
enjoyable guiding and we had some good sightings......particularly wonderful a "matinee performance" of two puku in an amazing display of male dominance behaviour. the rutting went on and on......they were really serious AND we were able to watch the whole thing from the comfort of our tent during siesta!! visit a hyena den at sunset.....hyena cubs shyly peeking over to us.....we heard gunshot in the distance and an adult hyena immediately left in that directio, obviously conditioned to where scraps can be found - how sad! the scenery around here was particularly lovely. would have enjoyed a walk or full day out, but advised to wait until nsefu. we did also have to consider transfers for other guests and the price for smoke-free game viewing was that our vehicle was involved in these......
nsefu 28 - 31 may http://www.robinpopesafaris.net/experience/nsefu.php
wonderful spot along the river...sweeping views. this is a lovely camp......
chalets are very smart and have been modernised very nicely indeed. very well fitted and comfortable. bathroom excellent. unfortunately access path runs across the front of the chalets so they´re either not very private or you lose the fabulous view when you draw the curtains at siesta time.........nice little veranda at the front too
bar and lounge area very inviting and comfortable
very efficient staff and courteous hospitality staff our special thanks here to them.
housekeeping and grounds immaculate
catering variable.....a couple of excellent meals
guiding and activites....all a bit of an uphill struggle here i´m afraid. we had to really had to get pushy here to finally get a walk ( it wasn´t really even a nature ramble in the end....), we never did get our full day out.....on four out of six activities we were taken to the same stork colony......still fascinating, but our time was limited. we drove straight past some wonderful things in a rush to get who know where! we had specifically asked to watch ele´s which crossed the river each morning at approx 10:30.....only a kilometer or so from the camp. this did not happen. on our last full day i could have cried with frustration sitting kicking our heels in camp when they were soooo close! the vehicle (with no guide to be seen of course ) was just standing there unused - sad. on another occasion we heard puku alarm calls very close to camp seconds after we´d arrived back. no....it was too far to go back and see. in general activites were too short and noticably lacking in enthusiasm, flexibilty etc....we were NOT being taken that extra mile here! we had requested several times to drive out to the hot spring and open plain for which nsefu is famed. herman had enthused about recent visit of his while we were at wildlife camp....at nsefu we were told - it was too far, ....or there was nothing to see there.....or you should have said earlier....or we have to get back...... on our final morning i blew a fuse and lo and behold all was suddenly possible. we did see eland here - our first, we saw giraffe preparing to mate (we didn´t have time to stay for more...) , buffalo and some lovely herds. how very sad that we couldn´t have spent more time earlier here....again other guests with other guides did.....
so to close.... the valley is stunningly beautiful, particularly so in the early dry. so lush, so green a true joy to behold. the game viewing can be and was at times wonderful, but you do need to be with an operator AND a guide willing to go that extra mile and share your enthusiasm.
we´d return to both flatdogs and wildlife tomorrow (also in the green) and combine with some self driving in other areas of zambia (in the dry).
bushcamp co we´d love to visit again but later in the season to combine with their other walking camps.
we won´t be returning to RPS unless to join a true walking safari. tho i expect our experience was unusual and unfortunate. i could imagine that their mobiles are excellent. would hope so anyway!!! they would appear to keep their best guides for these and the fly camping........
hi all fodorites....my report is a bit bare bones next to stefanie´s, but hope it is of use you some of you. we had a great trip as a whole and the south luangwa park is an absolute dream. the scenery is stunning and the birdlife and vegetation in may fabulous. wildlife viewing very good too, but at that time of the year a good and ENTHUSIASTIC guide is essential. we didn´t get in as much walking as we´d hoped, but again later in the season all should be different. in direct comparison to our trip with kwando in november i´d rate it a bit tame. but then as as i say we are very keen. certainly the camps didn´t have the true safari atmophere that we experience there, but that isn´the topic under discussion. read on, ...take your time cos it´s a long one....if i manage to get it posted that is....
trip report part 1 - south luangwa, zambia 12may-1june 2006
the basics:
british airways flight (online booking)düsseldorf-heathrow-lusaka and return. quick check-in. excellent service and catering on board. good inflight entertainment - thanx
i booked flatdogs and wildlife camp directly. both very efficient with excellent communication. both VERY helpful. i´ll sing their praises in more detail later........
flatdogs organised our tourist visa waiver which worked out perfectly. this couldn´t be said of other more upmarket organisations.......we witnessed lots of bone fide tourists paying for visa before continuing to their prepaid safaris. we also met plenty of clients along the way (particularly those travelling with bushcamp co) who´d had same problem. to be fair visa waiver is never guaranteed.
nkwali, nsefu, tena tena (robin pope safaris) and kapamba (bush camp co) were booked thru expert africa (ex sunvil UK). we had a few hiccups at the outset thru poor communication, but they more than redeemed themselves. they passed along excellent rates.....even carrying the costs themselves where a mistake had to be rectified. can recommend this well known UK agency (owner manager is the author of bradt guides zambia, botswana, namibia). special thanx to anna!!!
http://www.expertafrica.com/
www.sunvil.co.uk/africa
part 2 - trip report south luangwa, zambia 12may-1june 2006
flatdogs 13 - 16 may
i´ll surprise (or maybe not!!) you all and say the outset that in hindsight we wish that we had stayed here far longer. the experience taken as a whole was the best of the complete trip. we took their new treehouse with complete package of meals and activities. we peeked at the other accommodation while we there too. chalets looked fine and we thought that the new safari tents directly on the river looked particularly attractive.
very warm welcome here from jess + adrian. we were made to feel a part of things at all times, rather than being tolerated as paying clients. nice to be at a bar with a bit of reality. expect the staff from other camps simply feel friendlier when they´re not forced into your presence - and who can blame them?
camp and facilites are immaculate. housekeeping excellent.
food yummy, of good standard and well presented. thank goodness you can still get a huge english breakfast here (this might just be the BEST breakfast in the south luangwa). much preferable after a game drive to the later lunches served at most of the other camps. we much prefered chowing down immediately on return and then having the whole afternoon free for and in privacy .... we were served two romantic dinners on our private and lovely deck.
ALL staff very friendly and efficient at all times....remember exactly how you take your tea or eggs etc. very nice to see local FEMALE members of staff sadly missed at other camps with the exception of wildlife.
setting is gorgeous......local wildlife must think so too!! we had some superb sightings in and around camp. ele´s crossing river at dawn etc, but more of this under "treehouse"
game viewing activities superb and flexible. our guide joseph was exceptional. very knowledeable - had just taken and attained grade 1 giude level. good and careful driver. experienced in positioning vehicle for those special photographic moments. cheerful, attentive and very conscious of our particular interests. we ´re very keen and i think he enjoyed showing us those little things that make a safari come alive. he went to great effort to make each drive a true "event"....there wasn´t a boring moment with him and we would have been happy to have spent weeks rather than days in his company. only equalled by nyambe at wildlife (more later).........we saw predators on virtually every drive, a couple of kills at night, incredible birding and flowers. absolute highlights include mating hippos and hyena cubs in the morning, lionesses stalking and killing an impala at night, giraffes necking and fascinating giraffe courtship behaviour (flehmen!), nest raiding gymnogene , monitor lizard stalking and lunging at woodland kingfisher out on a branch - oh don´t í wish i had all of these on camera, a giraffe herd approaching us (!) at a tea break to a distance of ca 10 meters, a lovely male leopard AND a long look at a serval in the afternoon light.....i could go on and on. the tea and sundowner spots were invariably scenic and quiet. thanks too to our spotter mr benson. we feel that game viewing activities take priority here rather than something to do between meals.
our accommodation at the treehouse was just delightful. take a look at http://www.flatdogscamp.com/press.htm for more details. we were simply over the moon (AND it was full during our stay) with this romantic and very private spot. the sightings across "our" dambo in the afternoon included a breeding herd of ele´s just in front of us and one young bull at a distance of ca 2 meters, vervet monkeys, baboons, hippo´s, puku, impala, zebra, giraffes (feeding in foliage above our bed!), frogs, geckos, butterflies,.....a multitude of birds - virtually all those that we saw within the park AND bishop birds in breeding plumage which we didn´t see! this was every afternoon ALL afternoon and hard to tear yourself away from. night noises lying in bed under just the mozzie net (hyenas, leopard,ele´s hippos, skops owls, fruit bats.........WONDERFUL!!
really could have cried when we had to leave here......can´t wait to get back. many thanx to all at flatdogs!!!
kapamba (bushcamp co) 16 - 20 may http://www.bushcampcompany.com/camp-kapamba.htm
we had a truly lovely and relaxing stay here at this beautiful and luxurious camp way to the south of the mfuwe area. very special thanks to temporary manager sean (from luangwa river lodge) for being such a charming and entertaining host. he was very generous with his time and advice. simply a very nice guy to be around. will look forward to meeting him again at his own lodge of which we´ve heard good things.
catering and hospitality at kapamba simply outstanding - best of the whole trip. all staff very well trained and efficient AND truly friendly. each meal was imaginative, delicious and always presented beautifully. fantastic table decorations too. even the snack at sundown were more than an event!! we had a very special champagne sundowner in the river near here....... in honour of two lovely honeymoon guests (christina + john from madrid), thanx for letting us join in - it remained a true highlight of the trip! in fact the very special atmosphere of the camp itself and the truly amazing hospitality team gave us some of our favourite memories. thankyou sean, mr david, mr stanley, mr benson and all the team!!
beautiful chalet. huge and very well appointed. very stylish bathroom with enormous bath (pool?) and camp layout allows plenty of privacy for wallowing. bit of a pity that the polished concrete bedstands didn´t allow twins in our chalet to be moved together. my better-half was a long way away!!! must remember to book a double in future! linens etc lovely - pity not from zambia, but they are from neighbouring malawi where main business is based. excellent housekeeping.
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the area around kapamba is really beautiful. riverfront position lovely. game viewing here was however very challenging. grass was still very (shoulder) high and foliage very dense after late and heavy rains. game also very shy after long summer closure. it must have been very hard work indeed for our guide gilbert particularly at night. but as i´ve said we´re very keen. we enjoy the small things too and didn´t expect to have things as easy as around mfuwe area. the vegetation + birding was simply stunning so no complaints about that. we enjoyed having no other vehicles (other than the dreaded grader!!!!)or walking parties around. we had come to the area primarily for walking and we did have some very pleasant, gentle paced walks. we did feel some of the activities were rather short and sometimes not quite as enthusiastic as we would have hoped. but high grass did mean that we were limited to where we could walk in relative safety and we are maybe too (?) keen. safety standards here were very good. we did do some walking in shoulder high grass, but our very tall scout and tea bearer could see over it even if we couldn´t! the walking and enthusiasm of guide was certainly better than later in the trip at nsefu tho it didn´t reach the heights of the walking we´d experienced on a previous trips to botswana (in particular "footsteps across the delta). i would expect however that later in the season walks could be spectacular. on a very positive note it was fascinating to listen to guide in the evenings talk about his own childhood in and near the park. yet another example of the wonderful atmosphere we shared at this camp. we were made to feel as if we "belonged".
we did have a few game viewing highlights too including one wonderful morning walking (very cautiously)in long grass close to a herd of buffalo, walking into the sunset near the confluence of kapamba and luangwa rivers, leopard stalking a scrub-hare in camp about 50m from deck where were having our after dinner drink- certainly surprised sean who´d been escorting our hoeymooners back to an early night in their chalet.........birding was stunning all and every day!
vehicles were a bit uncomfortable here, but i believe that they were due a refit and bushcamp co is afterall mainly a walking experience. one comment however regarding the transfers between mfuwe and kapamba.....only longer route via hills was open and we did think it a pity that drivers felt they needed to try to break the land-speed record along this lovely track. we had to slow them way down in both directions...... there´s a safety consideration here too of course. i did checked that there was no urgent need for the haste!!
AND a quick mention of tsetse flies....no big problem walking, but we did pick up a LOT of bites in the vehicles. there are a lot of traps, but there are still plenty of the beasties around. good insect repellent, as louise warned us, is essential (i´d recommend "bushman" if you can get your hands on this excellent australian product) i´d picked up about 50 bites before i noticed them (reaction can be delayed up to 24 hours) - VERY itchy indeed.....and that for over a week!!!
we´d enjoy returning to this area later in the season in combination with walking from other bushcamp co camps....if they´ll have us of course!!
trip report part 4
wildlife camp 22-24 may http://www.wildlifecamp-zambia.com/g...nformation.htm
patsy and herman are running a wonderful, friendly and relaxed camp here and we experienced a very warm welcome from the whole team. special thanks to new managers miriam and oscar for their unstinting hospitality..... way beyond the call of duty! all staff very friendly at all times. we felt very much at home. we had our very best and most exciting here game viewing experience here of the trip ...more later. recommend taking the excellent value complete package here. would have loved to stay longer which is hardly surprising with the standard of guiding we experienced here in addition to the great atmosphere. can´t wait to return to enjoy the walking camps etc.
gorgeous setting along the river (virtually next door to nkwali)
chalets attractive and simple, but more than adequate and very good value!! set in pleasant garden with river views. good standards of housekeeping. new ensuite tents in the seperate camping area a few hundred meters along the river looked lovely....maybe next time?
delicious and quite extensive menu in the restaurant and what a relief to be able to choose what + when we ate again! in particular great breakfasts! thanx.....
excellent pool with glorious sunset bar (nicest setting of the trip!!!)......quiet on our visit and no doubt loads of fun when the campers and overlanders roll in
very good briefing re safety issues and with the luxury of being able to stroll around this huge camp during daylight hours....heaven!
activites are a real priority here and were just superb. thank goodness meals etc planned around them rather than the reverse. nyambe our guide was equal to joseph at flatdogs (all south luangwa guides are trained to the same standards. one wonders whether the guides at more upmarket camps are not resting rather too much on their laurels???) we had some wonderful game viewing and particular care was taken to accommodate our special interests. real attention to detail and very interesting cultural background information in particular on the use of herbs and plants. vehicles were new and comfortable, standard of driving and safety excellent. great care taken to position vehicle for best photo light. the vehicles can accommodate quite large parties, but we had a private vehicle + guide (lucky us!!) for most of our visit.
don´t even know where to start with the highlights.......maybe best to just stick one....
.....on what turned out to be the best night drive of our lives we had been having our sundowner watching four lionesses in the failing light....they were at quite a distance and there were several other vehicles nearer to them. as darkness fell we saw them melt away into the long grass . ......the other vehicles drove on in convoy and started combing the trees for leopards......we could see the spot lights in a row along the track. guide nyambe grinned and asked if we wanted to watch the lions hunting. what else....sure! that smart guy took a long loop out and around the back of where the lions had headed. no one followed. to cut a long story short.....we arrived just in time to hear the frenzied warning calls of a herd of puku.....in our headlights we could see the four lionesses stalking, 2 left, 2 right...scissor action....headlights out, infrared on .......bated breath.....an explosion power, a blur of honeyed lightening as the snarling lionesses take down a puku a few meters in front of us. the puku screams its last and it´s a fast clean kill. we see light in the puku´s eyes fade as they began to feed - voraciously as always...... the show isn´t over..... out of the shadows we see a hyena begin to circle... yelping excitedly...she´s joined by a second and a third. they gain confidence as they´re joined by 4 more of their kind....they ´re ambitious enough now to try to steal the kill.....can´t begin the describe the noise of th screams, snarls, roars and howls as the eight hyenas and four lionesses war over the remains of the kill...shivers down the spine,every hair stands on end....both sides are wounded, the lionesses win the day....but still it isn´t over. from the lagoon we see a huge crocodile approach - surely not?? yupp.....we´d now got three predators on one kill! talk about an attenborough moment!! we´d been watching this for about twenty minutes by now when finally a second vehicle showed up.....we laughed to see that it was our friend joseph from flatdogs - obviously about great minds think alike......i suspect that if i live to be a hundred i´ll never experience anything quite so amazing ever again. incredibly on the way back to camp we spotted two young male lions stalking impala on the side of the track. we sat for a few minutes but we were running behind time and had to admit that it was more than time to leave to park and the animals for their few hours of peace. we did have lots more great sightings - necking giraffes, young ele bulls testing their strength and our nerves, a huge python crossing the track, some excellent sightings of shy bushbuck...so close that we were able to get a few photo´s....and as always those wonderful birds.
trip report part 5....RPS, Nkwali, tena tena, nsefu
and so to robin pope safaris 20 - 22 may (and 24 - 31 may) nkwali, tena tena and nsefu....now before i launch into this i do want to point out that most of the people we met were thoroughly enjoying their trip with RPS. they are a no doubt a very professional and slick operation. safety standards are very high. their game viewing vehicles are the best equipped (rests and bean bags for photographers etc) and most comfortable we have ever been in. all the accommodation is very nice indeed. if they didn´t have the reputation as being one of, if not indeed THE best, operator in africa we would possibly have been less disappointed. as it stands we weren´t too thrilled. we have had some fantastic guides in the past and are generally, because of a deep interest in all things "wild", perhaps more discerning than many guests. that being said we don´t demand constant predator sightings and are perfectly happy spending hours viewing impala or ele behaviour (love it!!), birding, looking at plants or insects. we are fascinated by termites for instance....and an enthusiastic guide will find us very easy to please. we were particularly disappointed at RPS with the guiding. with the exception of obi at nkwali (usually looks after guests staying at robin´s house) who was wonderful and a couple of very pleasant drives with rocky from tena tena we had some mediocre and very lacklustre guiding......we had a lot of different guides here - also unfortunate. activities in general seemed to be planned around transfers (not necessarily your own), meals and other "pressing" logistics considerations rather than the opposite way round. this can be understandable should not be the norm. to be fair we were there early season and this was most noticably a transitionary period. tena tena and nsefu were just opening. first fly camping trips of the season starting and preparations for early season mobiles underway too. rates are lower at this time too - so maybe we should have expected this....who knows.
oddly and very annoyingly smoking is tolerated in game viewing vehicles. for two days (!!)we had a gentleman in our vehicle who smoked a pipe constantly. we had objected strongly...we go to africa to enjoy the scents of the bush not to inhale somebody elses poison! the same gentleman was asked to sit at the very rear of the vehicle but this didn´t improve matters hugely since he then couldn´t hear the guide and bellowed questions (very nice chap but LOUD believe me!!) at the worst possible moments. imagine having two honey badgers right next to your vehicle (!!!) just a split second.....a roar from the rear...and they´re gone. yupp - i know i can´t blame RPS for that, but the man was really a plague...
anybody who receives the RPS monday newsletter would expect that the atmosphere to be warm, almost chummy......not really i´m afraid. i often got the feeling that we were tolerated rather than truly welcomed. all very professional and courteous of course. there were a few issues which i´ve also addressed here that we´d spoken our minds about - admittedly i can be blunt - and i do realise this probably didn´t help, but all the same.......
they have an odd camp host system here (maybe it´s the same at other upmarket camps in the valley?) of employing attractive, young and very charming ladies known as "caterers". this year´s influx arrived on the same plane as we did from heathrow and some had had no previous personal experience of africa at all. they do work and try very hard but on a day to day basis i would personally prefer to address any comments regarding our stay to a weather beaten old africa hand.....to, at the very least, someone who knows the difference between a leopard and cheetah.....but then this isn´t their fault is it?
would have loved to have met resident dog researcher kelly mentioned so often in the monday dispatches, or at least heard how the studies progress. we do have more than a passing interest (to say the least!) but no doubt she´s glad of her privacy. and there wasn´t anybody else around with time to tell us more. sorry to anybody who might have hoped we had more to report.
nkwali (two stays here 20-22 may and 24-26 may)
http://www.robinpopesafaris.net/experience/nkwali.php
setting here is stunning. there are some truly gorgeous old ebony trees and the chalets are strung out along the river bank. they´re completely open-fronted airy structures and should be great for enjoying the view . they´re comfortable and very well fitted with much thought having gone into providing little extras like bathrobes and sarongs (which is a good thing since altho privacy shouldn´t be a problem if guests kept to paths BEHIND the rooms as was no doubt originally planned, we unfortunately had a constant stream of people walking back and to across the front of both of our our chalets on both of our stays here during siestas. there are curtains but who wants to shut out the view? we did point this out to staff. but gave up after we spotted a VERY senior member of the team escorting clients this way. disappointing, unnecessary and most annoying) bathrooms are lovely and fortunately very private. unless that is you object to a bird, gecko or an odd frog or two observing your ablutions! we thought they were great - especially the little "loo hut"......
lovely deck, open lounge and bar with enchanting river views
there´s a large and very nice pool. no view unfortunately (it had originally been the pope´s private facility and is consequently well hidden) but good changing facilities etc. you need to find a member of staff to escort you the 3 minute stroll here.......let them know how long you want to stay and and you´ll be picked up on the dot and trotted back safely to your hut. i really meant it when i said they take safety seriously here!
professional and informative welcome
"camp" and facilties immaculate
catering fair (did hear one amusing comment from a guest who found them very reminiscent of school)
hospitality team efficient and polite and rarely seen
safari factory nkwali....only six chalets you may think - is the hub of the RPS empire. you feel just how much is going on behind the scenes. the prevailing atmosphere is "busy busy" and doesn´t make for an intimate experience. robin´s house, luangwa house, visiting promotors and journalists, travel agents.....you never really know who or indeed how many "guests" might show up in the camp. an example.........we were rushed back to camp one evening shortening our evening drive to find the riverside deck beautifully set out for dinner.... oh how lovely!!! wrong......this wasn´t for the guests but for visiting journalists and promotors. we were allowed to have drinks with these illustruous visitors and then politely herded to the rear of the camp where we were served our dinner. tactless and a bit tacky i would say! this was also the only time during our 9 day stay with RPS when we caught a glimpse of either of the pope family.
activities and guiding see general comments re RPS above..........from nkwali park can be accessed from camp by boat, pontoon or drive via main gate which should be an advantage. theoretically you can choose between walks, drives and full day trips into the park which sounds marvellous. this often works well but is of course dependent on the number of guides and vehicles to numbers of guests (see note above on visitors) we sadly didn´t get the opportunity to do anything but game drives.....but then we had been encouraged to believe that we´d have lots of chances during our 5 days in the nsefu area.....so we didn´t worry unduly
our drives from nkwali using the area accessed from pontoon or by boat were often rather short and generally quite disappointing. there was really very little game around find. other guests on the same days taken to the busier (and at this time of the year more game rich) central mfuwe area via main gate were more fortunate with their sightings. yes - we did request a change in area, no this didn´t happen until i had a burst of temper back at camp. sorry kim! things did improve a little then, tho there were still strange incidents including a guide "missing" a 200 strong buffalo herd. i´d assumed that he was just trying find a better spot stop. we had afterall been looking for (? give me the wheel!!) these animals for over an hour....we continued and were then told it was too late to go back before lunch. you guessed....at camp we waited over an hour for another vehicle bringing visitors in just for lunch...
obi, a great guide, saved RPS honour here by taking us on a few longer and very interesting drives indeed. these were unfortunately marred by puffing billy and his pipe who i mentioned previously. one truly interesting sighting does spring to mind......we saw (with obi) a baboon chase down, kill and feed on a vervet monkey! shame the honey badgers were frightened off.....
trip report part 6...the final one folks!!
26 -31 may nsefu area....a general observations.......lovely area, but game rather sparser than we might have expected even taking the time of year into consideration. night drives in particular were rather disappointing and i imagine very hard and frustrating work for the guides (......unless trying for world record in elephant shrew spotting which was fun!) our drives at tena tena were always fun even when not hugely "productive". not so at nsefu. with the exception of one night sighting of a leopard at nsefu and a few hyenas at tena tena we saw no predators. neither did we see many lion prints. we did hear lions roaring across the river. we also regularly heard gunfire from hunting camps in the area....not pleasant! see comment on hyena behaviour below....one guide (who shall remain unnamed) told us that we couldn´t expect to see many predators in the area and that he hadn´t seen and wasn´t personally aware of one single older pride male lion in the whole of the park between kapamba and nsefu! the young pride males that we had seen so often in the central area were 4-5 years old and had yet to grow full manes.....he also felt that animal numbers were down in the nsefu area and getting worse.one wonders how badly the hunting concessions/poaching are affecting populations??? we saw several animals with horrible snare wounds in the park.....buffalo, elephant, antelope........
tena tena 26 -28 may http://www.robinpopesafaris.net/experience/tena.php
special thanks here to caterer jo for offering genuine hospitality, to rocky our friendly and enthusiastic guide and thanks too to chris for ensuring that our further drives were smoke free!
tena tena is a truly lovely camp. our favourite by far of the three RPS camps we visited. setting, atmosphere and tents all wonderful. had some privacy here and a wonderful view onto a dambo. bathroom equally gorgeous with the same view. has a real safari camp feel.....the only one we visited in the south luangwa by the way where we did feel this.......
very good catering here, best of the three RPS camps and excellent, very hospitable staff
housekeeping and grounds immaculate
enjoyable guiding and we had some good sightings......particularly wonderful a "matinee performance" of two puku in an amazing display of male dominance behaviour. the rutting went on and on......they were really serious AND we were able to watch the whole thing from the comfort of our tent during siesta!! visit a hyena den at sunset.....hyena cubs shyly peeking over to us.....we heard gunshot in the distance and an adult hyena immediately left in that directio, obviously conditioned to where scraps can be found - how sad! the scenery around here was particularly lovely. would have enjoyed a walk or full day out, but advised to wait until nsefu. we did also have to consider transfers for other guests and the price for smoke-free game viewing was that our vehicle was involved in these......
nsefu 28 - 31 may http://www.robinpopesafaris.net/experience/nsefu.php
wonderful spot along the river...sweeping views. this is a lovely camp......
chalets are very smart and have been modernised very nicely indeed. very well fitted and comfortable. bathroom excellent. unfortunately access path runs across the front of the chalets so they´re either not very private or you lose the fabulous view when you draw the curtains at siesta time.........nice little veranda at the front too
bar and lounge area very inviting and comfortable
very efficient staff and courteous hospitality staff our special thanks here to them.
housekeeping and grounds immaculate
catering variable.....a couple of excellent meals
guiding and activites....all a bit of an uphill struggle here i´m afraid. we had to really had to get pushy here to finally get a walk ( it wasn´t really even a nature ramble in the end....), we never did get our full day out.....on four out of six activities we were taken to the same stork colony......still fascinating, but our time was limited. we drove straight past some wonderful things in a rush to get who know where! we had specifically asked to watch ele´s which crossed the river each morning at approx 10:30.....only a kilometer or so from the camp. this did not happen. on our last full day i could have cried with frustration sitting kicking our heels in camp when they were soooo close! the vehicle (with no guide to be seen of course ) was just standing there unused - sad. on another occasion we heard puku alarm calls very close to camp seconds after we´d arrived back. no....it was too far to go back and see. in general activites were too short and noticably lacking in enthusiasm, flexibilty etc....we were NOT being taken that extra mile here! we had requested several times to drive out to the hot spring and open plain for which nsefu is famed. herman had enthused about recent visit of his while we were at wildlife camp....at nsefu we were told - it was too far, ....or there was nothing to see there.....or you should have said earlier....or we have to get back...... on our final morning i blew a fuse and lo and behold all was suddenly possible. we did see eland here - our first, we saw giraffe preparing to mate (we didn´t have time to stay for more...) , buffalo and some lovely herds. how very sad that we couldn´t have spent more time earlier here....again other guests with other guides did.....
so to close.... the valley is stunningly beautiful, particularly so in the early dry. so lush, so green a true joy to behold. the game viewing can be and was at times wonderful, but you do need to be with an operator AND a guide willing to go that extra mile and share your enthusiasm.
we´d return to both flatdogs and wildlife tomorrow (also in the green) and combine with some self driving in other areas of zambia (in the dry).
bushcamp co we´d love to visit again but later in the season to combine with their other walking camps.
we won´t be returning to RPS unless to join a true walking safari. tho i expect our experience was unusual and unfortunate. i could imagine that their mobiles are excellent. would hope so anyway!!! they would appear to keep their best guides for these and the fly camping........
Jun 21st, 2006, 09:18 AM
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Judithlorraine- your report was too good to be buried in someone else's thread, hope you don't mind.. Great report, glad to read of some other camps in South Luangwa, especially Flatdog's-sounds interesting and bushcamps/wilderness. Thanks for sharing, photos to post?
Jun 21st, 2006, 09:59 AM
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Judithlorraine (and Dennis),
Thank you for making this excellent and revealing report available.
Judith, your predator activity was astounding with a baboon kill and three predators on one puku. Glad you had such amazing luck to offset the RPS disappointment. The specific details you mentioned will be very helpful to others.
I had enjoyable statys at Nkwali and Tena Tena but did feel just an inkling of what you describe so well and in depth. I laughed out loud when I read about the hostesses fresh off of BA. That rang a bell with me.
It would have been nice to meet the Popes since you were spending so much time in their camps. I understand Robin is a fantastic guide on the mobiles.
The smoking while on the game drive surprises me. I wonder if others have ever experienced that.
Thanks for posting an informative report.
Thank you for making this excellent and revealing report available.
Judith, your predator activity was astounding with a baboon kill and three predators on one puku. Glad you had such amazing luck to offset the RPS disappointment. The specific details you mentioned will be very helpful to others.
I had enjoyable statys at Nkwali and Tena Tena but did feel just an inkling of what you describe so well and in depth. I laughed out loud when I read about the hostesses fresh off of BA. That rang a bell with me.
It would have been nice to meet the Popes since you were spending so much time in their camps. I understand Robin is a fantastic guide on the mobiles.
The smoking while on the game drive surprises me. I wonder if others have ever experienced that.
Thanks for posting an informative report.
Jun 21st, 2006, 10:16 AM
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Judith,
We were at Tena Tena and Nsefu in 2000 and we had very much the same impression of the personell/staff that come out from England. They seemed VERY inexperienced, not very friendly and gave the whole place a gap year feel. We were not impressed. WE had good luck with the guides but found we ended up with far more people per vehicle than in other less less widely touted camps.
We were at Tena Tena and Nsefu in 2000 and we had very much the same impression of the personell/staff that come out from England. They seemed VERY inexperienced, not very friendly and gave the whole place a gap year feel. We were not impressed. WE had good luck with the guides but found we ended up with far more people per vehicle than in other less less widely touted camps.
Jun 21st, 2006, 03:48 PM
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JudithLorraine,
Thank you for a no punches pulled trip report. One benefit of a safari with a newer operator (Luangwa River Lodge, for example) is that they have not had years or decades of international marketing and cannot count on return visitors from yesteryears. As a result, what you often get is not only camps that are not constantly at capacity (with either paying guests or journalists) but camps that are more than willing to provide you with very personalized activities. For example, I enjoyed a 12 hour game drive last year at Luangwa River Lodge and despite being all by my lonesome, I had a guide (James) and tracker, a beautiful picnic lunch of a green salad, freshly baked bread, fresh fruit, chicken that was somehow kept hot until we stopped for lunch 5 hours into the drive, and an entire cake for dessert! We napped under a sausage tree on the banks of the Luangwa River overlooking a pod of 30 hippos for a couple hours and even made it all the way up to the hot springs (and Luangwa River Lodge is halfway between the busy central area and the Nsefu area). I was able to do about an 8 hour drive at Chichele Presidential Lodge the year before, and nearly a 5 hour walking safari.
For Puku Ridge last year, Alexsandra and I enjoyed the entire camp to ourselves on one night and a private vehicle for our entire stay (there was a group of 8 that had two vehicles while we had a vehicle to ourselves, rather than stuffing us in one of their two vehicles).
At Luangwa River Lodge last year, in high season, we had the camp to ourselves for two nights and then only one other guest for our final night. This has nothing at all to do with the quality of the camp other than it just has not yet had the opportunity to catch on and get too many repeat customers, except for Matnikstym (Dennis) on Fodors!
However, even a full camp, if properly managed may offer an excellent experience. I believe while I was at Chongwe River Camp last year that it was at capacity or near capacity every night but it was still excellent. Although all of us ate dinner together, there were enough managers, and they strategically placed themselves to give attention to each guest, that it was still an intimate experience. Plus, it doesn't hurt that it is just in a magical location at the confluence of the Chongwe & Zambezi Rivers.
Anyway, thanks again for an excellent report.
Thank you for a no punches pulled trip report. One benefit of a safari with a newer operator (Luangwa River Lodge, for example) is that they have not had years or decades of international marketing and cannot count on return visitors from yesteryears. As a result, what you often get is not only camps that are not constantly at capacity (with either paying guests or journalists) but camps that are more than willing to provide you with very personalized activities. For example, I enjoyed a 12 hour game drive last year at Luangwa River Lodge and despite being all by my lonesome, I had a guide (James) and tracker, a beautiful picnic lunch of a green salad, freshly baked bread, fresh fruit, chicken that was somehow kept hot until we stopped for lunch 5 hours into the drive, and an entire cake for dessert! We napped under a sausage tree on the banks of the Luangwa River overlooking a pod of 30 hippos for a couple hours and even made it all the way up to the hot springs (and Luangwa River Lodge is halfway between the busy central area and the Nsefu area). I was able to do about an 8 hour drive at Chichele Presidential Lodge the year before, and nearly a 5 hour walking safari.
For Puku Ridge last year, Alexsandra and I enjoyed the entire camp to ourselves on one night and a private vehicle for our entire stay (there was a group of 8 that had two vehicles while we had a vehicle to ourselves, rather than stuffing us in one of their two vehicles).
At Luangwa River Lodge last year, in high season, we had the camp to ourselves for two nights and then only one other guest for our final night. This has nothing at all to do with the quality of the camp other than it just has not yet had the opportunity to catch on and get too many repeat customers, except for Matnikstym (Dennis) on Fodors!
However, even a full camp, if properly managed may offer an excellent experience. I believe while I was at Chongwe River Camp last year that it was at capacity or near capacity every night but it was still excellent. Although all of us ate dinner together, there were enough managers, and they strategically placed themselves to give attention to each guest, that it was still an intimate experience. Plus, it doesn't hurt that it is just in a magical location at the confluence of the Chongwe & Zambezi Rivers.
Anyway, thanks again for an excellent report.
Jun 21st, 2006, 08:50 PM
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judithlorranines,
Excellent trip report....very descriptive, well-written and kept me on the edge of my seat.
One comment......i do have a problem hearing gun fire from hunting camps and i will not stay in any concession close to a hunting operator.....
Thanks for your report.
Hari
Excellent trip report....very descriptive, well-written and kept me on the edge of my seat.
One comment......i do have a problem hearing gun fire from hunting camps and i will not stay in any concession close to a hunting operator.....
Thanks for your report.
Hari
Jun 22nd, 2006, 01:07 AM
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hi all! so glad my report didn´t fall on stoney ground. you´ve all been so helpful over the last couple of years that i thought a really detailed + truthful accout was necessary.
those of you who have been lucky enough to have had kerri, debs, chris, robin, obi guiding them at RPS have no doubt been lucky indeed and i´m jealous-but unfortunately they´ve not been cloned yet!
will try to post a few photo´s in the next days. i´ve none of the night activites i describe as i´m still taking photo´s the old way and don´t carry a flash on game drives. must admit i think one of my old (2 canon AE1 programables) and trusty cameras is slowly giving up the ghost as several (boo hoo!) films were odd from the last trip. thought stephanis´s photo´s were wonderful btw. i´ve got some great shots from my kwando trip last november but they´re hardly any use on this thread are they!!
a further comment or two to the hunting issues.....we didn´t just hear gunfire at tena tena but elsewhere too and we could actually SEE a hunting camp being set up across the river while we were walking north of kapamba (this must have been in the area near chindeni and chamilandu camps). far more worrying than being confronted with the hunting issue as an animal lover however is the effect it seems to be having on the predator population. i repeat that in 18 days we did not see ONE pride male over the age of 5. we saw NO lions with fully developed manes...anybody with an understanding of lion breeding/behaviour will have an inkling of what this is doing to the population. we need to get fodorite "predatorbiologist" to write his comments on this.....come on bill!
hope you all noted also my comment on how the hyena hared off towards the gunfire? this must be happening all the time for this behaviour!!!
don´t want to put you all on a downer but we were also very concerned with the pressure on the vegetation (and consequently habitat)in the GMA. there´s been a huge influx of people hoping for a piece of the tourism cake (understandable of course...don´t get me wrong on this)but these people are building homes (wood and reeds out of GMA), need daily cooking fires ( ditto) and food too AND not finding the jobs they hoped for (pressure to poach)
no answer to these long term problems i´m afraid.......
on a brighter note lets hope that the wilderness presence in kafue and their takeover of a previous hunting concession and luamfa in the s luangwa GMA give the animals the break they need. things are looking promising in north luangwa too. thanx for all your support guys and happy travelling. believe it or not we´re off for a month in the german alps in fall and then we can start thinking about our next african adventure in 2007. like stephanie we´re considering a lower budget self drive trip to south africa in 2007 and ditto to zambia in 2008 - lorraine
those of you who have been lucky enough to have had kerri, debs, chris, robin, obi guiding them at RPS have no doubt been lucky indeed and i´m jealous-but unfortunately they´ve not been cloned yet!
will try to post a few photo´s in the next days. i´ve none of the night activites i describe as i´m still taking photo´s the old way and don´t carry a flash on game drives. must admit i think one of my old (2 canon AE1 programables) and trusty cameras is slowly giving up the ghost as several (boo hoo!) films were odd from the last trip. thought stephanis´s photo´s were wonderful btw. i´ve got some great shots from my kwando trip last november but they´re hardly any use on this thread are they!!
a further comment or two to the hunting issues.....we didn´t just hear gunfire at tena tena but elsewhere too and we could actually SEE a hunting camp being set up across the river while we were walking north of kapamba (this must have been in the area near chindeni and chamilandu camps). far more worrying than being confronted with the hunting issue as an animal lover however is the effect it seems to be having on the predator population. i repeat that in 18 days we did not see ONE pride male over the age of 5. we saw NO lions with fully developed manes...anybody with an understanding of lion breeding/behaviour will have an inkling of what this is doing to the population. we need to get fodorite "predatorbiologist" to write his comments on this.....come on bill!
hope you all noted also my comment on how the hyena hared off towards the gunfire? this must be happening all the time for this behaviour!!!
don´t want to put you all on a downer but we were also very concerned with the pressure on the vegetation (and consequently habitat)in the GMA. there´s been a huge influx of people hoping for a piece of the tourism cake (understandable of course...don´t get me wrong on this)but these people are building homes (wood and reeds out of GMA), need daily cooking fires ( ditto) and food too AND not finding the jobs they hoped for (pressure to poach)
no answer to these long term problems i´m afraid.......
on a brighter note lets hope that the wilderness presence in kafue and their takeover of a previous hunting concession and luamfa in the s luangwa GMA give the animals the break they need. things are looking promising in north luangwa too. thanx for all your support guys and happy travelling. believe it or not we´re off for a month in the german alps in fall and then we can start thinking about our next african adventure in 2007. like stephanie we´re considering a lower budget self drive trip to south africa in 2007 and ditto to zambia in 2008 - lorraine
Jun 22nd, 2006, 03:29 AM
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Hi Lorraine,
I am curious to know if you have written of your complaints to RPS. It is obviously something that needs to be addressed. Smoking in a vehicle is something that should never be tolerated! It is something I have had to address only once, against some American military man - thank god his daughter was with me!
Kind regards,
Kaye
I am curious to know if you have written of your complaints to RPS. It is obviously something that needs to be addressed. Smoking in a vehicle is something that should never be tolerated! It is something I have had to address only once, against some American military man - thank god his daughter was with me!
Kind regards,
Kaye
Jun 22nd, 2006, 02:18 PM
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Lorraine: this is truly a fantastic report full of helpful details. I was surprised you didn't include the special safari hair do that you emailed me about before departure, in my mind a true sign that you are one of the most dedicated wildlife enthusiasts to ever take a safari. I'll leave it for you to share if you like.
I for one was shocked to hear about some of the goings on at RPS. I know you are well experienced as a safari traveler and have reasonable expectations -- it seems they have some explaining to do.
The lion-hyena-crocodile showdown is truly one for your lifetime. That's the kind of thing you usually only see in a film and then they say 'this is the only time this has ever been filmed' -- simply amazing!
Post on hunting may go long so I'll start over for that...
I for one was shocked to hear about some of the goings on at RPS. I know you are well experienced as a safari traveler and have reasonable expectations -- it seems they have some explaining to do.
The lion-hyena-crocodile showdown is truly one for your lifetime. That's the kind of thing you usually only see in a film and then they say 'this is the only time this has ever been filmed' -- simply amazing!
Post on hunting may go long so I'll start over for that...
Jun 22nd, 2006, 03:00 PM
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I find it very troublesome to hear about the hunting impacts in your report.
My first thought is like Hari -- I will simply not chose to ever knowingly go to an area that is adjacent to a hunting operation. I'm not going to get into the whole should there be hunting or not here but I think we all face a huge ethical issue. Photo operations that we support spend a tremendous effort habituating animals to vehicles and people. Over time we make them be comfortable with us. This is simply not fair to do to the wildlife if there is a hunting operation in close proximity, basically we work to strip the animals of their instinctual fear of humans when they need to follow those instincts the most.
In this particular area Lorraine has made a very keen behavioral observation with the hyena that demonstrates that hunting is really prevalent in the area. For the hyena to be conditioned that the sound of a gun means a meal opportunity shows the hunting has to be very commonplace.
To not see a single mature male lion in 18 days is unbelievable. I believe there are a couple of severe impacts if all the mature males are hunted out. First, there becomes chaos in the social dynamic. Dominant males provide a stable territory where cubs can be raised in relative safety. As most know when new males take over they often kill all the cubs. Without true mature dominance there are likely to be frequent take overs that can result in the cubs all being killed and it creates great tension throughout the pride as the new males have to dominate the females. This should only occur every 2-3 years at the most but without a mature presence there is likely to be much more turnover.
When the dominant males are shot it opens up a pride for new males to fill in. Males who would not have won the competition at this point in their lives. The fierce competition between males is needed to ensure that those most genetically fit are the ones breeding. Over time this is likely to weaken the gene pool as breeding becomes more of a right place right time as opposed to earning it due to skills and fitness.
This could also lead to incest damaging the gene pool. Usually young males get kicked out and become nomads for a few years which helps avoid in-breeding but without dominant males the young males may not get kicked out or if they do they may be back to fill the void when the mature males are shot or to compete and win against other young males since the competition is weaker than if a mature coalition was in place.
It sounds like this is a critical management time between on-going poaching, adjacent hunting, and probably worst of all new settlements that are stripping the habitat. I hope the government and the private camps can join forces to combat these problems before the situation becomes worse.
My first thought is like Hari -- I will simply not chose to ever knowingly go to an area that is adjacent to a hunting operation. I'm not going to get into the whole should there be hunting or not here but I think we all face a huge ethical issue. Photo operations that we support spend a tremendous effort habituating animals to vehicles and people. Over time we make them be comfortable with us. This is simply not fair to do to the wildlife if there is a hunting operation in close proximity, basically we work to strip the animals of their instinctual fear of humans when they need to follow those instincts the most.
In this particular area Lorraine has made a very keen behavioral observation with the hyena that demonstrates that hunting is really prevalent in the area. For the hyena to be conditioned that the sound of a gun means a meal opportunity shows the hunting has to be very commonplace.
To not see a single mature male lion in 18 days is unbelievable. I believe there are a couple of severe impacts if all the mature males are hunted out. First, there becomes chaos in the social dynamic. Dominant males provide a stable territory where cubs can be raised in relative safety. As most know when new males take over they often kill all the cubs. Without true mature dominance there are likely to be frequent take overs that can result in the cubs all being killed and it creates great tension throughout the pride as the new males have to dominate the females. This should only occur every 2-3 years at the most but without a mature presence there is likely to be much more turnover.
When the dominant males are shot it opens up a pride for new males to fill in. Males who would not have won the competition at this point in their lives. The fierce competition between males is needed to ensure that those most genetically fit are the ones breeding. Over time this is likely to weaken the gene pool as breeding becomes more of a right place right time as opposed to earning it due to skills and fitness.
This could also lead to incest damaging the gene pool. Usually young males get kicked out and become nomads for a few years which helps avoid in-breeding but without dominant males the young males may not get kicked out or if they do they may be back to fill the void when the mature males are shot or to compete and win against other young males since the competition is weaker than if a mature coalition was in place.
It sounds like this is a critical management time between on-going poaching, adjacent hunting, and probably worst of all new settlements that are stripping the habitat. I hope the government and the private camps can join forces to combat these problems before the situation becomes worse.
Jun 22nd, 2006, 08:22 PM
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Pred,
Thanks...yes, very thoughtful insight on the hunting/poaching issues....
To think about it, i've seen many pictures from people's kodak gallery albums from their various trips. I can't recall seeing many/any pride males. It's usually young males or lionesses or cubs. It's a sad state of affairs.
Also, Judithliorraines clearly describes her stay at Robin Pope......being one of the largest outfitters in the SL area, they don't or can't do enough to protect the overall state of affairs in the SL.
Hari
Thanks...yes, very thoughtful insight on the hunting/poaching issues....
To think about it, i've seen many pictures from people's kodak gallery albums from their various trips. I can't recall seeing many/any pride males. It's usually young males or lionesses or cubs. It's a sad state of affairs.
Also, Judithliorraines clearly describes her stay at Robin Pope......being one of the largest outfitters in the SL area, they don't or can't do enough to protect the overall state of affairs in the SL.
Hari
Jun 23rd, 2006, 03:35 AM
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I was fortunate to be guided in Chamilandu(Bushcamp Co. camp several hours drive west of Main gate areas) of park by Derrick Solomon in 2004. It was an outstanding experience and the camp setting was great as was the staff. I saw prolific wildlife, but few lions.I thought it was the "luck of the draw" or the basically just not being in the right place at the right time and did not think much of it as I was enthralled with my surroundings.
On one of our walks Derrick commented:
Hunting - Derrick theorized that the lion density of this part of the park was down due to hunting. The Luangwa River forms the boundary of the park and across this river is a game management area where hunting is allowed. Derrick said they were baiting in this area attracting lions from the park over the river. I was extremely sad to hear this!! (Note: I never heard gun shots in any camps in this area.)
BTW Judithlorraines your report was outstanding!!!
On one of our walks Derrick commented:
Hunting - Derrick theorized that the lion density of this part of the park was down due to hunting. The Luangwa River forms the boundary of the park and across this river is a game management area where hunting is allowed. Derrick said they were baiting in this area attracting lions from the park over the river. I was extremely sad to hear this!! (Note: I never heard gun shots in any camps in this area.)
BTW Judithlorraines your report was outstanding!!!
