Zambia Day 1 & 2: Kafue National Park and the Lufuta River

We entered Zambia after our drive back from Hwange.  We stopped briefly in Victoria Falls to drop bags, crossed the border and got in our flight for the Kafue Camp.

The small plane was fun, and the pilot was a character.  We got to see a lot of the terrain of central Zambia, as well as the Lufuta River where our camp is located. 

On arrival at Lufuta Camp, we got settled into our rooms in a light cooling rain storm.  Then we headed out for an evening game drive.  There had already been a lion sighting, so we went very quickly over some bumpy roads, and then cross country over a very rough patch of ground created by a herd of elephants roaming around in the mud.  It was exciting and slightly traumatizing!

But we very much enjoyed seeing and following a young lion trying to stalk her prey - a herd of puku.  We also saw several cool birds and other animals.  

We returned to camp for welcome drinks and a delicious dinner and then a pleasant evening with no internet at all.

Today (Sunday) we had a late start (wake up call was at 7), and we started our morning boat ride around 8:30.  We had a wonderful ride on the pontoon boat, seeing pods of hippos, puku, crocs and lots of cool birds.

During our long siesta, Cheryl cut Ruth’s hair, which was much needed, and made her very happy, and then we took a nap.  It was really hot again, so temperature control with wet cloths from head to foot was an important part of the 10 toes up safari.

In the afternoon, we had an interesting talk on the history of Zambia. Zambia was fortunate to have had stable governments since its independence in 1964, and as a result is far ahead of the other countries in the southern part of Africa in terms of education, health care and jobs. 

The second part of the talk was about  poaching, the different reasons why people illegally kill wild animals and how the government is addressing the issue.  Then we had an evening safari drive, where the highlight was seeing hartebeasts which are endemic to Kafue Natl Park.

After the customary sundowner stop, on the way back to camp, we stopped to look at the stars and got to see the Milky Way blazing in the night.