South Luangwa National Park – Zambia

If you want to see leopards, then South Luangwa is the place to go!  South Luangwa National Park, in Zambia’s Eastern Province, is about half the size of the Kruger Park.  There are no fences- instead the park is bounded by rivers, the mighty Luangwa being the largest.  We stayed at Flatdogs Camp, an amazing (and very well priced) lodge on the banks of this impressive river.  The owners and staff were incredible, and a truly big thank you goes out to each one of them.

Given how Zambia’s wildlife has been completely decimated in general, we were astonished at the density of game we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This guy was waiting for the lions to leave their dinner, but clearly the waiting got the better of him. . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my favourite photo of the trip.  This guy crossed the road in front of us and then turned and walked straight at us, pausing long enough for me to get this shot.

 

This next photo is of a naughty baboon trying to steal a little friend for himself. The mother soon chased him off.

And mom and baby were reunited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On one of our mornings I traded my game drive for a walking safari and left Tam tucked up in bed.  Early into our walk, we came across the next guy in a thicket and he was not too happy to see us.  He growled like mad, then charged at us, still growling. What’s interesting is that you can see from the sequence that he is never coming directly at us- from the outset he knows he is not brave enough. I watched the whole thing through the lens, although judging by the number of out of focus shots, I must have been a little rattled.  Our ranger clapped his hands and shouted like mad while the game scout with rifle watched on, bemused. Apparently, that’s what leopards do and the scout was not at all phased. He did indeed veer off and streaked right past us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One morning Tam and I ventured off to the Nsefu sector of the park, in search of a pack of resident wild dogs. While we didn’t find the dogs, we did come across 800 buffalo coming down to drink at the hot spring in the area. Well, 799 after this. We watched these lions taking down this big bull and eating him alive. When we left the scene after more than an hour the buffalo was still fighting- quite gruesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This video shows some of the action – not for the squeamish ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you want to see more South Luangwa awesomeness, check out Ed Selfe’s website– he is a local photographic guide with some epic shots.