A big thank you to our most dedicated sponsor

This season we were happy to welcome back Charlene and Fabrice from Touroparc, France. This is their second visit to the project and we are grateful for their active and generous financial support of our conservation activities and protecting Luambe`s wildlife. Not only have they helped to expand our clubs this year by offering them the chance to sell some of their products in Europe, but this time they also brought with them donations in the form of children’s clothing and sun hats. We are happy to report that we have donated these items to a local orphan group run by a village church. The hats are so needed to protect the youngsters eyes from the extremely strong sun and the clothes will come in use when the cooler weather comes after the rains. These donations have given the orphans something to get excited about and they were very grateful on receiving the items. So from the orphans and all us on the ground out here, we say a big THANK YOU!!

Winner of the name the leopard competition

A huge thank you to all of you who entered the competition with potential names for our resident male leopard, we had some fantastic suggestions. We are pleased to announce that the winning name, chosen by the Directors and the managers here at Luangwa Wilderness Lodge is Chinshingwa. The name was suggested by Chris Swart who chose the name after stating “I feel an ideal name would be " Chinshingwa " meaning shadow in Bemba, You always know it is there and will always be wary of it subconsciously. It disappears as soon as the sun goes down and comes out with artificial light.” Thanks and well done to you Chris

Conservation Corner

The new Lapa at Luangwa Wilderness Lodge has proved to be a success with many guests appreciating the hard work that went in to designing and constructing the lapa. One feature that is also commented upon is Conservation Corner, where various items created by the local clubs and skilled local workers are displayed for sale. All of the items for sale are crafted by local residents, items such as woven baskets, local, Zambian style bottle openers, key rings and beaded doylies, made by the women’s club. Conservation Corner plays an important part in the overall conservation project here at Luangwa Wilderness Lodge, giving local workers an incentive to put their skills to good use and create items that can be sold to guests. We have recently received more items to display in the form of mini boats, modelled on the style of the boats used by local fishermen, and decorated egg cups. The most popular items this season have been the bottle openers, popular no doubt for their unique style and effectiveness, the Zambian style bottle opener is one item that no guest should be without!
We would like to extend a huge thank you to those guests that have purchased items from Conservation corner this season, all the proceeds have gone towards ensuring that the local clubs can continue to produce the traditional style items that we have for sale and continue to produce these items in the future. We hope to receive many more interesting and unique items in the near future.

Expansion of Hippo Pods

As the dry season begins to set in and the rivers slowly start to dry up here in Luambe, we have noticed a surge in the number of hippo pods slowly positioning themselves further down the river, in front of the lodge. When the season began we were fortunate to have two small pods that set up home in front of the lodge and many days were spent watching these pods interact and wallow in the river, and on the plus side the noise was kept to a minimum. Now that the more significant areas of the river have started to become shallow, we have found that the numerous pods have made a bee line for the stretch of river by Luangwa Wilderness Lodge, as the water stays relatively deep, well, deep enough to satisfy a hippo in any case. Each pod has grown in size and more pods have begun to relocate themselves in front of the lodge, which has ensured some very interesting viewing, with daily fights amongst the larger males and mothers carrying babies on their backs. You can always rely on the hippos to keep you entertained.
With the increase in numbers there has also been an increase in the noise levels, still, this is more of a joy rather than a burden. The hippos here in Luambe just love to communicate with each other! Even with this increase we are pleased to report that we have not had an increase in the number of midnight visitors to the lodge, there is of course one persistent hippo that finds the grass outside the manager’s houses irresistible, and frequently pays us a visit at 4am to graze. He is, however, the only hippo brave enough to face the manager’s wrath when we are woken at such an unsociable hour.

Margaret

This season, Luangwa Wilderness Lodge was pleased to welcome whom we believe to be our most prestigious guest to the lodge so far. Margaret Hoz who is 88 years old visited us at the beginning of this month as part of a larger group from Switzerland. Margaret was a joy to welcome and was full of enthusiasm for the landscape and animals, taking part in all of the game drive and bush brunch activities. A skilled potter and artist, Margaret demonstrated her talents by creating a beautiful water painting of elephants in one morning. We were all overwhelmed by Margaret’s zest for life and hope that when we reach 88 years old, we will still be visiting Africa and leading an active and energetic life such as Margaret is.

Scout Success!

We are pleased to announce, that the scouts have been on top form recently, through combined efforts by two different scout groups, they were successfully able to track and apprehend two poachers found to be operating within the park. The scouts’ re-kindled motivation comes after a donation of boots was made by the Luambe Conservation Project, through a grant from the NGO CCSC. Many donations have been made to the scouts this season, such as uniforms, rucksacks, hats, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and other items that will ensure the scouts can carry out their duties to the best of their abilities. We hope that with the proper equipment, the scouts will continue the good work and ensure that Luambe National Park stays poacher free.

Welcome to our New Guide!

This month Luangwa Wilderness Lodge is excited to welcome our new guide James to the lodge. James is a grade I guide who hails from Mfuwe, he has worked at many prestigious lodges such as Flatdogs, Kafunta and Norman Carr safaris as a successful guide and we are very pleased that he has decided to join us at Luangwa Wilderness Lodge. Being a Grade I guide also means that we are now able to offer walking safaris to future guests, thus expanding our range of activities. James has already proved himself to be very knowledgeable about the game and its’ surrounding habitat and has kindly demonstrated his skills to us managers on both a game drive and walking safari. We were very impressed by the range of information that James was able to offer and left each activity armed with facts and feeling more educated about our surroundings. We are looking forward to future guests taking full advantage of James’ knowledge and skills on either a game drive or walking safari.