You’ve seen The Lion King, because you’re breathing. So you
probably have this romanticized idea of what the African bush is like;
giant grassy plains with dozens of different species of animals
scattered across it, white egrets flying overhead, and of course, the
Elton John soundtrack playing in the background.
It was exactly
like that.
The soundtrack might have been Dave humming
“Hakuna Matata” to himself because of all the photo opportunities.
We saw Vervet monkeys, zebras, impala, baboons, hippos, and leopards …
in the first 30 minutes. And there was a certain amount; nay, a
significant amount of non-PG-13 blood, death, and general mayhem.
But there were animals EVERYWHERE, in groups but mixed in zany ways.
And egrets (and royal ibis) were flying overhead on a regular basis.
Post facto, Dave calculated that he was taking a picture every sixty
seconds while we were on safari. For eight days. That’s just
short of four thousand photos. There was that much to see.
But this page is about the area, the bushcamps, and the scenery
more than the animals. See the other sections for wildlife photos!
This plane seemed pretty small until we took the bush planes in Botswana
Glamorous Mfuwe Airport
The drive from the airport wasn't particularly long, but there was a chance to see the Village of Mfuwe and realize that Zambia is not a rich country.
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Below is the map of our travels in the park, just to provide context for each of the stops.
Blue and red lines are driving (red is return), dotted lines are hiking
Luangwa National Park covers an area of about 9050 square kilometers of the Luangwa Valley floor. With its western and northwestern edge bounded by the Muchinga Escarpment, and the southern border lined with the meandering Luangwa River, there's no shortage of dramatic and fascinating topography in this stunning game-rich park. It was the start of the dry season, their winter, so the temperatures ranged from high fifties to mid-seventies, and while it clouded over a couple of times, we didn’t see a drop of rain. We were staying at four of seven lodges (six bush camps and the main lodge) owned by the Bushcamp company. Can’t say enough good things about them.
The guides weren’t just knowledgeable; they were walking encyclopedias. They ranged from extremely competent to magical in their ability to spot things. One time we were driving along at 30 KPH (a little over 20 MPH) in the dark and the guide (Peter) suddenly slowed to a stop, backed up a bit, and pointed to a bush.
Peter: "Look!"
Dave: "Yes. It's a bush."
Peter: "Right there!"
Dave" "Still a bush."
Peter: "Look carefully. That spot of green. A chameleon!”
And in the spotlight was a one-inch-long lizard that looked the exact color of the leafy branch he was on. One of the guides told us about the test you needed to pass in order to become a guide and it sounded like what you need for an associate degree. Identify 20 different kinds of birds by their calls. Know every animal you could spot in the park, including its Latin name, taxonomy, gestation period, coloration from juvenile to adults, behavioral patterns, eating habits, life span and a host of other factors (and there’s something like 500 different species in the park). Be able to tell from tracks left in loose sand the species, size, age, direction, and health of the animal that left them. The constitution of (demonstrated on our walking safaris) each kind of animal’s offal, why it contained what it did, and the end result of each animal's digestive system’s idiosyncrasies (like, for instance, why elephant dung is a rich source of food for baboons).
The rooms ranged from nice to spectacular … like, if you had that room in the Ritz Carlton in La Jolla you’d be going “wow.” And they were all themed and fit into the environment perfectly. There was a maximum of six “chateaus” per camp (some had fewer), so there was plenty of personal attention. They had eight service members to a camp, all of whom seemed delighted to meet you.
The Bushcamp company itself donates a reasonably large portion of their profits to the local community and talking with the head of operations at the base camp, they do it thoughtfully. “It’s easy to donate money to the local schools,” said Amy, “but fundamentally for the community as a whole to improve, they people with higher levels of education to bootstrap medical, farming, mining and other businesses. So we try to invest not just in the basic schools, but also in allowing kids that show promise to go for advanced degrees.” During the two years they were shut down during Covid, they continued to employ the entire staff as close to full time as possible.
And they had really great shirts.
But let's start at the beginning. We were literally seeing elephants, giraffes, and monkeys before we even made it to the main lodge (some outside the park itself). We stopped at the main lodge (Mfuwe Lodge) long enough for an orientation and tea, then we were off to our first camp, Kuyenda.
 Welcome monkey |
 That camera would be in Dave's hands for the next eight days |
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view off the main lodge balcony; baboons, zebras, warthogs, impala and hippos were all visible
The camps
You had to be careful where you walked on the way to the bathroom to
avoid stepping on a frog. The bar was snake infested. It
wasn’t safe to walk alone, and there were thieves everywhere.
It
was awesome.
The lodges all ran on the same schedule.
Breakfast at 6:00 am, a morning drive or walk, lunch at 11:00, a four
hour siesta, tea at 3:30, the evening drive at 4:00 pm, the sundowner
(where the land rover would park in some scenic spot and you would be
served a cocktail and a snack) around 6:00 pm, the nocturnal / after
dark drive, arrive back at the camp around 7:30 (or a little later if
you had seen something interesting). They had a similar “coexist
with nature” theme, blending into the surroundings, building around (or
on) trees, using natural materials (usually wood). The food was
typically gourmet and uniformly excellent, which was stunning when you
remembered that they had no modern kitchen appliances … no microwaves,
no gas or electric ranges, no refrigerators (although they had an ice
box). Meals were cooked on wood burning ovens or stoves or on wood
grills.
They referred to the individual residences for the guests as
“chateaus” which seems a little grandiose, but they were all spectacular
in their own way. They were also arraigned strategically to
provide privacy from the neighboring chateaus, which made the outdoor
showers work. All of them centered on the lodge center, which was
where you had your meals or relaxed with other guest with a drink.
Those tended to have sitting areas looking out over wide expanses where
a variety of animals made the spectacular scenery more fascinating.
Most of the chateaus had outdoor showers (hence the frogs) and
nightly visitors; elephants, buffalo, baboons, lions or leopards (hence
the “unsafe to walk alone,” although given the people that took us to
and from the chateau were armed with flashlights and not much else, it
wasn’t clear that made it safe). The baboons were everywhere, and
we were warned many times that they would snatch anything that looked
like food and some things that did not if we left anything unattended.
We had breakfast in the morning with the guide and the lodge
manager (and the other guests when there were some; half the nights, we
were the only guests in residence).
The driving safaris
(and intra-camp transfers if you didn’t walk) used massive, specialized
vehicles build by Land Rover, and you suddenly got the mystique, because
those things could traverse incredible rough terrain and ditches that
had the vehicle at a 45% angle up and down. At times, it seemed
like you were on a Disney ride, roaring through make believe jungle on a
dirt track at 30 KPH, branches snatching at your clothing, strange bird
calls and animal noises all around you. Except it was all real.
It was particularly exciting at night. There was always a driver,
a spotter, and sometimes a park ranger (with a large caliber bolt action
rifle) with you, but it felt real and incredibly intense.
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Kuyenda - We spent two nights (which equaled four safaris) at Kuyenda. Out guide was Fanwell, who could predict animal behavior so accurately he would point out locations of animals not by spotting them, but by noticing the behavior of other animals and deriving the location of a predator accordingly. He sounded like Chadwick Boseman when he spoke, was sharp as a whip, and had an enthusiasm for the safaris that was contagious. When we had a leopard encounter (separate section), he was tapping me on the shoulder, pointing to where I should be taking photos, and crying out in excitement, “It’s a national geographic moment.” More entertaining, the “national geographic moment” was the first night, and at dinner Dave told him we were expecting him to step up his game on day two, and on day two we had a leopard encounter with three leopards and a hyena. That night, Dave said, “well, you upped the ante, but we have the morning safari with you tomorrow before we head for the next camp, and I’m expecting you to do even better.” And that morning we watched a dead buffalo torn apart by a hundred vultures and four hyena, which was savage but one of the most fascinating experiences we’ve ever had.
Kuyenda had the simplest of the chateaus, one room bungalows with outdoor showers and thatched roofs. They and the main area looked out over a large, grassy field through which elephants wandered regularly (and, apparently, through the camp one night, which we missed because it turns out elephants are incredibly quiet). We did a total of four safaris, three driving and one walking.
We also met a handsome, easygoing, personable young intern named Sebi, there for five weeks between his Freshman and Sophomore years at Skidmore College in New York. When asked how he had landed such an enviable internship, he told us his grandfather had built and operated the camp before selling it to the Bushcamp Company five years earlier. Sebi’s mother, Christina, and his stepfather stopped by the second day to see him. Dave had noticed Sebi’s “Bushcamp” shirt was worn and frayed, thinking they must be working Sebi to the bone if that happened in the few days he’d been working there, when Christina said, “Sebi, that’s your Grandfather’s shirt!”
We had quite a rundown on the history of the camp as a result.
Welcoming us to the camp. Sebi is the guy in the middle with shorts and sandals
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Yes, frogs in the bathroom |
and snakes in the bar |
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 view from our porch |
 Anniversary cake! |
Kapamba (Kapamba River). We travelled to Kapamba after the morning safari and stayed there two nights. At the height of the dry season, the Kapamba river has areas where the water travels underground and you can walk across the sandy bottom without getting your feet wet, but while we were there, it was a broad but shallow tributary off the Luangwa river. Shallow in this case meant it rarely reached knee depth, which kept it from having the abundant hippos and crocodiles of its larger parent. Kapamba featured the most spectacular sunset we’ve ever seen, watched from chairs planted in the river, with water running over our feet, sipping gin and tonics (white wine for Alison).
We had one lunch sitting the river as well, in a semi-permanent tent set up in the water. They had a system for getting the sand off your feet before you put your hiking boots on that worked well, and it was a welcome break to cool your toes in the water after one of the hiking safaris.
Our guide was Charles, who was clearly competent. But either because the northern portion of the park still had plentiful water in ponds and ditches, or because the sky was overcast, or some other incomprehensible reason, animals were scarce and compared to our first three days we did a lot more driving around (or walking) than seeing things.
Kapamba has more permanent structures build from stone. Entertainingly, the chateaus were open air, with a metal grate that you closed in the evening to avoid getting eaten by lions, which felt a little like you were inside the cage while the animals were outside looking in at you.
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 Our chateau |
 The main area |
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 Separate viewing area with a bed overlooking the river |
 which we took advantage of |
Prepping for the "sundowner" ... in the river
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Fantastic sunset
Lunch the next day after a walking safari
We had one dinner at Kapamba that was particularly interesting. All the meals where excellent, and where generally upscale American-like fare. But Peter told us that one of the typical meals in the village was Nshima, a white maize thick doughy porridge that you form into small cups with your hands and then use to pick up some filling. You pop the entire thing in your mouth, chew, swallow, repeat. It reminded us of Ethiopian cuisine, which does the same kind of thing but with long, flat rolls of soft bread instead of the porridge.
Charles was telling us that in the village (and, we assume, the rest of Zambia), to honor your guests, you had to serve it with some kind of chicken filling, nothing else would do. So Dave looked down at the beef, squash and cabbage fillings on his plate and said, "So I think what you are saying is that we've been dissed."
The white ball is the Nshima
Bilimungwe - Bilimungwe’s main area was built around an ancient mahogany tree that included a massive termite mound. These termites were “farmers,” meaning they were nocturnal and dragged dead bits of grass and other vegetation into the hive, where it was converted to cellulose and spread on the floor in order to grow mushrooms in special fungal chambers deep in the nest. It seemed odd, but the only time it really affected anyone was near the rainy season, when the termites swarmed out by the millions to create new nests. The proprietor told us that she’d been there when it happened and at the end of it, there were piles of dead flying termites knee deep (but not for long; they are considered a delicacy by the locals, and the camp’s attendants cleaned out the piles in one day). For us, it was just an architectural oddity.
The main lodge and the guest chateaus all looked out over private ponds (or watering holes, really) that were a source of constant visits by the local population (by which I mean the animals). We had a warthog stop by to take a nice mud bath, hippos crowded into the one off the main lodge to eat the “water cabbage” growing in thick mats, and we saw impala at some of the other ponds. Birds were common, including the elusive lilac breasted roller and the plentiful but beautiful white top and small bee-eaters.
Our guide was (still) Charles, because they had a full house of eight guests, and when that happens the split the driving safari into two Land Rovers.
We did the hike from Zungulila to Bilimungwe on foot as our morning safari, so the only real Bilimungwe safari was the night drive, but like Kapamba, the animals were scarce.
Bilimungwe was the only camp we stayed at that had a full complement of eight guests (some of which we had overlapped with at other camps).
 Mahogany tree with termite mound |
 Lodges built trees into the structures |
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 A hippo lounging in the water outside the main lodge, munching on water cabbage |
 Africa things ... porcipine quills, giant land snales, nuts and other vegitation |
Chindeni (Luangwa River) - Chindeni is built out over the bank of the Luangwa River, making hippos a common sight on the nightly drives. On the far side where wide plains stretching in both directions, frequented by elephants, baboons, and a combination of Impala and Pukas. Oddly enough, there weren’t any hippos directly in front of the lodge, but there were a variety of crocs and water birds that made the spectacular view of the river and surrounds even more fascinating. There was a also a fair amount of monkey business going on… or, in this case, baboon business. We were rather startled while sitting on the deck of our hut relaxing by the sudden thud of a baboon dropping out of a tree onto the canvas roof behind us. The baboons frequented the trees and grounds, eating fruits in the trees arching over the camp and occasionally getting into a little monkey mayhem for reasons known only to them.
One thing Dave loved about Chindeni was watching the Kingfishers. He had no idea they could hover in place like a hummingbird. That, and the African Skimmers that would show up for about five minutes at 6 am, just when the light was a perfect sepia background on the river, and then would disappear until the next day.
Our guide was Peter (who had a twin brother, and two sisters that were also identical twins). Peter was more interested in things outside the camp than the other guides, but in many ways he became a symbol of the Zambian entrepreneurial spirit that seemed on display in the local village. During the covid shutdown, Peter had free time on his hands and he started growing his own vegetables. Now he has a couple of people he’s hired to manage his small farm while he’s working full time again, and he spoke about adding fish (Tilapia) in ponds on his property, chickens and, eventually, cattle. Big dreams on a local scale.
Chindeni was our favorite camp; the main area had several areas to sit and relax while looking out over the river, was built around a number of shade trees, and had a “feng shui” vibe that was hard to describe but impossible not to notice. The chateau was spacious and was built out of actual safari tents. Three were joined together in a permanent setup to make the bedroom, sitting room, and bathroom areas distinct, but they all blended together to make a comfortable room.
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view off the main lodge deck with the sun coming up
 African skimmer in the early morning light |
 hovering Kingfisher |
And now on to the star of our show... the safaris! Starting with a "National Geographic Moment" on our first time out.