Toucan Reisen

Reiseblog

1. August 2011
von Robin Pope
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It’s Monday and the Safari of Your Life

It’s Monday and the Safari of Your Life

1 August 2011

Dear Customer,
Graeme and Jennifer Bell were recently at Liuwa Plainfor the first time last month. Jennifer was excited with the adventurous idea of going to the remotely located Liuwa which in the end she said was “well worth the effort! Wow!”Zebras on the plain  driving through Liuwa PlainJennifer loves the wilderness and wide open spaces, Liuwa has all of that in excess. “The views go on forever on the short grass plains and you can even see the curvature of the Earth in the distance!”

Zebra  Lion on Liuwa Plain

They saw lion, cheetah, zebra, steenbok, red lechwe and very large herds of wildebeest. The birdlife is prolific and varied too.

Pelicans  Sundowners

Our camp is situated in one of the largest tree thickets around and Jennifer told us that one morning at breakfast, Graeme saw one of the big male lions trotting very purposefully through the trees to take a hyena kill. Jason estimated the distance from us to be about 40 meters – “we don’t get those sights where we live, in East Anglia!” – You certainly don’t Jennifer!
Graeme also wrote some exciting words describing their experience:

Wildebeest  white backed vulture

“Getting to Liuwa should be in the manual for ‘The Best Safari of Your Life’. A 2 hour flight to Kalabo in a Cessna Caravan, coming in over the vast flood plains of the Zambezi to be met by Robin and Jason at Kalabo airstrip. Not too much there but a large group of local school children on a trip.

Crossing Luanginga River  Crossing Luanginga River

Then the drive into Kalabo and the exciting trip across the Luanginga River by the local ferry and a 2 hour drive to Matamenene camp with plenty of diversions en route to whet the appetite. The transfer felt like a holiday in itself.

Egrets and herons  Crowned Cranes

However, when you drive out of the woodland onto the first of the short grass plains, you really feel you’ve arrived in somewhere special. Huge horizons, massive herds of wildebeest liberally sprinkled with zebra, oribi popping up from the longer grass and, of course, the extraordinary bird-life typified by the crowned cranes. If your mouth doesn’t drop open, you’re not really taking it in.

Lady Liuwa  fishermen

On the 2nd day with Jason guiding us patiently, we stop to look at some bird or other (neither of us are birders but we do enjoy learning) when: “What’s that? Lion!” and Lady Liuwa’s flicking tail gives her away. Where she goes, the males follow and lying on the edge of a thicket we spot one of the males. As they wander off, we get out to see the mortal remains of their meal, a Zebra.

In fact, it becomes a bit of a lion fest as the next day, I see one of the males running through the camp while we are having breakfast and so we drive onto the plain to see what is happening. The lions have stolen a kill from some hyenas who are hanging around looking on while the lions enjoy a free meal.

Wildebeest  wattled cranes

The next day we drive out onto the plain with Robin and experience the vastness of the flatlands with the horizon showing the curvature of the earth and lots of wildebeest galloping across the sandy grasslands. “Walk towards the wildebeest, Jen and let Graeme take a picture. It will make a good photo.” She did and it was! The sort of personal touch that makes a holiday perfect.

storks or ducks   dinner table

More birds than you can shake a stick at, a camp that runs just perfectly, a remote experience that you will remember and will have you craving for more. Liuwa Plain, the ideal safari experience – we have to go back.

 

…this moving story, has left me at a loss for words!

Have fun this week,

Rita

Liuwa

 

12. Juli 2011
von Robin Pope
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It’s Monday and game galore


Dear Customer,

Hello to all – so it has been a couple of weeks since we last spoke and goodness me it has been all go here in the valley.

James   Throne

Where to start? Well, I guess the big event would be a good place…. Regular guests James and Annie Keogh decided to tie the knot up at Tena Tena. A year in the planning the big day arrived and my were we all nervous! James spent the evening at Nsefu and the morning game drive the day of the wedding passed in a blur, it was not long until he had a long walk across to Chembe Lagoon just outside Tena to stand at the bush alter and await Annie’s arrival. Annie however was a picture of calm all dressed up and ready to go – her main concern being the walk across the black cotton soil in high heels. Not to worry Bertrame and Simon came to the rescue and improvised a throne for her to be portered across, so a regal entrance was definitely made. This small intimate occasion with just Simon and myself there, was a truly magical moment and one that I hope will keep a very fond spot in all of our hearts.

newlyweds Little Bee-Eater

Asides from the wedding, well to be honest with you it is difficult to find a place to start as the game has been quite extraordinary over the last couple of weeks.

Snake Leopard

Simon Cousins was back in the valley but this time on a work trip and the game and Kanga who guided the group certainly pulled out all the stops seeing everything from elephants to a very small spotted bush snake peeking out of a bush. Some great birding was also enjoyed with this lovely photo of a Little Bee-Eater. The most extraordinary sighting though had to be the leopard with a kill up a tree being chased and harassed by hyenas.

Leopard   Hyena

Leopard   Leopard

Up at Nsefu we were sitting around the camp fire chatting to the guides having a bit of a catch up on what had been going on, when Braston told us about a rather entertaining sighting he had involving a squirrel and a slender mongoose. The squirrel was happily minding its own business and catching a few rays of sunshine when the mongoose spotted it and through sheer stealth and military precision it crept up behind the squirrel and “boom” lunch was served. Who said that sun bathing wasn’t dangerous!! On the other end of the scale the Nsefu pride of lions has done very well throughout the rains and most of the cubs from last year have survived which is fantastic news and fingers crossed that stability has returned to the pride.

Leopard Leopard

Leopard Leopard

Leopard Leopard

Moving slightly down river to Tena it is not so much lions but leopards that are falling out of the trees. One of the resident females has been spotted with 2 very small little cubs, which as you can imagine are terribly sweet and very very fluffy although as of yet no photographic evidence and hopefully some more will be on the way as there has been a mating pair of leopard showing off to a few of the guests this last week.

Buffalo Lioness

As we continue our journey down stream the building team at Luangwa River Camp are going great guns although there were a few delays to proceedings with a pride of lions hanging out at camp for a few days then killing a buffalo just behind which was rather exciting for everyone there.

Back at base – Nkwali – well as previously mentioned the game viewing has also been rather splendid. In camp the ebony trees are fruiting so the elephants are hanging out and feasting which gives some great daytime sightings from the comfort of the bar.

So from a whistle stop tour of the Luangwa where we are all rather cold and the animals are all puffed up to try to keep as much heat in as possible I shall bid you all farewell for another week.

Stay well and have fun.

Cheers

Emily

cubs

30. Mai 2011
von Robin Pope
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It’s Monday and exploring new territory

 

Dear Reader,
Well, it’s been another really busy week in Malawi, lots of exciting things happening with the Mkulumadzi works finishing and a thousand other tasks to be done in order for the new lodge to open on the 15th of July. Lots of planning and training going on, and I was lucky enough to experience a trial version of the activities we will have to offer there during one of the post Indaba educational trips we conducted.Starting from the beginning: this trip consisted of one of our Malawi itineraries and included: Pumulani on Lake Malawi, Mvuu Lodge in Liwonde National Park and finished in Majete Wildlife Reserve at our new baby Mkulumadzi .

On a typically beautiful sunny day in Malawi, I made a quick visit to Pumulani. The magnificent view of the Lake, which has a mirror-like quality to it, never ceases to amaze me. Lake Malawi accounts for almost a third of the country and is known as the Calendar Lake: it is 365 miles long and 52 miles wide!

Liwonde National Park White-breasted Cormorant

The next two nights were spent at Liwonde National Park (a great opportunity to be back in the bush!). This park has a unique landscape; a combination of various thicket and open woodland vegetation types contrast with the lush, tropical ambience created by tall and elegant palms along the Shire River.

Elephants Wire-tailed Swallow

Time for activities: the two night drives provided an array of smaller, nocturnal wildlife (the guide even managed to spot spiders in practically pitch darkness!!), water mongoose, Meller’s mongoose, genet, elephant shrews and bush babies. Impala, waterbuck and a few crocodile were also spotted, as well as more than fifty elephants in two wonderful sightings not far from our land cruiser.

Malachite Kingfisher Pied Kingfisher

On a morning boat safari we saw a pair of Hamerkop near their nest, various kingfishers, Bohms Bee-eater, White-backed Night Heron, Pels Fishing Owl, Lilians Love-birds, Brown-breasted Barbet and a large colony of White-breasted Cormorant.

Pels Fishing Owl Pels Fishing Owl

Back on the road. we reached Majete Wildlife Reserve after a four hour drive. It was great to see Mark and Jenna again, they looked so happy with little Charlotte (their 6 month baby). After a good night’s rest at African Parks Camp, Mark took us out early in the morning on a pleasant game drive and told us all about Majete’s wildlife and its curiosities.

Debating about sub-species of Zebra, it turns out the coat pattern of zebra in this part of the world is unique in that they have a dorsal stripe on their belly as well as stripes that go all the way down to their ankles/hooves! Just like the ones we have in South Luangwa. These are the subspecies of the Common or Plains Zebra, Equus quagga crawshayi which occur across much of Northern Mozambique, Malawi and Eastern Zambia.

We did not see another vehicle during our stay in the reserve which gives a sense of exploring a new and exciting territory.

Nyala Waterbuck

On our drive and our walk along the Mkulumadzi river, we saw eland, sable antelope, zebras, plenty of posing waterbucks and handsome nyala picking their way through the riverine thickets. Majete marks the Northernmost point of the Nyala’s distribution in Africa and regular sightings of these beautiful antelope are a signature of the park.

Sable antelope Pels Fishing Owl

The park’s altitude varies from over 700m on Majete Hill in the west to 150m on the Shire River in the east. Bird specials such as Boulder Chat, Racket-tailed Roller, White-breasted Cuckooshrike, Arnotts Chat and Rock Pratincole should entice any “twitcher”.

Dorian Tilbury, the Field Operations Manager for African Parks Majete, informed us that leopard are to be introduced this year to increase the current population that is still in recovery from the poaching years. Reintroduction of lions is planned for 2012 to ensure that Majete is once again a Big Five reserve.

Hippos in the Shire Swing bridge

Mkulumadzi lodge bathroom Mkulumadzi lodge bar area

I could not contain my surprise on arriving at the lodge; the dramatic entrance over the swing bridge is fantastic and sets the tone for the adventure to come. The dinning area and bar are looking stunning. The 50 plus team of builders are working hard to have the lodge ready in a month and a half. Mark and Jenna seemed to have the works under control – well done guys!

Warthogs and Yellow Baboon Walking in the Mkulumadzi River

On the last morning we managed to squeeze in a tour to African Parks Environmental Education Centre located at the reserve’s main gate. It’s just recently been built and is not quite operational yet. The centre is to cater to school, and other learner, groups to improve awareness and understanding of protected areas and wildlife conservation. Dorian also showed us the museum with interesting cultural artefacts.

Need to close now as the story is getting long. Just a quick note to welcome a new member of the team, Stephanie. She is Zimbabwean and has some experience in the industry and is here to help out on the marketing side.

Have a wonderful week!

rita

28. März 2011
von Robin Pope
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It’s Monday and time for a catch up

 

Dear Customer,
Before we start I need to share with you this very exciting news: World Travel Awards, which is the Travel Industry’s equivalent to the Oscars, nominated Tena Tena as Africa’s Leading Green Hotel and as Zambia’s Leading Safari Lodge and Pumulani is also nominated as Malawi’s Leading Hotel. If you like to support us, please vote.

The World Travel Awards was launched in 1993 to acknowledge and recognise excellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry. Now celebrating its 18th anniversary, the awards are regarded as the very highest achievement that a travel product could ever hope to receive!!

Now, over to Emily:

Well hello from the Luangwa Valley

, after what seems like quite a long time. Having been gallivanting around Malawi visiting our camps there, followed by Johannesburg (getting way too many ideas on how to spend money) then off to the UK where I was lucky enough to get a smattering of snow whilst up in Cumbria I am now finally back in the bush. And let me tell you it is looking super. Whilst I have been away it would appear that the rains have persisted, the river has come up, the storks are in the stork colony up at Nsefu and the bush and animals are looking refreshed and healthy.

We are now in all systems go mode here as the 21st of May is fast approaching which means opening of Tena Tena and Nsefu . Although I have to admit I am slightly worried about the road access there at the moment given the water levels. I think that I am about to find an excellent reason to head up river and check the camps next week under the cloud of “preparation” – what a fabulous excuse for an outing. Don’t worry I will keep you posted as to how it goes.

So back to the here and now – what has been happening over the last couple of weeks?

Luangwa River Stork colony

Nsefu has been super busy with lots of guests having the joy of absolute isolation no cars or other noises just the low bellow of the lions at night and the beak clatter of the storks during the day. Daudi and Bertram have been leading the groups up there and have had some great sightings with hundreds of storks gathering for their annual pilgrimage to their nesting sight.

Lioness having a siesta Lion walking through the grass

Lions on foot which is always a great thrill and plenty of other game to keep them busy during the day. The river is also behaving so plenty of exploring down little channels, which usually are off limits during the dry season and with that comes the excitement of hippo encounters and the riverine bird life with some stunning sightings of kingfishers.

As for down here at Nkwali , Chris and Emma – new members of the RPS team – went out into the park this week with Simon (Oz) and his family who are visiting and came across some lions chilling out in the sand. Slit a gnarly old male seems to have found himself a couple of ladies to look after him but the evening took a turn from the relaxing into the slightly more frantic.

Buffalo Buffalo & elephant

As it turns out some neighbouring buffalo were spooked by an elephant so got up and dashed off straight towards the lions who then got up and dashed off before realising that they should turn around and in fact try to get some dinner. The attempt for a meal was however unsuccessful due to their bleary eyes and sleepy disposition – great sighting though all the same. Simon and his family have now headed off to Zimbabwe but I am assured that Simon is going to give us all an update of what he has been up to on his leave as soon as he is back next month.

Pumunlani Pumunlani

Chris and Emma have also scurried off over to Pumulani where they will be taking over for a few months and enjoying lake life.

Malachite Kingfisher Malachite Kingfisher

The sightings though have been fab and all guests have been really rather spoilt with the weather enjoying the beauty and freshness of the green season without the rain interfering. The only down side of this of course means that we have limited tales of guides getting horribly stuck in the mud which always produces fantastic camp fire banter in the evening with copious amounts of teasing!

Luangwa River from Nkwali camp Nkwali plunge pool

The river has come up and is now at its highest this year and combine that with the electric light that we have been getting at sunrise and sunset we really are being spoilt with the scenery. The cats have also been patrolling the river bank opposite Nkwali with the lions taunting the guests as they had their breakfast yesterday morning calling as if to say – I am here come and find me. Then last night a leopard was strolling up and down treating us all to the deep husky saw like call – fingers crossed everyone gets to sneak a peak today.

KP Nkwali cat

KP (camp cat) on the other hand has been really rather unimpressed by the “large cats” taking all the glory so this morning at 0200 decided that it was her time for the limelight and found her other wild cat friend and sat outside my bedroom window making a really rather impressive racket!!!!

Oh dear the trials and tribulations of living in the bush.

On that note I am off to carry on with the day, but don’t worry I am now back so will be keeping everyone up to speed on what we are up to here in the Luangwa on a fortnightly basis.

Have fun,

21. März 2011
von Robin Pope
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It’s Monday and the story carries on

 

Dear Customer,
…and the story carries on, with Kathie and David Richardson continuing their adventure, now to Kasanka and Liuwa Plain in Zambia’s Western Province. One wildlife phenomenon really stands out as an extraordinary event: over a million bats foraging the Kasanka fruit trees. Over to Kathie and David:

Bats flying at Kasanka Katie and David observing bats flying

Our next stop was Kasanka National Park, located about an hour’s flight by small plane to the north-west of Nkwali, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The main draw at Kasanka is the millions of straw-coloured fruit bats that migrate there every November and December to feast on the fruits of local trees.

bats on the tree bats on the tree

During the day, the bats, which weigh about a kilo each and are somewhat dog-like in appearance, with long noses, big eyes, even bigger ears and sharp teeth, roost in a relatively small area of Mushitu Forest. Their bodies are packed together so tightly on the trunks and branches of the trees that it is not uncommon for the branches to break under their combined weight. (We were told that their biomass is equivalent to that of 10,000 elephants!!) As dusk approaches, there is increasing restlessness in the colony, with lots of upside-down squirming bodies on the branches and more and more bats taking to the air for brief periods of time. The bat chatter becomes louder and more incessant. Finally, at precisely 6:10 p.m. (slightly earlier if it’s overcast) they all take to the skies at once for a night-time of feeding. Well, as you can imagine, when the sky turns black with millions of twittering bats in every direction, it’s really quite a show of sight and sound!

Beautiful emperor moth at Kasanka

There are several “hides” in the forest for bat watching, all of which put the viewer above the forest canopy for an unobstructed view of the action. Some are made of tree trunks lashed together, but the preferred one, erected to provide a steady platform for filming a recent BBC documentary, is constructed of metal scaffolding. All are somewhat rickety and 10 metres or more off the ground with only the most basic of safety features, so it does take a fair amount of courage to climb up to the top and set up one’s camera gear for the anticipated action. Anyone wanting a taste of the action at Kasanka might enjoy watching the video from our visit that David has posted on YouTube

Black Lechwe at Bangweulu flying over the vast Zambezi flood plain

After 3 days at Kasanka, with a side trip by air to Bangweulu Swamp where we saw massive herds of Black Lechwe but, unfortunately, not the elusive Shoebill, we returned to Lusaka. The following morning, we were on our way again, this time heading a couple of hours west by chartered plane over the vast Zambezi flood plain to the remote Liuwa Plain near the Angolan border. We were met at the Kalabo airport by Robin and the rest of the Liuwa team and from there drove back to camp, where we spent an idyllic 5 days. The trip began with the crossing by “pontoon” ferry of a tributary of the Zambezi – 2 vehicles, guides, guests, local people as well as a few animals all crammed on board, and the whole thing then powered from one side to the other entirely by the brute force of several strong men pulling on a long rope. Needless to say, there were lots of photo ops there!!

Pontoon crossing at Kalabo Rise from ashes

The plain is amazing for its vast open areas, its abundance of wildlife and the almost complete absence of other visitors. The annual rains had just begun when we arrived but already the pans were filling with water and becoming encircled by vibrant green grasses and intense yellow flowers. Bright pink lilies dotted the almost treeless landscape as far as the eye could see. The skies were magnificent too, brilliant blue with spectacular cloud formations, often signalling a storm somewhere in the distance.

Blue wildebeest Liuwa Plain

Lions Hyenas

We saw huge herds of blue wildebeest and plenty of zebra too on a daily basis. Many were grazing contentedly, while others frisked and galloped about, apparently just for the fun of it. In addition, we had regular encounters with roving bands of hyena, the area’s main predator, as well as with large packs of wild dogs, often at quite close range and lasting an hour or two. (David’s posted a video featuring the wild dogs of Liuwa on YouTube). No matter what they were up to, they were always fascinating to watch and we were never in a hurry to move on. And, of course, we saw Lady Liuwa, the last surviving lioness in the area, as well as her two lovely black-maned male companions, brothers who were recently introduced from Kafue, in hopes that Lady would produce offspring. Alas, Lady’s not become a mother yet.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater Long-tailed Whydah

Liuwa is home to a wide variety of birdlife too. My particular favourite was the colourful little Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, although the ballet-like swoops of the Long-tailed Whydah and the synchronized flight manoeuvres of huge flocks of pratincoles are also etched indelibly in my memory.

Robin and Jason at Liuwa Plain Emmanuel and Alfred

But it was Robin and the rest of the Liuwa team that made the experience there so very special. Both Robin and Jason are the most excellent guides one could ever ask for – so very knowledgeable and, even more important, so willing to share that knowledge, sensitive, patient and both with a good sense of humour too. Hostess Michelle made sure the camp ran smoothly and that guests never wanted for anything. The surprise bush breakfast on what began as a rainy morning and the final evening braai out on the plain under a canopy of stars both remain in our memories as highlights of our time at Liuwa.

James David Rogers

Thanks to all at RPS and also to David Rogers for making this trip truly memorable – as Jo promised, it was “very very top” from start to finish!
Wild dog cranium lilly

There are no words left to say…. just a big thank you Katie, David and David Rogers for sharing this superb story and pictures with us.

Enjoy your week,

Rita

alt

14. März 2011
von Robin Pope
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It’s Monday and a very very top safari

 

Dear Customer,
Surprise, surprise… last week I told you that we will travel to Zambia west province with Liuwa plain and Kasanka bat safaris. Well …we will not. In fact, Kathie and David started their adventure in South Luangwa before going west. Kathie sent me the most fabulous pictures and adventures, that are impossible to cut but also impossible to squeeze it in a single It’s Monday. So, saying that, and making sure I’ll tell you the story in the right order, this week we will read about Kathie and David Richardson adventure through South Luangwa, continuing next week with Liuwa and Kasanka, all with Kathie and David Rogers’ amazing wildlife photographs. Over to her:

My husband David and I returned to the South Luangwa Valley last November with high expectations. After all, when we were in the planning stages, Jo Pope had described our proposed adventure – 5 days at Nkwali , 3 at Kasanka to see the bat migration, and another 5 with Robin Pope himself in Liuwa , all in the excellent company of South African professional photographer and photo workshop leader, David Rogers – as a “very very top safari”. Well, Jo was right! What a fabulous 2 weeks it was!!

David Rogers at Kawaza Village Kawaza School children

Our first and only previous trip to Zambia had been for an Emerald Season Photo Safari with David Rogers in March 2009. We knew from that experience that he was an excellent and enthusiastic teacher who would help us make the most of our time in Zambia and have a lot of fun in the process. In the course of our 2 weeks with David on the recent trip, we photographed a wide variety of subjects – the typical safari material, of course, but in addition, there was lots of macro work with smaller subject matter such as butterflies and flowers, as well as photos of the friendly Zambian people, the food we ate, the lodges where we stayed and even the interesting and colourful signage we encountered in our travels. In fact, there was little that escaped us and our lenses!

on the way to Nkwali camp Red Winged Pratincoles

Coming “home” to Nkwali was a great way to begin, particularly after the long and tiring journey from Canada. What a warm welcome we received from everyone, but especially from Kiki, Daudi, Jacob and Kanga (who was on leave but came back to camp one night just to say “hi” to us). We remembered all of them fondly as they had looked after us so well on our previous stay.

The first thing that struck us was how different everything looked at this time of year, before the start of the rains. Not only was the landscape generally golden rather than green, and the trees in bud rather than in full leaf, but also where had all the water in the river gone? During our Emerald Season visit, the South Luangwa had been in full flood, fast flowing and threatening to spill over its banks. This time, there was barely a trickle of water and we were able to enter the park by driving across the river bed instead of taking the long way around by road.

Jacob – Luangwa House Manager Crowned Cranes

With Jacob as our guide, we had many outstanding game viewing and birding opportunities at Nkwali, which of course we did our best to capture both photographically (me and David Rogers) and on video (husband David).

Leopard at South Luangwa Leopard with a freshly killed baby hippo

A few particularly stand out in our memories – several beautiful leopards, including a mating pair at dusk and a single one feasting on a freshly killed baby hippo until several lions arrived on the scene and chased him off with some very loud growls (you can check this out on the video David’s posted on YouTube .

Female lion with 4 adorable little cubs large herd of elephants

A female lion with 4 adorable little cubs at her side, all resting in the shade in the heat of the day; a pair of mating lions, viewed at long distance through binoculars;

young male troublemaker carmine bee-eaters

A large herd of elephants near the river with a young male troublemaker in their midst, creating much angst for the other elephants, not to mention the human onlookers; the leisurely mud bath taken by a young elephant at the waterhole in front of Luangwa House one afternoon (David’s put this one up on YouTube) innumerable brilliantly colourful carmine bee-eaters, with a variety of insects in their mouths, darting in and out of their nests in the river banks and perching in the nearby trees; flocks of 100 or more noisy crowned cranes taking flight simultaneously at the salt pans in the Nsefu sector;

python hippos in the Luangwa river

Tightly packed pods of hippos in the river, all constantly jostling with their neighbours for a better position; and, finally, a rather large python, with beady eyes and forked tongue, well camouflaged in a bush next to the road. How Jacob knew just where to look for that python, based on the faint “footprint” it had left across the dirt road, was really quite remarkable!!

Kawaza Village traditional dance Kawaza School kids

In addition to the game drives with Jacob, there was the wonderful day we spent at Kawaza School and Village, where we were greeted with enthusiasm and winning smiles and well entertained with music and dance.

Daudi – Nsefu camp Manager Luangwa Safari House

A final surprise sundowners with some celebratory bubbly at Chichele Ridge followed by an overnight stay at the luxurious Luangwa House capped off that part of our adventure.

 

Thank you so much Kathie for taking us back ‘home’ as you so truly said and showing us the impressive people and a wildlife from South Luangwa.

Just a quick note before saying goodbye – The 2011 Safari Awards are back again for 4th year, aiming to recognise excellence in the wildlife safari sector of the tourism industry. In 2011 Luangwa Safari House was awarded, for the 2nd consecutive year, as the Best Safari House in Africa and our guides were happily presented with The Best Walking Safari Guiding Team in Africa. RPS was also the runner up for the Best Safari Group.

Robin Pope Safaris is participating in the Travellers’ Choice Award, open to consumers and journalists only, if you would like to support us in the 2011 Safari Awards please vote here: www.safariawards.com/vote/ by the end of March.

On another note, remember the Zambian Branding competition? 3,981 emails from 2,017 different people in 28 different countries produced 4,445 slogans and 956 different images.  There is now a shortlist posted at www.zambiatourism.com/competition where you have the chance of voting. Follow it on Zambia Tourism Facebook and on Twitter @Zambia_Tourism.

And the last, but not least, congratulations Shanie and Simon Cousins for your new baby girl – Zoe!

I wish you all a wonderful week,

7. März 2011
von Robin Pope
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It’s Monday and four months till opening…


Dear Customer,

Last week we heard from Bettina and the work at Pumulani. There is more more excellent news this week from Malawi. Flying an hour and few minutes south from Lake Malawi, we will find at Majete Wildlife Reserve, where Jenna and Mark are battling to ensure that our new baby, Mkulumadzi, will be ready for our guests by the middle of July. Over to Jenna:

Arriving back at camp in early January, I could hardly believe how much had changed in the three short months I had been away on maternity leave. The grass was tall and green, the trees thick with leaves… and my veggie garden neglected and withered – eaten by hundreds of hungry new hoppers, whilst the Mkulumadzi team enjoyed an extended Christmas holiday!

Malachite Kingfisher  Elephant couple

The building team returned to site rejuvenated and full of energy after their break and picked up where they had left off in December. The lodge is really beginning to take shape with all the chalets now up to roof level and the main lodge building almost complete.

Mkulumadzi lodge rooms  Mkulumadzi lodge bathroom

Mkulumadzi rooms balcony   Mkulumadzi dinning area

Building in the bush certainly has had its challenges but many rewards too. You can imagine the builders’ surprise early one morning when they were greeted by three baby pythons that had fallen in to a trench during the night. Mark was quickly summoned to the scene to deal with the trapped trespassers. After snapping some shots of the wrigglers; armed with a thick sock, he managed to carefully lift them out of the trench and all three slithered off in to the tall grass.

baby pythons  baby pythons

I’d like to think most of the hard work is behind us, but it strangely it still feels like we are just getting started and the to-do-list grows every day. With just four months to go till our opening date, planning for our guest experience is top of the list.

We start the construction of game viewing hides this month which will offer our guests excellent photographic opportunities. We will also be putting the final touches on the Old African style footbridge that serves as access to the lodge and expanding the road network within our 7,000HA private concession.

Sundays are our day for exploring and we always try to get out in to the reserve to discover what hidden gems Majete has to offer… we can’t wait to share them with our guests.

Boating safaris, birding trips on the Shire River  White faced whistling ducks

African Parks Majete, who are responsible for the overall management of the reserve are also busy with building works this month. They are expanding the parks visitor facilities by adding an Environmental Education Centre and a Day Visitor facility to the existing Heritage Centre complex. Aimed primarily, but not exclusively, at school groups, the education centre will offer a library, natural history displays and conservation videos. The spacious thatch and Leadwood visitor centre overlooks a waterhole.

Mkulumadzi lodge common areas   Mkulumadzi lodge common areas

As we are moving in to the final months before opening we are beginning to concentrate more on recruitment and training. We are currently looking to recruit an executive chef who will be responsible for delighting the taste buds of our future guests and I’m really looking forward to sampling what’s on the menu.

The Mkulumadzi guides are currently in Zambia at our Robin Pope Safaris camps undergoing a rigorous training programme and a few other key staff members will be visiting Pumulani and Zambia in the coming weeks to gain the experience needed to provide our guests with a memorable stay.

Lichtensteins hartebeest  buffalo

Thank you so much for this brilliant update and good luck with the works.

If you like to know more about this exciting soon-to-be-completed lodge, please visit our website www.mkulumadzi.com .

Next week we will be back to Zambia to the Western Province where we are getting ready for the Liuwa safaris, starting soon. Kathy Richardson will show us some pictures from her exciting visit in December and her trip to Kasanka to see the bat migration.

Have a great week!

Rita

3. Januar 2011
von Blogchef
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Website aktualisiert

Endlich geschafft!
Pünktlich zum Jahresanfang ist die Website jetzt auch endlich wieder auf dem aktuellen Stand – das Update war eigentlich längst überfällig…..

Und weil wir gerade dabei sind, lassen wir jetzt unsere Website auch von Pingdom – The Uptime Company überwachen:

Service Response time Status
Toucan Reisen 0ms UP

30. Oktober 2010
von Blogchef
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Botswana und das Internet….

Nur keine Sorgen, Simone ist nicht verloren gegangen. Nur leider gestaltet sich die Internetverbindung deutlich schwieriger als erwartet….
Grundsätzlich ist ein Internetanschluss vorhanden, nur leider streikt die Technik. Und bis das komplett wieder behoben ist wird es wohl noch eine Weile dauern.

Die Uhren gehen anders in Afrika – auch für die Einheimischen.

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