South Luangwa

Even though we had always known that we would not be spending vast amounts of time in Zambia, we also knew that we would definitely go to see South Luangwa National Park.

Before we even got to Wildlife Camp, which was to be our home for the next few days, we were treated to a herd of elephants busily browsing the Mopani Forest.

Wildlife Camp is situated on the banks of the Luangwa River, directly across the Reserve. As there is no fence either around the Reserve or the Camp, all animals are free to roam as and when they choose.

This proved to be very cool indeed, as hippos were happily roaming through camp during the day and were replaced by elephants both young and old at night. We even had the elephant herd ‘s matriarch and calf silently pass not two meters   from the car in the middle of the night. Needless to say, midnight trips to the bathroom were not undertaken lightly and when Chris “stumbled” across the matriarch and the calves, he had to detour to keep the car between himself and the ellies!

As the Luangwa boasts over 40 000 hippos it’s not surprising that we spent our days watching them from the pool overlooking the river, as well as racking up our bird count.

Having spent a wonderful few days getting our wildlife cravings satisfied, we were to have one more bonus: we had the opportunity to watch a group of three ellies shepherding their very young calves across the river right in front of us. What an experience!