This was our fifth trip to this wonderful continent, but our first to Zambia. We made all arrangements with David Bennett of Star of Africa, Zimbabwe office. This was our third adventure planned with David, who also offers safaris in Botswana & Zimbabwe. We had him hire Bruce Watson to be our guide throughout the entire trip, because we have worked with Bruce before & know that he has amazing skills for finding and identifying fauna & flora He is a keen birder himself & a wonderful teacher. We had a local guide at each camp, because Bruce is Zimbabwean & , therefore, not licensed in Zambia. When we wanted to walk, we engaged a park ranger, who is licensed to carry a weapon.

It was the beginning of the rainy season, but we selected this time of year and accepted the risk of rain for two reasons: there are fewer other tourists, and the migratory birds are arriving from the north. At each of the 4 places, we were the only guests. It is quite amazing to be the only guests in camp or at a lodge with a staff to meet our needs. We had only 2 days when we got caught in heavy rains. Those downpours just added to our adventure.

If you have read any of my previous reports, you know that our primary goal is big mammal viewing, with birding secondary. My husband is not a birder, but enjoys the search for the birds. He is extremely patient and tolerant of birdwatching idiosyncracies. However, one day when we were many kilometers from camp, Bruce & I were discussing the identification of a bird. I guess that we had been at it longer than we realized, because, the next thing I knew, my husband was out of the vehicle & exclaiming, "Oh, don't mind me--I'm walking back to camp. It's only 40 kms!!" We quickly ended our discussion & moved on.

The mammal viewing was not nearly as good in Zambia as it has been in other countries. There was evidence of poaching in every park. Numbers and species were way down. In South Luangwa, the elephants are much smaller than what we are used to watching, because the larger, stronger ones have been poached out. Many were also tuskless, indicating, according to our guides, a poorer gene pool remaining. About 10% of the elephants we saw showed signs of having been caught in snare traps--cut trunks, lame legs, even wire wrapped around body parts. It was quite sad to see. We did have excellent sightings of lions. The numbers and varieties of antelope were still okay. We saw many more snakes than every before. That could have been due to them being forced out of their ground holes by rain.

We planned this trip to have an extended period in each site. Because we were in each place for several days, and because this was our fifth trip to Africa, we did not feel compelled to go out on a drive or walk everyday, two or three trips daily. Many days, we took extended, all-day drives to far reaches of the park. We followed a strenuous day with a quiet day in camp. It was a lovely way to vacation, not just safari. We had the luxury of stopping to watch lions or elephants or Bee-eaters or Cranes or Bustards for as long as we wanted.

Itinerary:

November 1-6, 2001 Moshi Tented Camp in Kafue National Park

November 6-8 Susi & Chuma in Livingstone

November 8-15 Lechwe Tented Camp in Lochinvar National Park

November 15-27 Chichele Presidential Lodge in South Luangwa National Park

Moshi Tented Camp is on high ground overlooking the Kafue River near The Busanga Plains in the wild northern section of the Kafue National Park. The Busanga Plains are famous for their big prides of lion (We saw one pride of 14 lions---lionesses with young.), with open savanna and plains game. The sky was mainly overcast & rain was threatening the entire time we were there, so we opted to leave this camp early. That gave the managers and staff time to take down the tents and close up the camp before the heavy rains came and closed them in. E-mail from them indicated that they made it out of camp on very mud-slick roads, but did get out! Because all the camps and lodges are owned by one company, we were able to change plans very easily and quickly to everyone's advantage & satisfaction. We had not planned on going to Susi & Chuma, but was given the opportunity to do so by shortening our stay at Moshi.

Other Critters:

Defassa Waterbuck Warthog Banded Mongoose

Puku Vervet Monkey Slender Mongoose

Impala Cheetah Reedbuck

Water Mongoose Bushbuck Hippopotomus

Eland Cape Buffalo Kudu

Duiker Elephant Tree Squirrel

Lichtenstein's Hartbeest Crocodile Water Monitor

White-tailed Mongoose Vervet Monkey Lions

Wildebeest Burchell's Zebra Oribi

Roan Kafue Lechwe Side-striped Jackal

Susi & Chuma Lodge (named for the faithful companions of David Livingstone) is actually located within Mosi-Oa-Tunya park and along the Zambezi River upstream from Victoria Falls. We were there briefly and went on only one drive within the park. White Rhinocerous have been re-introduced there, and we saw all 4 of them. This was more of a rest & socializing break. David joined us there, and we were visited by neighboring farmers.

Other Critters:

Vervet Monkey Zebra Wildebeest

Hippopotomus Giraffe Common Waterbuck

Crocodile Warthog Impala

White Rhinocerous

Lechwe Tented Camp is on the southeastern shore of Chunga Lagoon. We were able to see waders, ducks, and shorebirds along the water's edge & from the pontoon boat that we took out onto the lagoon. A drive to Gwisho Hot Springs and Bwanda Hot Springs proved very unfruitful. Poaching is rampant in Lochinvar (we witnessed several incidents of such activity), and it is our belief that the target birds (snipes, flufftails, and crakes) have been poached out.

Other Critters:

Baboon Scrub Hair Kafue Lechwe

Oribi Side-striped Jackal Zebra

Wildebeest Leopard Tortoise Monitor Lizard

Cape Buffalo Night Adder Brown House Snake

Hippopotomus Vervet Monkey Impala

Duiker

Chichele Presidential Lodge: is all that one would expect from a retreat for the president of a country. It had been built for President Kenneth Kaunda, but had not been used for many years before Star of Africa bought and rebuilt it. It is gorgeous! We even had the luxury of air conditioning, something we were most unaccustomed to on that continent, where we most often stayed in mobile tented sites. The lodge sits up high on a hill and overlooks the plains leading down to the Luangwa River. From the veranda, we watched the elephants fording the river on their forays to the village to steel mangoes from the trees. We also could watch a variety of birds--waders, geese, and raptors, as well as the yardbirds that came to the lodge. We set up our scope on the veranda, which intrigued the staff & the occasional visitors.

Total species for trip 255

Total life birds 38 (preceeded by asterisk)

Other critters:

Elephant Impala Hippo

Yellow Baboon Kudu Common Waterbuck

Warthog Lion Vervet Monkey

Tree Squirrel Zebra Thornycroft Giraffe

Bushbuck Cape Buffalo Puku

Crocodile Monitor Lizard Elephant Shrew

Spotted Genet White-tailed Mongoose Civet

Black-tailed Scrub Hare Porcupine Reedbuck

Slender Mongoose Striped Skink Barking Gecko

Banded Mongoose Grysbok Leopard Tortoise

Common Duiker Dwarf Mongoose

The staff at all 4 sites were superb---exceptionally capable, caring, interested, friendly (I can run out of superlatives trying to describe them.)

Please contact me to find out more about Star of Africa or Bruce Watson. I have a web site for the former & e-mail addresses for both. I can recommend them both extremely highly.

Linda Lee Baker

Bonita Springs, FL, USA

LLBaker@aol.com