Posts Tagged ‘lower-zambezi’

Why I like the cool dry season

August 20th, 2010, posted in travel

Aside from the romantic part of cuddling up to your loved one, sitting around a fire and drinking wine for as long as you want to without insects bugging you, there is very little discomfort…

I’ve just had the luxury of taking a bath in Luxury tent 7 (us manager’s need to check the condition of the rooms at times.. wink, wink). It was early evening and I heard the grunt of a leopard, nightjars singing the sun a lullaby and the rustle of leaves through the trees – there is no substitute for the sounds of nature and no health/beauty spa could have offered me a better option, that’s for sure!

The weather from mid May to mid August is variable to some degree with more wind in August and cooler nights in June, but each month have a nature-lover’s reason to invite you to the Lower Zambezi Valley… the animals that wonder through the camps, and all the sounds like the lions roaring, elephant trumpeting, hippo honking, baboon barking and genets screeching – these are some of the sounds I hear almost every night here at Mvuu Lodge …

The crazy-awesome Lower Zambezi

July 30th, 2010, posted in travel

It’s crazy-awesome staying in the Lower Zambezi Valley, I’m guaranteed of hearing Elephants every day and seeing Hippo at least once every 24 hours! I get to see vervet monkeys, samango monkeys and chacma baboons almost every day and I gaze out onto the Zambezi River every meal time.

The best part about my work is that I get to learn from the local Zambians whilst I assist them to improve their learned skills and natural talents! It’s all just a life we live that forms a part of our skills transfer programme.

The interesting part about spending time at Mvuu Lodge whilst we assist the staff working here, is meeting such a variety of people, those wanting to camp, those wanting to self-cater and those wanted to live the good life and stay in the tents with ensuite bathrooms and have meals prepared for them!

I’ve been surprised at the number of foreign travelers who simply hire a 4X4 vehicles in Lusaka and get going, arriving here without a booking and spending 3-4 nights exploring the Zambezi river, the surrounding Game management area and the Lower Zambezi National Park. It seems even the first-time-to-Africa German tourists get the hang of driving in four-wheel drive pretty quickly out here, patiently waiting for elephants who seem to wonder into the road and taking countless photographs of the numerous butterflies flying around at the moment.

I’ll wonder to the deck in a few minutes, have a cup of Zambian coffee and rest my soul before welcoming our next group of campers due in an hours time…

Mvuu – our new home

July 11th, 2010, posted in travel

We have only been here at Mvuu Lodge for a week and already it has crept into our hearts! The river is still full at the moment and early in the mornings and late in the afternoons it has a calming effect even though it is flowing at 12km/hour!!!

The Zambian people are very friendly and we look forward to meeting and working along side them in the days to come…

We have learnt not only to shine our torch along the path but all around as hippo and elephant tend to roam in between the lodgings at night and although we have not yet seen the hyena, she and her cub have left tracks as evidence of a visit.

So far I’ve heard lion, hyena, baboon and owls at night, but Pieter has heard the low rumble of elephants and the grunt of a leopard!!

Here’s a pic of what I see whilst downloading e-mails and updating bushtrail blogs!!!

The Zambezi River, filling its banks near Mvuu, Lower Zambezi

Why arrive earlier at the airstrip?

June 16th, 2010, posted in travel, Wildlife

Why should you arrive earlier at the airstrip?

When we book fly-in safaris it is either to save the guests travel time, to allow the guests to experience the area by air, or simply because the roads are so bad it could ruin the experience!

Two weeks ago we were on our way to the Royal airstrip in the Lower Zambezi valley when our transfer came to stop as a beautiful male leopard walked across the road…

Leopard walks across the road

So we stop and watch him rather than rush to catch a flight!

The bottom line _______ even in rural Africa, in the bush without traffic, you may want to leave a little earlier than you need to, you never know what you might see along the way!

 
 
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