Stalking Cats in South Luangwa, Zambia

Day 12

There was another early morning wake up in preparation for a full day searching for animals. Luckily, Nash was also up early so we had tea and coffee available before our morning game walk. There was an option to do a game drive, but after being cooped up in the truck, many decided it would be nice to walk around. We split into two groups, each with a guide and an armed security ranger. The guide explained to us that if we encounter any animals up close, the most important rule is to not run and let the ranger handle the situation.

Barely 100 meters from the start, we ran across bones from a large elephant. The guide gave us lots of interesting information about the elephants and bones in general. For example, legend says that elephants die in the same location making a “elephant graveyard” but in fact it’s just common for several elephants to die from old age in the same area because old elephants travel together after separating from their herds. Also, based on the number of animals in the wilderness and how often they die, there should be piles of bones everywhere, yet hardly any are seen. This is because nature has a way of recycling; the hyena actually eats bones as part of its diet which gives it white feces. This then started a discussion of animal excrement that lasted the rest of the walk! We didn’t see many animals on the walk till the end when we found a tower of giraffes. Our guide slowly led us closer and closer to the giraffes. Once we had a good vantage point we sat down in the shade of a big tree watching the giraffes graze.

Back at Wildlife Camp, breakfast was waiting for us while all of us exchanged stories of what each group saw. There was nothing scheduled until a sunset game drive so we took the opportunity to relax and watch the hippos and crocodiles in the river. The camp advertised it had free wifi available from noon till 2. Exactly at noon, Sara and I went to try and get some work done. It worked about as fast as would be expected in a bush camp in the middle of Africa – even slower as ten other people also tried to get online. We gave up and went back to enjoying the real life nature show that was on our doorstep.

The rest of the afternoon was enjoyed with our family, wine and cheese, and the occasional hippo grunt . Too soon, it was time to go on our sunset game drive. The entire group piled into two open topped trucks and we drove into South Luangwa National Park. Immediately, we began seeing lots of animals including impala, puku, zebras, giraffes, waterbucks, and all sorts of birds. Right around sunset, our driver got a call that there were lions on the far side of the park. The drive included a drink while watching the sunset but we all opted to keep driving to find the lions. It was dark when we got to the area and we were shocked when a leopard was spotted casually walking around. This tour included the normal driver plus an additional spotter who used a spotlight to illuminate the predator cat (they are apparently not bothered by the light). After stalking the leopard for a bit, it went into a ditch where we couldn’t follow. Back to the hunt for lions!

As we turned a corner, our spotter illuminated a lion on a small hill. As the truck approached, we noticed a kudu standing to the right of where we saw the lion. I remember someone saying “watch out kudu, there’s a lion near”. The kudu started running and passed right behind the truck as we all realized the lion was chasing it! The pursuit was so close you could feel the energy as they passed. Then all of a sudden, it stopped. The kudu had escaped and the lion stopped in her tracks. She seemed to ponder her loss for a second then turned around heading straight for the truck. As she approached, we all assumed she was angry that we got in the way of dinner and was looking for revenge. Sara inched her way towards me and grabbed my arm tightly as the hungry lion passed within inches of our open truck. Thankfully, she did not take revenge on us and kept walking in front of the truck. She stopped briefly to pee before heading into the bush. All our hearts were racing!

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After the lion encounter, all the rest of the animals we saw didn’t seem quite as exciting but we did find a few porcupines, a grazing hippo (who did not seem to be happy as our truck passed right next to him) and caught a glimpse of a bush baby monkey.

Thus far, South Luangwa was my favorite place in Africa and I didn’t want to leave the next morning, but the adventure doesn’t stop. We are done with seeing animals for a few days and will focus on the culture and people in Malawi.