Post Trip Post

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Well, it seems like we found the right place. This is a "Leopard Crossing" sign in Okonjima.

Here are a few shots of the elusive leopard. We actually had 3 sightings of two different leopards. It was wonderful! These were all in Okonjima.

They can be incredibly hard to spot!

Their paws are huge.

They are beautiful beyond description...

Now this is a photographer on safari! This was taken on the Lunga River.

Some Favorite Shots and Last Bush Experiences

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Notice the blob in the square behind Susan. The distance is about 25 feet. The next picture is what is in the blob. This was our morning "Cheetah Walking Safari". Needless to say we found them. A brother and sister - mostly sleeping, which was a good thing.

The Bearded Warthog. Brian's favorite!

Oryx. Spectacular looking!

Kudu. Look at those ears.

Note the rectangle drawn in the bushes. That is our tent - about 200 yards from the lion. We heard this pride mating all night one night. Talk about boundless energy...

Just a Few More...

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Lioness yawning.










Morning mist on the plains. Puku grazing.



Three Cheetah looking at a Warthog.




Can you get much more beautiful than this?

Just one more. This was such a great experience being so close to so many Cheetah!

Here is one of evening sky. The cloud formations were fabulous. It is hard to pick just one.

Susan and the Leopard Turtle, plus Hippos, a Sunset and Brian's Fish!

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This is Susan with a Leopard Turtle. It weighs about 8-10 pounds. It is one of the "Small Five".

Hippo party! This is a LOT of hippo in a small circle. You have to wonder, "Where are their bodies?"



And this is a lot of hippo standing alone. These guys are REALLY big.







Just one of many, many breathtaking sunsets!










Brian was the only one to catch a fish on the Lunga. Granted, this isn't the biggest one either of us have caught, but sometimes just catching anything is a thrill.

Here's the fish!

South Luangwa, Zambia and Okonjima, Namibia

This is a combined ending of Mfuwe/Nkwali and some of our time in Namibia. More to follow.

So... the big news is that we finally caught up with the Leopard in Namibia. One of Brian's shots is at the bottom of this posting - we have about a million more and will bore all of you with more than you want to see when we get home. Next to this text is a close up of an Okonjima Cheetah. We did two up-close-and-personal encounters with Cheetah today, one a WALKING SAFARI this morning! WOW, what an exciting experience. Will post more on this later.

Have you ever seen a Wart Hog Crossing road sign?

This was a nice group of giraffe, but probably doesn't do so well on the blog. They are so much fun to watch.

Here is Susan with Chris, our guide and Gustav, our tracker and bush cutter, the guys who successfully showed us the leopard so intimately. We not only got extreme photo closeups of her, but we witnessed an almost kill of a small Kudo and the bellows to warn the rest of the herd from the large Kudo when she spotted the leopard about 5 feet away. It was an amazing insight into the quiet stalking of the leopard, and also the defense system within the ranks of the preyed. Amazing.

Feeling blue? This guy must have a boatload of woes. But isn't he georgeous?

Monkey business... lots and lots of these guys, but they are hard to photograph because they NEVER stop moving!


And last, but not least, here is Brian's A-Number-One shot of MJ the leopard. This was a really special tracking, which we will never forget. We will try to post a few more pics of her tomorrow. Out to Stellenbosch tomorrow and then on the Frankfurt the next day and home Friday. How can we have nearly finished this trip already??? See, or talk to you, soon.

Love,

S&B

South Luangwa National Park

Luangwa River – Mfuwe
Zambia
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We arrived at Nkwali camp around 5PM on Tuesday, November 13. What a spectacular change, both in the lodge and with the game. On the way from the airport we passed many villages with more people that we have seen since we left Cape Town. Here is a local grocery store. And some of the local housing and children running home after school.

We spotted Cape buffalo and elephant before we even got to the camp. The regimen is the same – up at 5:15am, morning safari, lunch, nap, tea, evening safari, dinner and bed. We have been having very strange dreams, which we understand is one of the side effects of Malarone, the malaria meds. I suspect it is also the environment.

The lodge has virtually no bugs in comparison to what we have been used to. We took a shower the first night with a small frog, and there are a few geckos around on the walls, but in comparison to our last two camps, this is the 4 Seasons.

The game viewing has been spectacular, although the leopard still eludes us. We saw a herd of about 25-30 elephants, who passed about 10 feet from the land cruiser. Today we saw a pack of wild dogs. Also saw Thornicroft’s giraffe, more hippo, impala, bushbuck, an African civet, and more. It’s been amazing.

Today we saw a pack of wild dogs. You don't want to be a baby impala around here!

Last night, again in the rain (but nothing like Lunga), Brian was fiddling with his poncho and dropped his camera on the hard metal floor of the land cruiser. He dented the rim to the lens, but fortunately the hood probably saved it from shattering completely. He was able to use a leatherman to straighten it out and today’s shooting seems to show that the camera and lens are ok. We are very grateful.

There will be more from here as we don’t leave Mfuwe until Friday. Having massages this afternoon and then relaxing until dinner.

Keep an eye out for more!

Lunga River

Lunga River
Zambia

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We arrived at the Lunga River Saturday, November 10 by helicopter, and made the short drive to the lodge. We were grateful to find that the bedroom and bathroom were fully enclosed, which they were not in Busanga. So we didn’t have to battle the hundreds (thousands?) of moths and bugs that invaded our room in Busanga. Unfortunately, being on the river, we discovered frogs in the shower and big flat ugly looking wall spiders, which liked to hide behind the mirrors. Brian was a busy guy clearing out the room every day of our unwanted guests. He was great! We were the only guests in the lodge, closing it as the final guests of the season (Busanga too!).

There were many hippo, birds, puku, duiker and other small animals, but the big game seems to have gone on vacation. It was 3 fairly dry days of game viewing, and several days of wet weather. We were on a night drive on Sunday, November 11 when a torrential rain storm came suddenly upon us, complete with thunder and lightening. We all donned heavy rain ponchos and our driver sped through the bush in the pitch black night at what felt like about 60 mph, trying to get back to the lodge before the ruts in the “roads” filled up and we couldn’t get through. It was terrifying! Susan put her head down, thinking “well, at least we got the wills organized and the kids know where everything is!”

Here is a picture of us at the rapids on the Lunga River. Susan fished off the boat for about ½ hour with hippos hovering about 40 feet away. The guide, getting concerned at one point, came back on the boat and revved up the engine to make them halt their advance.

The last night we were in camp a black mamba snake of considerable size slithered its way onto the bar’s deck. There was great excitement and much ado about getting it relocated. It has been quite an experience so far! Stay tuned.

Busanga, Kafue, Zambia

Happy Birthday Jay!!!

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We arrived in Busanga on Tuesday, November 6th after the longest travel day for us in a long time. Up at 5 AM in Cape Town to fly South African Airways to Johannesburg. Jo’burg via South African to Lusaka, Zambia. Both flights fully booked. Lusaka by 4 seater plane to Lunga River Airstrip (2 hour flight) and finally a helicopter ride (20 minutes) from Lunga to Busanga.

Was it worth it? You bet. Look at the photos. Busanga is “lion country” and we followed the Busanga pride of lions for three days – 4 females, 2 cubs and 2 males. They are fascinating animals but they are still “killing machines” as our guide reminded us. The cheetahs were as spectacular as we remembered, the hippos extremely entertaining, and the zebra spectacular to look at. Some of the other wildlife we have seen include hyena, impala, puku, warthogs and various antelope species. Our guide, Mike, was terrific and a never-ending source of information on the fauna and flora.

The bushcamp itself was very primitive. The bed was covered by canvas and netting, but the bathroom was open to the sky and got rained on several times. Susan and I have never seen so many bugs in our room as Busanga. Thank God for mosquito netting. Every day greets us with a 5 AM wake up call, followed by a very light breakfast and then about a 4-5 hour drive in the bush. We return to a full brunch and then siesta until 4 PM. After tea and hors d’ouvres, we set out on another drive until sunset, during which we have “sundowners” on the plains.

Susan has so far made it out of bed on time, with minimal negative comments. We’ll see how long she lasts.

The weather has been unpredictable. We left all our warm clothing in Cape Town, only to find Busanga very cold, with rain coming down in buckets the second day. It warmed up enough the day we left to put on shorts for the first time.

We are being allowed to use the camp’s administrative internet to post this blog. We’re not sure when we’ll get to you next, but keep posted. Aside from sharing our dinners with a large variety of flying insects, and our room with more nature than we had planned, we are having a ball!

Cape Town

Well, we survived the flights over, but it is a long haul. We arrived at the hotel at 6:40am (that's Susan standing with the guard). We rested until High Tea, which is a very elaborate affair at the Mt. Nelson Hotel. Walked around the beautiful grounds, and then to the wharf for a wonderful seafood dinner. Susan finally slept and we started Monday off with a little more energy.

We hired a driver to take us around and drove through Cape Town. Here is a photo of City Hall where Mandela spoke on the balcony to the crowds when he was released from prison. We went on to the Castle of Good Hope, the Rhodes Memorial, Kirstenbosch Gardens the Constantia
wine country, Camps Bay and back to Cape Town. This is a really beautiful city. We are planning to do Stellenbosch on our return to Cape Town in a couple of weeks. Here we are in the Kirstenbosch Gardens.















At Camps Bay you get a really good view of the Twelve Apostles (the mountain range behind Brian).












We have an early (5:30am) departure tomorrow and 4 flights tomorrow to get to our first safari destination, Busanga. Don’t know when we will be back on line, but keep an eye out for more.