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.

Romance in the Air?

Sightings of our resident male leopard were sparse early this season. Fearing the worst we have consistently kept an eye out for him at the lodge watering hole hoping to catch a glimpse and confirm that he is still with us. We had almost given up hope when early one evening our night-watch man came to inform us that there were two lions on the road, very close to camp. We silently made our way to the car and set off up the road to find the lions, alas, there were no lions in sight. What we did find though was our resident male leopard with, what we believe to be, a female leopard in the thicket just outside the boundaries to the lodge. After watching them disappear into the bush we made our way to the watering hole, just in case, and were rewarded with the sight of our resident male quenching his thirst with the female lingering in the background. This sighting was exciting for two reasons, firstly that our resident male is well and still situated close to the lodge which has been the start of many more sightings this season. And secondly that this appears to be a mating pair who will stay in the area during their ‘courtship’, with frequent romantic outings to our water hole we hope!

Name the Leopard Competition

As our resident male leopard has been spotted more frequently this year, we at Luangwa Wilderness Lodge have formed quite an attachment to him. Unfortunately we are having difficulty deciding on an appropriate name for our friendly leopard. We therefore are requesting that readers try to come up with an imaginative and original name for our leopard, please send all entries to news@luangwawilderness.com. The winning name shall be announced in next month’s newsletter and on these pages. Be ready for a little surprise as well.

News from the Clubs

The gardening club has come on leaps and bounds this last month, providing fresh produce such as tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, cabbage, green beans, carrots and papaya to the lodge, and to other lodges in the surrounding area. Passimo has been working hard to ensure that the garden is well maintained and we are hoping that guests will be eager to book a village tour to visit the clubs and see first hand the progress that is being made. We are looking forward to receiving many more items from Passimo and the other clubs that Luangwa Wilderness currently supports.