Baboons and Impalas - Together?
South Luangwa National Park, Zambia
November 15, 2011
Luckily we awoke when the sun rose, as no one came to wake us up. We thought there may have been an animal on the property, but we did not hear or see anything, so we ventured to the common area for breakfast & made it without getting attacked by a wild animal. James later said that he knew we were awake, so he did not want to disturb us. We had porridge for breakfast, I added raisins, cinnamon & peanut butter to mine. Yummy! James told us that it had rained on & off a few times last night, which is why some of our tent flaps were let down last night. It sounds like the lodge & other camps did not get any accumulation last night either.
We drove a short way with Gilbert, Ted, Cristian (our armed guard), Ollie & Heidi (Ze Germans) Friends. We parked under a sausage tree near the river & began our walk (don't worry Fannuel, I was careful & did not get hit in the head with a falling sausage!). We saw lots of interesting things on our walk on this morning. Thankfully it is still windy this morning & it actually feels a bit cooler.
We were lucky enough to see a breeding herd of elephants, 6 were up front & 2 were in the back with a small baby that was only months old. They walked one by one in front of us & they did not even realize that we were there. It was a very majestic site.
We saw a beautiful leopard orchid, one of the green five, up in a tree. The tree is the host for the orchid, but the orchid is not a parasite & does not do damage to the tree.
Overhead a dove is singing to us "work harder, work harder" (at night it sings "drink lager, drink lager") Elephants. We also see lots of waterbuck, some kudu (which we have not seen since Mfuwe), bushbuck, impalas, wartys, monkeys & baboons.
At one point along our walk we saw something that was really amazing, it was a family of baboons that have befriended a baby impala. They were playing with him & he was following along. We even saw one baboon reach up & caress his face. I am not even joking! It was so incredible & I was even able to snap a photo of it!!! All of my fanatic photo taking has paid off! I am sure that I will be able to make millions from this photo & be able to come back to Africa sooner than I had hoped!
I don't know if it is the heat or lack of water, but we have seen some strange animal behaviour in the last few days…
During our tea break at the river we were able to see a new type of kingfisher hoovering & diving for fish, a pied kingfisher Freddie Birdwatching. Also in the water were spoon bills & hammerkops.
We headed back toward the Land Rover & saw some more elephants (we had to course correct so not to disturb them), baboons, kudus, & lots of birds.
On the drive back we were treated to seeing 2 male giraffes & then a grysbok that was standing perfectly still at the bend in the road in front of our vehicle. He was behind some dry shrubs & must have thought that we could not see him because he just sat there perfectly still & looked at us until we moved on.
Just before we had returned to Chindeni, James told us that one of the staff members climbed a tree to rescue a kurrichane thrush. The bird was caught by a piece of plastic, way out on the limb of a tall tree Baby Baboon. James called up to his employee asking if he was going to save the bird or kill it and he shouted down, "I am a conservationist!". James is still not certain if the bird is alive or not!
We went back to our room to relax & freshen up. We had brunch at 11:00 with Ze Germans, James & Gilbert. Chef Lawrence made us some great bolognese spaghetti, salad with avocado, olive bread, snap peas, carrots & fruit salad. During lunch we were serenaded by the rescued or slayed thrush's mate while we watched the 2 giraffes drink from the far side of the lagoon.
We were once again glad to have a few hours this afternoon to chill out in our luxury tent/cabin. I made a bed on our deck with cushions from the chairs & ottoman from our room to do some sunbathing, Bill enjoying reclining in the hammock, then we both had short naps & later I worked on the blog.
After 3:30 we made our way down to the large common area/deck to watch the spoon bills, storks, jacanas, cranes, waterbuck, elephants, herons, & crocs. While having our tea on the deck Bill identified a new bird in the lagoon, a black-winged stilt. This is an incredible way to spend the afternoon! I think that they should have a talk by the waterfront as an option instead of or in addation to a drive. We see more & learn more from James just sitting here!
We had tea & coffee cake before we began our afternoon safari drive.
The wind has really picked up & the sky is really dark. Our evening safari may get cut short if we get a storm. For now it is merely a dust storm & we see the impalas & puku running toward the trees for cover. We stopped at one spot to watch the baboons for while. There was a mother, father & baby with one really tiny baby. He could not have been more than 2 months old. He is adorable & so fun to watch. Then we saw a young baboon riding on the back of an older baboon like a horse. Baboons are so silly!
We also saw a really young impala, one of the smallest we have seen so far. It must have only been 1 or 2 days old. They are so darned cute!
Our sundowner was not very spectacular with all the clouds. To add insult to injury Misheck has another group with him & he beat us to the good viewing spot for the hippos.
During our night drive Gilbert & Ted only spotted a genet, a four-toed shrew, impalas & hippos. I am starting to think that Ze Germans (on top of being incredibly dull) are guilty of stealing our animal Mojo. At one point we stopped to look at one hippo who was on a steep bank. We were between him & trees & the bank was too steep for him to climb down. Another vehicle showed up & they were shining their lights at him too. The poor guy was getting frantic & I was worried that the hippo was going to do something to hurt himself because he was so frightened. We pulled away & the other vehicle was still watching him. I hope he is OK, the poor guy!
We then saw another vehicle stopped & looking toward a group of impalas, which is very odd since you see hundreds of impalas every day. Perhaps they saw a two-headed impala or maybe the impala were hunting the lions?! Crazy tourists!
When we returned to camp it was still very windy. Our owlet must not like this weather, as he did not return this evening.
The 2 canvas walls were up again for dinner & drinks on the deck. We had chicken stuffed with cheese & wrapped with bacon, carrots, snap peas, roasted potatoes & a floating island for dessert (the top was slightly crunchy, sweet & salty, underneath is was like a soft custard). It was an excellent meal.
New birds that we saw today in South Luangwa National Park:
pied kingfisher
black-winged stilt
