Zambezi River Safari
The July 1-2 holidays in Zambia made for the perfect four-day weekend excuse to head out on our first safari, to the Lower Zambezi National Park and Kasakasaka Tented Camp (www.kasakasaka.com), one of the area's newest (and coolest) camps. The park and camp are located on the Zambezi River, which forms the country's southern border with Zimbabwe....
Take-off from Lusaka Int'l Airport. See how it's a beehive of activity! We had the choice of a 30-minute flight or a five-hour drive. Says alot about the condition of Zambia's roads, eh? We chose the flight.
So, who didn't waste a second when the pilot asked the four passengers if one would like to ride in the co-pilot's seat? Yep, Tim was definitely not surprised.
From the altitude of our flight, even Zambia's smallest villages weren't so small. Click on image for close-up.
Approaching the Zambezi escarpment, part of the Great Rift system that extends from the Red Sea down through eastern and into southern Africa. This is where Africa is literally splitting apart....like California.
Above the...yes, airport... at the national park. First sighting of the Zambezi River is in the upper left of the pic. Funny, we couldn't locate the terminal or the control tower...and we didn't have to take off our shoes!
Like I said, the plane wasn't that big. Our Scots pilot, though, had fantastic big dimples and an awesome accent.
Shortly after arrival at Kasakasaka, we took a sunset boatride on the Zambezi, along with our fellow campers from Norway and...Chattanooga! The world is too small. Lawrence and Nici, the camp's Australian/South African managers, hold down the back of the boat.
Tim and Sam (from Choo-Choo Town) must be telling some tale of Tennessee. By the way, that haircut cost Tim $2.50. Think he got his money's worth?
From the boat, what could this be? The Loch Ness Monster or some creature of the sea?
Slowly, but surely, its form was revealed:
A swimming pachyderm. Who would've believed?
On terra firma, the guy seemed refreshed and relieved....
after all, his buddies were near, which must've appealed.
Find the hippo and the croc (click for a closer view). No shortage of these along the Zambezi. By the way, that's Zimbabwe in the background.
Lower Zambezi River Sunset, June 29, 2002.
Our first foray into the park wouldn't have been the same without a greeting party of baboons. These guys' relatives were everywhere....
....but still nowhere near as numerous as the impala, the park's version of the white-tailed deer (click on for larger view). These fellows, though, have lions and leopards to worry about, instead of Lincolns and Lexuses...
A walking safari gave a better appreciation of the park's smaller life forms. Rod (in shorts), a former croc hunter in Mozambique, was our guide. What's hanging off the park ranger's shoulder tells you that we weren't just worried about the plants and birds...No worries, PETA, it's for protection only.
On the second day of safari, my true love brought to me: Three egrets eggressing, two Egyptian geese a-guessing, a Cape buffalo (Africa's only wild cow) a-bluffing .... and a hefty hippo in a hur-ry. (Okay, maybe that doesn't work)
Christened by Paul as the "Tim Flirts with Hippo" shot. This hippo played hard to get and got away. Figures.
The same can be said of the other hippos we saw on the walk.
Find the vervet monkey watching the people watching the vervet monkey.
Vervet monkeys were not in short supply. We soon found out the same can be said of much larger critters...
From our tent, our view of the river across to Zimbabwe. Click to discern a few ever-present hippos on the island......
....and the tent's view of one of its occupants....
...who, while he read and snoozed one afternoon, didn't even notice the sound of chomping right outside the tent. When the elephants came to camp, it was the humans who changed their plans.
Um, what IS up with this elephant?! And why in front of our tent???!
He stayed all afternoon, fortunately in a less excited state. Seen here just down an embankment from the the camp's lodge,where he re-located after our tent-side display and smack during the World Cup Final. Didn't know elephants are into soccer...
At the lodge, he provided some good post-World Cup entertainment.
Tree trimming, Kasakasaka-style.
More of many close encounters. Believe it or not, this is a wild elephant. No circus training here. It was a real treat.... but one that kept us wondering what his next move would be.
The least colorful of the park's spectacular bird life: glossy ibises. We saw plenty of birds - Egyptian geese, cattle egrets, martial eagles, giant eagle owls, grey louries, mousebirds, kingfishers, the amazing hoopoe, nightjars, white-helmeted shrikes, hornbills, francolins, guineafowl and all sorts of wading birds.
Unlike the ibises, the bee eaters were incredibly colorful.
Termites control the interior humidity and temperature of their mounds, made from sand that has been hardened by the termites. Plant seeds often sprout and thrive alongside the wood munchers.
Just so you get a sense of how big these mounds really are.
Speaking of big, a photo cannot convey the true size of this baobab tree. It is estimated to be anywhere from 1000 to 3000 years old.
Tim getting a crash course on how baobab bark can be used to make clothing.....
....and Paul getting a crash course in the tree's size. Not even a third of the tree is shown in this shot.
Elephants were everywhere. It's often easier to see (but impossible to photograph) many animals at dusk or by spotlighting during the night, when we also saw spotted hyenas, white-tailed mongooses,side-striped jackals, African civets, small-spotted genets, a leopard, hundreds of nervous impalas, bush bucks, kudu and other critters large and small.
Another incredible African sunset. July 1, 2002, our final evening at the park. Where next? Stay tuned.
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