Valley in winter
Winter has settled into the valley and we’re met with chilly crisp mornings. Although we have no guests, it has still been a busy month with Nick’s plans for Walk Luangwa 2020, a trip to the North Luangwa and finalizing Tafika Camp building, and, of course, some drives in the park to keep a finger on the pulse.
350 km – 17 days – 3 National Parks – 1 valley
27th July – 13th August 2020
Plans for the Luangwa Walk are taking shape nicely and it’s all getting very exciting. Nick’s brainchild has grown into a Luangwa Valley initiative involving several operators, organisations and individuals in the Luangwa with many joining for short stints of the walk. The walkers will stop through several different camps along the way, and meet with as many operators and conservationists as possible, each contributing to Luangwa’s story.
The first step of a dream and a leap of faith to raise funds for the communities, wildlife and conservation groups of our lovely Luangwa Valley.
Please share news of the walk with family, friends or anyone who you think would like to follow the adventure.
Takwela renewed
When it rains it pours…literally and figuratively in our case. The downpours of the past Emerald season saw the river levels rise pretty drastically and our new camp in the North Luangwa, Takwela, was swiftly washed away just a few months after inception. Committed watchman onsite managed to save most of the poles and bricks (apart from the bigger centre poles) with the help of community fisherman. The saved materials will be used for the rebuild this year.
This June we headed up to the North Park for what we thought was going to be a sombre trip to inspect the damage and re-site the camp with Alex. It turned out to be an exciting few days discovering new, better and higher 😉 spots for the chalets, sitenje (dining area) and back of house. John, Nick and myself (Jen) camped onsite while the redesign took shape and we enjoyed it so much that our campsite will become the new sitenje!
Now Takwela Camp is positioned further up the Luangwa but the river confluence is still in great view, as is the open wafwa (oxbow) that hugs the Mwaleshi River in front of camp. The area is a magnet for game and in our few days there, antelope covered this area, hippos lined the banks and hyenas came in with whoops and giggles in the evening. Lion, leopard, hyena, Pel’s fishing owl and many hippo calls serenaded our dreams.
With the rebuild we’re proud to once again offer employment to the local community and use local building skills to create a truly authentic camp without losing out on any of the necessary luxuries a safari should enjoy.
The trip definitely revealed the silver lining after the rain and we can’t wait to share the new Takwela Camp with you.
Tafika Fund
Grade 12 pupils returned to school on the 1st of June. They left with full funds and smiles ready to tackle Term 2.
Grades 7 and 9 returned to school a bit later to prepare for their final exams. The Tafika Fund supplied our local Mkasanga School with books to help dwindling stationary packs and the teachers are also back at work.
A huge thank you to so many of you that have made generous donations to keep these initiatives going, we really appreciate every bit of support.
One of our amazing guests has continued to fund the building of a new classroom at Mkasanga Basic School, despite the pandemic, and progress has been good since the rains finished. Soon it will have a roof!
The Luangwa
We’ve continued to do periodic game drives to patrol our area and just in the few drives we’ve had there have been some spectacular sightings.
The stork colony has changed but is still impressive with juvenile Yellow billed storks spreading across the wafwa.
The local leopards have been busy and we witnessed a kill by one young female in the area but sadly 2 hyenas came rushing in about a minute after the kill to steal it.
We enjoyed sightings of our ebony female hunting baboons, her favourite meal! Although unsuccessful with the baboons, Nick witnessed her take down a male puku, much bigger than herself, which is pretty standard for leopards but still impressive.
The kill attracted a hoard of scavengers the next morning. Anticipating this, we nipped out in the early hours of the morning to sneak a peak of the leopard and found several scavengers feeding on the leftovers including a pair of wild dog – an added bonus to a breath taking sunrise.
Take a look at Nick’s Safaris diary: Leopard, wild dogs, hyena and a golden sundrise for the whole story and pictures.
All in all it was quite an eventful month and with the opening of Zambia’s international airport on the 25th of June, we are looking forward to seeing how things develop in July.
The full moon even showed us a crimson lining this month which turned out to be pretty spectacular!
Covid-19 Zambia
On the 25th of June, His Excellency Dr Edgar Chagwa Lungu, declared all of Zambia’s airports open for business!
Although the specifics of visas and quarantine protocols are still to be finalised, the country is being encouraged to embrace the ‘new normal’ and open borders while taking necessary precautions. We will share more news as soon as we receive it.
As of the 5th of July, Zambia has 1632 known covid-19 cases with 30 covid-related deaths (WHO). There are still no unprecedented or irregular death counts in the highly populated areas around Lusaka, Zambia’s capital or in the outlying rural communities. We hope to continue sharing positive news in this respect.
