The heat in South Luangwa is now intense, October is well known for the temperatures reaching above 40 degrees centrigrade and this year is no exception. We however had a couple of short rain episodes (if a shower, even if very light, lasts more than 60 minutes, I personnally think it qualifies for being called "rains"!), albeit localised, so maybe change is on the way! 

Indeed the bush is getting greener, as it would at this time of the year, despite the dryness. Most interestingly for me are the baobab trees which seem to be blooming early this year, not only have they grown their leaves but flowers have been seen as well!

I know I was starting last month's newsletter by talking about the low water levels, and I don't want to repeat myself too much, but for us in South Luangwa it is certainly a daily subject of conversation. The Luangwa River is at its lowest, as shown in these photos below, the first one featuring our crossing point (what is left of it!) and a couple of other ones showing the state of the river in different areas north of us. 

October sadly indicates that the end of our safari season is on its way. Island Bush Camp will soon close and pack up again until next May. It’s been a very busy season at our bush camp, and we are delighted that more guests are combining Kafunta with Island each year.

Anke, Ron and Luke Cowan were at Island Bush Camp early October, paying a visit to Klaus, our Camp Manager, and to Mr. Zambezi, the resident elephant. The Cowans are now back in Australia for Luke's last school term of the year. They will come back to Kafunta early December.

Klaus & Mr Zambezi

Klaus with Anke, Luke & Ron Cowan

And some photos taken around the bush camp. 

You may have been wondering what is happening with our new bush camp, Three Rivers Camp  since we haven’t been providing updates in our last newsletters. As it is quite common in Africa, we have been delayed by some administrative hurdles, and now that the rainy season is approaching it would not be practical to continue the construction.

So camp building will resume as soon as we can access the area in 2016. This means that we are unable to confirm an exact opening date, but we are aiming for a soft opening towards the second part of 2016, and we are definitely taking reservations for the five luxury tents for the 2017 season (May 25-Oct 31, 2017).

The sightings for the past few weeks have continued to be simply amazing. We’ve had the small pride of 3 lions (mom, and a young female and young male) kill a baby giraffe just on the floodplains near Kafunta.  It was one of those harsh sightings as the family of giraffes was hanging around to watch their lost one for a long time.

The lioness on the kill, with Kafunta River Lodge in the background

Giraffes standing by the kill

The next morning

Early the next morning Josephat and his guests had an awesome sighting of a female leopard casually resting in a sausage tree. She was lying down, very sleepy,  and not interested in our cameras, so we let her be, and moved off to observe buffalos and elephants for some time. 

On the way back we decided to check on the leopard again, and were surprised to found her on the ground not far from the sausage tree.

She was up to something!

She walked by our vehicle, towards the tree where we had originally found her. 

We followed her towards the tree and saw a dead impala on the ground, just at the base of the trunk. For sure this impala got interested in the juicy sausage tree flowers carpeting the ground, ignoring the presence of a leopard in the higher branches!

We had missed the action but we were nevertheless rewarded by the rare day time sighting of seeing the leopard dragging the carcass for over 200m, stopping every few meters to take a deep breath. She passed just in front of our vehicle and disappeared in a very thick bush to enjoy her breakfast.

Every day brought more sightings of lions and leopards. 

Guests following a lioness

These two beautiful males were just behind our staff compound and workshop at Kafunta River Lodge. They were quite restless, and quickly disappeared in the bush. 

Mom, with daughter and son

The mother & cub in the Puku Ridge area

The blind-eyed leopard

This leopard just took down a baby puku

A couple of months ago I shared some pictures from my educational trip to Lower Zambezi National Park. This month I thought I would share those of the trip I took in late August to Kafue National Park. 

Kafue NP is the oldest and largest national park in Zambia. Covering over 22,000 km2 it is one of the largest parks in the whole of Africa, offering a very large variety of habitats and a fantastic diversity of wildlife.

Due to its size, visiting Kafue in depth can mean a trip on it’s own, but it is quite possible to combine one or two of its most popular areas with a safari in South Luagnwa. My trip included a visit to the Chunga and Lufupa areas where the Kafue River is spectacular, along with the well known Busanga Plains and their floating grassland, rich in all sorts of antelopes.  I ended my trip with a relaxing time on a quieter stretch of the Kafue River,  beautifully ornamented with large boulders, grassy islands and various water channels, perfect for bird watching and observing elephant bathing in the river.

The beautiful Kafue River

Lufupa area, with tall grasses

Busanga Plains

Lioness stalking some red lechwes

The "Mr. Busanga"!

The Kafue is home to more species of ungulates than any other national park in Zambia, and compared to South Luagnwa you are likely to observe duikers, sitatunga and lewche, roan, sable and even Lichentstein hartebeests in addition to the more common antelopes. (although we do have roan antelopes in South Luangwa, which can sometimes be seen near Island Bush Camp!)

The park also host a healthy population of lions, leopards  and wild dogs, and for those with a bit of luck, one of the last viable populations of cheetahs in Zambia.

Enjoying elephants crossing the slow waters

Contact me for safari ideas including the highlights of Kafue National Park for your next African trip and I would happily recommend the excellent camps and lodges, which can be found in the park.

I’m privileged through my position at Kafunta Safaris to learn more every day about our fellow safari operators in Zambia and Southern Africa, as well as to meet remarkably knowledgeable travel agents and operators.

As a matter of fact, I’m writing this newsletter not from my bush office and it’s soaring temperatures, but from a hotel room in greyish Hampshire where I’m embarking on a week-long road Marketing trip.

After the trip, I will relocate our sales & marketing office to my hometown of Liège in Belgium, to let the rains pass over South Luangwa.  I will nevertheless continue to bring you the latest news about Kafunta Safaris, and share with you exciting photos of the ongoing wildlife sightings taking place in South Luangwa.

But I can do with your help! It would be wonderful if you could send me your favorite pictures taken while on safari at Kafunta River Lodge or Island Bush Camp. You can email me the photos or a link to your online album, and I’ll happily feature them in our next newsletters and social media.

This time around, I thought I would get Luke Cowan in the spotlight!

For his September & October visit at the lodge Luke had brought with him his new DLSR Nikon 7100 camera equipped with a 150-500mm Sigma lens. You will already have noticed some of his pictures in the stories above, and here are more of Luke's growing portfolio. Just turned 16, I've no doubt that Luke's talent will quickly escatate and I look forward to his next series of pictures!

Hoping you have enjoyed this newsletter, I look forward to next month to bring you more news and photos.

Cheers for now,

Izzy

Kafunta Safaris