28/02/18

Ok our first early morning drive, so up at 5.15 for breakfast and on the road for 6.

There were only 3 of us on the drive vehicle plus driver so lots of room to spread out. One of the problems we have here is the fact we are in the rainy season so the vegetation is thick and abundant and there is a lot of water spread over the park making watching the animals a bit more difficult.

We have though managed to see Elephant, Giraffe, Zebra, Hyena a solitary Water Buffalo and a pack of wild African Hunting dogs which had just devoured an unfortunate impala. There are so many of them you don’t need too much sympathy. I won’t go into the birds but lots of them to.

We are still to Lion and Leopard, but I think we may struggle and Martin will just have to wait till we get to Livingston.

We also came across a 500-year-old baobab tree, which I think is amazing. Both Martin and I got out of the truck to take a closer look to discover that a bee’s nest was nestling on the trunk. Advised by the driver to be very careful we made a tactical withdrawal, and all drove on.

We thought our night time safari was going to be a damp squib in more ways than one. The clouds were dark, and thunder was rumbling, but we set off anyway, being our last drive. As we entered the park there was great excitement as a leopard had been seen climbing down a tree, and all the monkeys were sending warning sounds to all and sundry. However, as we waited calmly while looking at bush, nothing. Our driver eventually left to Martin’s and my disappointment. May be it wasn’t to be.

After another hour of driving with the clouds closing in we spotted a vehicle ahead with a leopard walking past. We stopped and couldn’t believe our luck as it walked straight towards us and passed so close to the truck I could have reached out and touched him. WOW WOW WOW.

Martin got to see his first Leopard and I was so thrilled as I know how hard these are to come across. Especially up close. South Luangwa had delivered. So, job done we headed back to camp before the torrential rain started, toasted our success and prepared ourselves for tomorrow as we head towards Lusaka.