Safari in Zambia!

I left for Zambia on Friday. After about 9 hours in the car, a chaotic border crossing, and 4 hours on a dirt road headed to the middle of nowhere, I made it to a beautiful lodge, which overlooks the Luangwa river.

Sunrise over Luangwa river. Imagine the sounds of hippos to go along with the view. 

The first night I was there, an elephant showed up as I was eating dinner with some people I met along the way. I have to admit, I was pretty freaked out. This elephant was no more than 10 ft away from us. I quickly learned that there was nothing keeping game from the lodge property and by the end of  my 4 days, I had been surrounded by elephants, lions, and baboons at various point. 

The dark line is the water line as this guy just crossed the river before getting to our lodge.

Peek-a-boo

I slept alone in a beautiful cabin (the farthest one from the lodge with a beautiful view overlooking the river). Every night and morning, I had to be escorted by a guard from my cabin to the main lodge and back. I was actually really scared the first night as I was lying in bed, in the dark, hearing the sounds of several (up to 10) elephants surrounding my cabin. Apparently they were big fans of the trees because elephants came back to that spot every evening (They were literally a few feet from my head, with a soft window and mosquito net in between). Although I knew I was safe, my instinct was to keep the lights off, not move or make any noise. I woke up many times to the sounds of stomping, chomping, grunting, trees breaking, and the constant sound of hippos in the river. I learned that the lions came to visit at one point and I actually saw footprints right outside my cabin one morning. The morning before I left, we had about 15 baboon visitors running all over the property.  All of that wasn’t even on the safari….

Baboons playing near the lodge as I was eating breakfast

I had heard there were amazing parks in Malawi where you could see some game, but none compared to South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. This park, which is over 9000 square km, is home to a large population of wildlife. I have never been on a safari before, so I have nothing to compare it to….but this was one of the most amazing adventures I have ever been on.  Both Saturday and Sunday, I woke up at 5 am and went on a game drive from 6-10am. We came back to the lodge for a nice brunch, had an afternoon rest, and went back out for a drive from 4-8pm. The sun sets at 6 pm so we got in about 2 hours of the drive at night. Over the 2 days, we got in 16 hours of driving throughout the park.

I was nervous in the beginning because there is literally nothing in between you and the wildlife, and you get really close at times. We were a couple feet from lions, elephants, giraffes, and hyenas….so I wondered what kept them from jumping into the truck and having me for a snack? The guide just said that they think the truck is a rolling stone and our smell is masked by the diesel….okay, sure.

As you can imagine, I took so many photos and I want to share so many! I will give a few highlights and photos of what I saw but I am happy to share the whole album to anyone who wants to see when I get home.   

This guy was so close that I didn't zoom in at all.

Not sure what's going on in the back...but the family photo in front is so cute. 

Got a little carried away with the baboons...they were my fav.

I love the bird perched on the hippo in the back. 

That bird kept hopping from hippo to hippo. 

These three lions were bothers and clearly knew they 

were top of the food chain. They slept all day and went 

out hunting around 6 pm.

My perceptions of the animals were definitely shaped 

by the lion king as I was not a fan of the hyenas.

Highlight of the whole trip: comedy show put on by these two giraffes. They were playing around and started intertwining their long necks. Then, one stuck their neck under the other's leg, and lifted the neck up, taking the leg up so it was on it's back. They kept doing it to each other for several minutes. Everything about it was so awkward and hilarious....I laughed so hard that I could barely get a focused shot because I was shaking the camera so much. (I have a short video that I will try to upload...the photos don't do it justice)

Crocodile!

Drinking beers and watching the sunset next to our vehicle.

This leopard killed an impala, and carried it up a huge tree. 

The dead impala is laying on the left of the photo.

We went back the next day and she had killed another impala, 

put it in another tree and was surrounded by hyenas at the bottom. 

Sunset over the valley...cheers!