Part II - Ze Germans are gone & our Mojo is back!
South Luangwa National Park, Zambia
November 16, 2011When we returned to Mfuwe we were greeted by Amy, Tanya & Lisa. It was so nice to be back! Bill stayed at the main lodge to upload the blog & I headed to our room. We are now on the other side of the grounds, near the pool, in the leopard room (another good sign?). I used the toilet in our room & as I unrolled the toilet paper I felt something briefly hit my leg; I looked down to see a gecko that had landed on the floor. It must have been resting on the toilet paper! Amazingly I did not jump, scream or even gasp. I must be getting used to gecko attacks!!
As I was taking a shower I was wondering why we had not been visited by elephants for a while Upset Elephant. No word of a lie, less than 2 minutes later I heard that deep rumbling sound that an elephant makes followed by a trumpet (don't hear that often). I looked across the lagoon to the trees on the other bank & saw 2 adults, 1 youngster & a baby. Now I know our luck is changing!
Before our drive we had iced tea, pastries with bacon & cheese, fruit & orange cake. We met our new safari mates: Callie & David from the US & Larry & Gail from SA.
Jason will be our guide tonight & Micoshaw will be our spotter. This is Callie & David's first drive & they were thrilled to see so many animals & birds such as Meyer's parrot, giraffe, zebra, the dagga boys, puku, impala, saddle-billed stork, Egyptian geese, bee-eaters, herons, crocs,...
We stopped in one spot where there was a lone warty. He just stood there & watched us watching him Empala Power Play. Normally they are quite shy & take off immediately. He did not seem the least bit shy. Then a breeding herd of elephants showed up, he stood & watched them for a while, then eventually moved away a short distance. The elephants, including a baby who was only a few months old walked by our vehicle, stopped briefly, then strolled off. After they cleared out the warty came back to check us out again. When we drove off he ran alongside us for a bit!
We stopped earlier than usual for our sundowner & were at a great location to see lots of hippos. I finally got a good shot of the yawning hippo. Hurray!! We also got to see a couple of baby hippos playing around & diving into the water. So cute! The males were getting grumpy we could see one guy showing his teeth & egging another male on. Of course a brief fight broke out... One of the hippos had lots of light coloured blotches on his skin Warty Stands his Ground. Jason thought it may be scars as their skin is quite delicate. It is possible that he got caught in some bushes & seriously scratched himself at some point.
Upon our arrival back at the Lodge we had a surprise waiting for us. A local group was performing a play. There were 4 males & 1 female actor. They perform short plays to educate people on AIDS, education, & wildlife. The play they performed for us was about wildlife to teach us to understand & appreciate all the plants, trees, birds & animals all around us.
After the play we had another treat. We had a Boma/Mongolian style dinner. The tables were all set up outside around the BBQ's. We had chicken soup to start, then we selected our meat, vegetables, sauces & noodles then watched the chefs stir fry our dinner over the wood burning grills. It was a great treat & a wonderful way to end our stay in Zambia.
Back at the room we had some more surprises. We had a huge millipede outside our room when we went it. Those things make our centipedes look really wimpy. I hope that giant thing stays outside! Inside we had more guests, a tree frog by our sink & 1 on top of our shower!
New animal that we saw today in South Luangwa National Park:
hyena
Pictures & VideosBaby!Sundowners at the River
