On to our third camp today, and a new country for us, Zambia... time is flying... as were we for a good part of today. We drove to the airstrip, the cleared flat place in the middle of nowhere, and flew by light plane to Kasane, Botswana... then from Kasane to Livingstone, Zambia (The same Livingstone from the famous quote, 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume'), where we cleared customs and immigration yet again... and then flew, again by small aircraft, over the Kalahari Desert, to Lufupa Tented Camp in Kafue National Park in Zambia.
As with all of the camps, we were met with cold washcloths to wipe away the dust and sweat from our travel and with singing and dancing by the staff members, and a snack and cocktails... before an introductory evening game drive before dinner. We chose September for the trip since the possibility of animal sightings is best then... it's the end of the dry season, so many of the water sources have dried up, forcing the animals to congregate around the remaining water holes... and the grasses are dry and brown and trampled, and the trees mostly without leaves, affording better viewing when there are animals. We haven't been disappointed... elephant and zebra and giraffe and baboons, among others, have been as common as the squirrels in our back yard at home.
Again, we had two safari vehicles (Toyota Land Rovers and Land Cruisers), equipped with seating for 6 -9 people. Our drivers for this camp were Gordon and Robert, like all of the others expert at spotting critters and birds in the seeming barren landscape even when the large mammals weren't about. Gordon was to later endear himself to me by spotting a leopard on a boat excursion on the river that only myself and a couple of others managed to see... I had been kicking myself for missing the game drive at the last camp when they had seen the leopard. Now we had all seen three of the five so-called 'Big 5,' originally given this distinction for being the hardest animals to hunt and bring down... and we would see lots of buffalo in the next camp in Zimbabwe, giving us four of the five... the Big 5 being, elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, and rhinoceros. Due to poaching and the consequent dwindling numbers of rhinoceros, we likely won't see this final member of the Big 5.
Flying over the Kalahari Desert to Lufupa Tented Camp in Kafue National Park in Zambia...
Out again upon the unplum'd salt estranging sea...
This lion was having a seriously bad hair day, but we didn't give him any grief about it...
A Pod, or Raft, of Hippos...
A spot of tea during a game drive... how civilized...
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