Zambia
The big male lion yawns again and pads off to join the rest of the large pride a short distance away. I’m a little surprised as the drivers hop out the two Safari vehicles and put up the picnic table near the depression in the ground where the male was until a few minutes ago. The ticktok generation prance and and skip for photos, straying a little far from the safety of our 4x4’s until called back by our guide. The pride are still close and heading off for their hunt. We’re on our second game drive in Zambia, in the Luangwa National Park, the dusk drive. The dawn drive took us past the Thornicroft’s giraffes which are smaller than those we saw in Tanzania. There’s also zebra, impala, elephants, kingfishers, and lots of hippos in the river.
After our cake and juice on the dusk drive, the spotter uses a floodlight to look for the more elusive animals in the dark. Safari 4x4’s move slowly in the darkness with searchlights panning bushes and trees looking for eyes reflecting back. The leopards and bush babies remain elusive but the hippos have come out of the water, munching the grassy vegetation like a giant lawnmower. As we return to our campsite, the hippos are also there, eating the grass behind our tents. There’s a lot of wildlife in Croc Creek Camping, monkeys raid the bins, big lizards dig for grubs next to the bar, there’s a warning sign to watch for crocs and hippos in the swimming pool, and a large spider waits for Martina in the shower.
The journey from South Luangwa National Park is mostly just doing the distance. A stop at a charitable organisation making jewellery from snare wires on one day and the advertised visit to the Zambian capital city Lusaka turned out to be a two hour stop at a shopping mall 3km from the centre. Lusaka was in the middle of a thunderstorm with heavy rain so no one minded too much. We went to Nando’s..
The view from the truck window shows Zambia with its mud round houses, AirTel money sheds everywhere, oxen and plough at work in the fields. We stop now and again for a “bushy bushy” and to eat our lunch. Our guide Erella gives some leftovers to a group by the roadside selling mangoes and a fight breaks out over the food as one child tries to take the whole lot. He tries to placate the rest and fetches a loaf of sliced bread and asks the woman to share it out, she takes it runs for the hills!
A festive spirit is starting to take hold in the truck, a few Christmas songs and organising secret Santa. Martina tries to teach the younger group how to hold a harmony together, there’s much work to go there before we have a choir ready for Christmas In Zimbabwe.