Saturday 18 June

We have had a fantastic day here at South Luanga National Park in Zambia.  We started off with the alarm ringing at 5.30 a.m., and it took enormous physical strength and determination on Yanni’s part to stop me disemboweling the thing there and then.  It survived, however, and we both made it to the safari truck by 6 a.m., although Yanni was still in her sleeping bag (she hopped) and I was still in my pajamas.  I didn’t hop.  At 54, you don’t, if you can possibly avoid it. You don’t put shoes on either. That would constitute An Unnecessary Bend.  If you don’t have rheumatism, arthritis, brittle bone disease or anything else, you still might get any or all of these.  So no hopping for me.  Yanni just dragged me.  I know I occasionally say harsh things about my daughter, but I’ll give her this - she’s a bloody good dragger.

The Luangwa River is one of the major tributaries of the Zambezi, and one of the four biggest rivers of Zambia. The river generally floods in the rainy season (December to March) and then reduces in the dry season. It is one of the biggest unaltered rivers in Southern Africa and the 20,000 square miles (around 50,000 square kilometers) that make up the surrounding valley are home to a wide range of wildlife.  This year the rainy season ended early, as in Malawi, and this has left the country in danger of drought and famine.  For reasons I have not yet grasped, native African’s don’t make efforts to store water and irrigate their land.  As a result, they and their soil are flooded in the rainy season, and struggle with drought and famine in the dry season.  The river running beside our lodge was very low on water, see below:

We had a 4 hour safari from 6-10am, and saw giraffes, elephants, baboons (I adore yellow baboons, olive ones worry me), crocodiles, impala, and something known as Thorncroft Giraffes (more about this later, if I remember).  Olive baboons have worrying bottoms.  Yellow baboons are altogether delightful, and I yearn to groom them.  We have a yellow baboon at the Sanctuary, I am not allowed to groom her, so in frustration I have taken to grooming the turtle, Fang.  We’ll, I call her fang.  It’s such a good name.  The rest of the staff and volunteers and vet interns and vet extern's and vet nurses and would-be vet nurses and rehabilitate-rs and office staff and Malawi's and the rest of them call her Ocean.  It’s a shame really.  You can just hear that Fang is right for a turtle.

Please see below, irrespective of turtles and worrying staff,  some photos taken today on Safari. We have a few more Safari’s to go, and I’ll try to post a few pictures for each one.

Upwards and onwards.

A giraffe

Wild pigs 

Yanni and self watching hippos playing in a river

Lion - he didn't seem interested in us at all.  The safari guide explained that all of the animals see our truck with all the people in it as just one intruder, and doesn't really feel threatened.  However if we start talking loudly and/or got up and started moving around to get photos etc, the animal will perceive we are many intruders and is likely to take umbrage.

The trees are amazing, so many and such different varieties.  This tree has grown on a termite mound.  The termite is likely to have conveyed the seed back to the mound, either than or a bird could have dropped it.  The termite mound is nutrient packed, apparently, so the tree grew quickly.

This termite mound has grown up between two trees

An example of soil erosion.  The soil is washed away by flood water, and the roots of the tree exposed.  We saw  hundreds of trees like this