Tag Archive | Kafue National Park

Bush Trade

Sep15

In our pre-trip reconnaissance, it became abundantly clear that the better traveled Mfuwe/South Luangwa park area saw many more visitors, and organizations were better organized in getting support for schools, clinics and other projects. The Kafue park, neglected by the government for decades, has fewer facilities within the park. And, the philanthropic efforts supporting people in the area are not as evident on the Internet.

We connected with folks at the Kafue Trust, and offered to bring something small in size, but would still help support a camp endeavor. We also offered to bring something still small, but possibly more expensive, with the understanding that we be reimbursed. After several e-mails back and forth, we agreed to bring an infrared, motion-detecting camera for the Nanzhila Plains camp. (This was just one more item that TSA ignored in our bags.) The camera would catch nocturnal camp visitors on the prowl – often only detected by their tracks the morning after.

We presented the camera to Brad and Ruth. Brad, the gadget guy, couldn’t wait to get it up and running. Rather than be reimbursed in dollars or kwacha, we graciously accepted an offered trade: dinner, and an overnight stay in one of the camp’s chalets. We had a delightful dinner with our hosts, hearing tales of Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and the local issues in the Kafue area. Truth be told, I think we got the better end of the bargain.

We reluctantly ended the evening – this was our last night at Nanzhila, with several hours of road, plus a fuel stop, ahead of us to our next camp. The tink tink tink of the reed frogs lulled us to sleep as we wondered what the next day would bring.

 

Seeing Wildlife – Steve’s 2-cents

Sep15

P1000112Would we be able to see game when out on our own? That was the huge question when we decided to self drive. When staying at a safari camp the guides are in the same area day in, day out…they know where everything wanders. And guides communicate; their experience is compounded. So would we see anything or would we blunder past two ton elephants hiding behind three-foot bushes? Lions were the litmus test; lions are hard to see even with guides. We did see game, lots of it. And we did spot lions and elephants. And, I AM CERTAIN we drove right past elephants hiding, cheetahs lounging, wild dogs nipping.

In retrospect: I think we would have seen more game if we had stayed at lodges, but we would have had to give up freedom and high adventure. We saw A LOT of game AND we had a lot of freedom and adventure.

 

Kafue Tracks

Sep15
Kafue Baobab at Dawn

For the next two days, we literally cruised the park at about 20 kilometers per hour. The southern section of Kafue has woodlands punctuated by great alleys of open plains, some dotted by waterholes and marshy areas. The southern end of the park is known for cheetahs and wild dogs, who do well with plenty of room to run, but we didn’t spot either of these iconic species.

We got up early each morning, armed with the thermos of coffee made at dinner the night before. Because of our up-and-out routine, we snacked on rusks (a heartier South African version of biscotti) and granola bars. Since we packed everything up every morning, our plan was to pause mid morning for a more substantial brunch – a bush camp custom.

The mornings were cool and mercifully fly-free. We were able to cruise the first few hours in the morning with windows down, catching the morning sounds. Unfortunately, as the day warmed, so did the flies, and we soon found ourselves back to windows up and air conditioning on. We even tried the routine of stopping the vehicle for five minutes, with the engine off, before emerging from the rover, but the flies that followed us just hung out on the car until we emerged. So much for cooking brunch – just unwrap another granola bar.

The first full day in the park, Steve drove while I passed food and drinks and watched for wildlife. As I spotted something, I was shrieking, “STOP!” intermittently all day. I resorted to shrieking for several reasons: Steve’s hearing is not good, and with the steering wheel on the right, I am sitting next to his “bad” ear. But, anyone would have a problem hearing over the diesel motor, the air conditioner fan, and all the shaking and rattling of the rover and it’s contents. Polite conversation is just not possible.

Roan
Kafue
Kafue
Bird nerd
Sable
Baobob
Oribi

Steve’s eyes are much better than mine at spotting game, and his suspicious eyes spotted 3 lionesses peering at us across a drainage. They gazed at us with that lion-intense stare, “Are you something to eat?” We also saw new antelopes to us: roan, sable, oribi, reedbuck, waterbuck, hartebeast and puku. This was in addition to zebra, wildebeast, warthogs, hyena, baboons, vervet monkeys, impala and kudu, and a big range of birds.

Kafue
My turn to drive
Guineafowl
Impala and baboons

The second day I took a turn at the wheel. Driving on the left was not a challenge since it was a single track, but sitting on the right side with the steering wheel was a little odd. The tendency is to drive too far left, and after whacking the bull bars a few times with small bushes on the left, I started to get the hang of it. The other challenge was driving in the soft sand, and learning to let the tracks steer the car rather than trying to completely control the wheel.

Each night, our rooftop tent is a restful retreat, set up with a foam mattress, sheets, pillows and pillow cases and a duvet. The tent sets up and folds down remarkably quickly and easily, and miraculously, the cover keeps out all the dust. I can’t say the same for the rest of the rover: the passengers and contents are covered with dust. But, we sleep soundly each night, falling asleep to the tink tink tink call of the reed frog chorus.

In the Park

Sep14

We’re here! Our gravel road has turned into a single vehicle track, and the dry weather allows us to drive the more scenic road along the river and the eastern edge of the park. We’re anxious to start spotting wildlife – it’s one of the biggest reasons we are here.

As we cruise north, we do spot some birds and animals. But, as we leave the last human settlements, we find that the most abundant wildlife are tsetse flies. They are persistent, voracious, and hard to kill. I got a few bites, but they found Steve irresistible. We quickly retreated behind rolled up windows and air conditioning, spending the next few kilometers smashing the flies trapped in the car. Simply smacking them only stuns them, so that they drop to the floor to regain their senses enough to bite feet and ankles. Smashing, crushing and stomping are required. They are relatively slow-moving as far as flies go, and we discovered that our field guides and journals worked best as fly swatters.

We arrived at Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp about mid afternoon. We were greeted by our hostess, Ruth, who urged us to abandon our fly-riddled vehicle for the boma, overlooking a dambo, and miraculously fly-free. It’s hot outside of the air conditioning and the cold drink Ruth offers goes down easily.

In quick succession, we see the arrival of Ruth’s husband, Brad, and then Vivienne and Tom Heineken, our would-be hosts at our next camp, Kaingu. Tom and Viv are traveling to Johannesburg, and stopped at Nanzhila Plains on their way out of Kafue. They asked if we could deliver a key and 20 liters of petrol when we travel to Kaingu in three days. We agreed, becoming part of the bush delivery network.

Soon after, two British couples arrived, having traveled south to spend the night in Nanzhila’s chalets. They were also self-driving, but it was clear that at least half of their group were having serious problems with tsetse fly bites. We were told that if we stay out of the trees we should be able to stay out of the flies. That seemed to be true as we watched a pair of waddled cranes dance their courting dance and the kingfishers hunt at the edge of the dambo.

The big news of the camp was that a pair of lions had been through the previous night, walking right through the camp. Just what I worried about most: trying to cook and eat dinner at dusk, only to have lions stroll into the area – oh boy!

We headed over to our campsite as the sun was beginning to sink into the horizon. Steve wanted to go out driving again. But, I took one look at the lion tracks all over our campsite and decided I’d rather get all the cooking and bucket showering done before dark.

The camp staff built a fire and put on a bucket of water to warm for our showers. I rummaged through all the camping gear, trying to find things I needed, looking back over my shoulder every 10-15 seconds. We had a simple dinner: potatoes wrapped in foil and tucked in the coals, green beans and onions in a small cast iron casserole, and two steaks. Steve showered while I put things together, and I showered while Steve grilled the steaks.

It was dark when we finished, and Steve napped in his camp chair while I cleaned up and washed dishes. By now, I had somewhat relaxed, possibly aided by my pre-dinner gin and tonic. There were other campers in the two adjoining sites, so I hoped that all the activity would keep the lions away – if they were even still in the area.

I hoped for lions after we were safely tucked into our rooftop tent. Steve woke me sometime later that night from a dead sleep to the neighborly howling of a hyena. I was awake the rest of the night, listening for critters prowling under our tent.

 

The Gate to Kafue – Steve’s 2-cents

Sep14

For me, the start of the adventure was leaving Livingstone. The amplified start was leaving pavement and turning into the bush. And the hyper-amplified start was going through the Dumdum Gate and into Kafue National Park, one of the largest national parks in the world. We had learned and been briefed that Kafue — especially southern Kafue — was seldom visited and seldom patrolled and we should be prepared to see no one else. This is where ‘attitude’ comes into play: If Rover had broken down we were entirely ready to use the sat phone and the numbers Safari Drive had given us if we needed help and just camp out and wait. Carolyn and I talked about this and agreed in advance of the trip. Once through the gate the road became more primitive and rough and it all became much more remote.

This day, the first real day of high adventure was one of our longest drive days and we experienced many many new mini-challenges. It turned out that the GPS unit was sometimes useful in showing us the way, but it was much more useful at reassuring us we were on the right path.

 

Dumdumwenze Gate

Sep14

We reached the southern entrance to Kafue National Park in good time. Marked by two square buildings with high, pointed thatch roofs and single-arm gate, our arrival is clearly the event of the day. The gate area is its own village, although there were concrete block houses, rather than the mud brick structures with the thatched roofs. Chickens, laundry on the line and a crying baby all told us this was an occupied outpost.

Three young men came down to meet us at the gate, one in the official green ZAWA (Zambia Wildlife Authority) uniform. Steve went into the gate house to take care of business while I stayed in the rover, and made pleasantries with the other two men. Two more men joined them, and I started to wonder what was taking Steve so long. I had already handed over $260 in cash for entrance and camping fees for four days.

I got out of the rover, and walked around to see Steve talking pleasantly with the ZAWA gatekeeper, who was filling out forms in triplicate with carbon paper. As Steve collected all the proper forms and permits, I walked around back to the passenger side of the rover, and greeted the men in English. They were polite, but their English was not well-practiced. One man asked about my camera. I looked confused as I had been very careful to stash as much of our equipment as possible. He then gestured to the top of his head, indicating that he meant my sunglasses, which I had pushed off of my face to the top of my head. (I did this as a regular practice when talking to people – talking to people with my sunglasses on just seems rude.) I said, “Oh, my sunglasses,” and he said, “You give to me?” I was startled by the request, and my instant reaction was, “Oh no, I need them!” Everyone laughed, but as I got in the rover, I realized that I reacted that way because I needed the sunglasses to shield my eyes with contact lenses from the dust. But, how was he to know that? Rather, he was trying to score something from the wealthy American tourists. Or was he? Did he think to set up a trade, not understanding the price of a pair of sunglasses? According to the visitor log at the gate, the last people to come through were four days ago. Clearly, traffic is light through this gate. But, this man had enough experience with tourists to ask for sunglasses. It was the first time we had experienced more than smiles, waves and polite greetings from the local Zambians. It gave us something to think about – is this usual, or a result tourism, or aid?

 

The Road to Find Out

Sep14
Road from Kalomo to Kafue

Name that tune.

For me, The Road to Find Out (Cat Stevens) was my personal college anthem:
So on and on I go,
the seconds tick the time out
There’s so much left to know,
and I’m on the road to find out.

I traveled many roads not taken by many of my friends and peers, impatient to experience and learn. Some argue that I am still on that road to find out, and I can’t disagree. And, I can’t say that I’ve learned to temper my impatience very well, either.

As we turn off the pavement at Kalomo, it’s hard to tell if we are actually on the road that will connect us to one of the largest national parks on the continent. It looks like we might be on someone’s driveway. But, there are signs of commerce that tell us we are on the main drag: roadside stalls selling tomatoes, sodas, and “top off” minutes for cell phones, and plenty of pedestrians and loaded down bicycles.

On the road to Kafue

Off the pavement and driving through the village scene, now it feels like the adventure part of our trip has begun. The gravel has been recently graded, so the going is relatively smooth, although dusty. We head for the park gate with the advice from Bradt’s guide rattling around our heads: “If you want to drive here, then think of it as an expedition…If you have problems, you must be able to solve them yourself, as you can expect little help…Do bring a GPS; you will need one. Remember that many of the tracks in Southern Kafue have started to grow over with lack of use, so rediscovering them will be part of the adventure.” We have plenty of food, equipment and tools…and a satellite phone.

Our hope is that this trip will help us learn more about “real” Africa – what does it mean to live here, to be African? We believe that we will influence people’s reactions to us – our obvious affluence starts with the vehicle we are driving, then our clothing, as well as our packs loaded with binoculars and cameras. With every passing kilometer, I grow more and more self-conscious about how much wealth we have carried with us. How can we expect anything but respect and deference from the people we may meet along the way? Or contempt? Or, will we just be a novelty, treated with curiosity, as we travel through these villages? We suspect the answer is, “All of the above,” but we will see as we move about the country.

Cart

So far, people have been friendly and smiling. We try to be respectful, slowing down to reduce dust and flying gravel as we pass pedestrians and bicyclists. And, as we get further off the paved road, the population of human road traffic does not decrease. Just as we think we are getting to the “middle of nowhere,” we see bicycle tracks in the road dust. Or a herd of goats. People here live remotely, simply. Does this make them poor? In need of aid? More things to contemplate as we bump along the road.

Guinea fowl

On the (Paved!) Road

Sep14

Fresh PavementFueled by reports of paved roads, rather than leaving at “sparrow’s fart,” we had a regular hot breakfast at the sun-splashed community table at Chanters. While some guests choose to eat indoors with the BBC broadcast on the TV, we soak up all the sunny fresh air we can get – it’s been a long, foggy summer on the Monterey Bay.

We settle our bill, present two soccer balls and pumps for the lodge staff, and head out to the Great North Road, connecting Livingstone with Lusaka. We will divert long before reaching the capital, and won’t see pavement again for ten days.

The road is remarkably, amazingly, thankfully well-paved, with much of it so fresh that the lines have not been painted yet. We pass a number of work crews with hand tools – much of this road has been built with Zambian sweat. The only machinery we see are two pieces: one to spread the asphalt, and the other to smooth it out.

As we leave Livingstone, we notice more signs and trucks with Chinese names and Chinese characters. Each road crew seemed to have an Asian face. As we had read, the Chinese have a big presence in Africa, and Zambia is no exception. Hungry for raw materials, the Chinese are here for the continent’s mineral wealth. We note that the freshest part of this road connects Livingstone with a quarry with a Chinese name about 20 kilometers outside of town. Zambia’s greatest mineral wealth is copper, and if we traveled north to the Copperbelt district, we probably would see more Asian faces.

As we travel north, we realize that we are paralleling a gravel track. If we made this trip two years ago, that would have been our route, not this freshly paved highway. We save hours of rattling road, thanks to the Chinese.

The other observation is that the vast majority of Zambians travel by foot and bicycle. Even though we are following a two-lane highway, there are pedestrians: ladies walking with bundles balanced on their heads, wads of kids in school uniforms, single men just walking. And then there are the bicycles – many of them loaded with bundles of firewood, baskets of produce for market, and passengers: young women riding side-saddle on the back rack. Livestock on the road are a regular sight: mostly goats and cows. We pass several ox-drawn carts. Where are these people from and where are they going? From the road, we can’t always see the peaked thatched roofs, but there are plenty of unmarked dirt tracks turning off the highway – signs that there are many villages along the road.

A transit service does run along the road: blue minivans, often sporting a proverb or quote, are largely the other vehicles we see on the road. They are usually stuffed (literally) with people – the passenger to seat belt ratio is easily 2:1.

We pass through several villages that are located on the road, but we are watching for Kalomo: our fuel stop where we leave the pavement for the road to the Dumdumwenze gate into Kafue National Park. As we turn off, we are now 126 kilometers from Livingstone. Stopping at the ZOT station to top off our tanks, we won’t see another fuel stop for four days.