Building Bridges

During the wet season (December through to March) the rain can do a lot of damage. This year, the rains were particularly heavy with some lodges sustaining serious damage from flooding. Here in Luambe we were lucky and only had water damage to our dining area which was scheduled for restyling this year anyway. However, each year the rivers and tributaries fill from the heavy rains and do not dry up until May/June time. This is not ideal for a lodge that opens at the beginning of May! It, therefore, becomes our duty to build bridges over the major river crossings so as to open our main road from the lodge to Mfuwe. If we did not do this we would have to divert and drive 13 hours to Mfuwe via Lundazi and Chipata! So, we joined forces with our nearest neighbour and together with plenty of man power and our Unimog, we have since opened up the road. Thank goodness! It is now a mere 5 hours to Mfuwe as opposed to 13.

Solar Success at Luangwa Wilderness!!

2009 proved to be the year the installation of our brand new and high tech solar power system was completed. The lodge is now fully able to run on solar energy including:

• All fridges
• Lighting
• All communication equipment, including satellite, office and radio
• Water pump
• All other electrical goods such as fans, chargers and some tools

The system runs on AC and DC with three separate systems running different areas of the lodge, with each operating as a back-up for the other systems. It took both experts from Germany and Tanzania two weeks to complete the momentous task, which included updating our old system and installing new components to expand the existing setup. We had to clear old dead trees in order to protect the new equipment and create room for it at the lodge which was a demanding feat on its own. Transport to the lodge proved to be one of the trickiest tasks with the equipment weighing in at over a tonne!! It is completely out of sight from clients and cuts out the noise issue from generators (which are also kept at the lodge as a back-up). However, many clients are so impressed, they ask to see the system and request a “behind the scenes” tour! We receive many positive comments about the fact a remote bush camp style lodge is able to offer recharging and communication capabilities! There are more than 30 panels and 36 batteries that complete the set up. The energy is stored in twelve 2v 1000amp batteries and other specialist solar cells. We are now all making the most of no generators and silent energy production!

How to scare an elephant

Human wildlife and especially human elephant conflicts are an issue for all conservationists whether in Africa or Asia. Chilli has been published by various sources as one way of protecting crop. It it said to be very helpful to scare away elephant who can destroy months of work within a few minutes. Well, our second gardening club planted Chilli and used our old engine oil to make a chilli fence around their garden. They are enjoying good success after implementing this idea. Other gardening clubs have been badly disrupted by elephants, however, Joseph's has remained unscathed.

Hippo and Lion fight it out outside maintenance manager’s house

Joe, our maintenance manager likes his sleep! He is renowned for sleeping through the loudest lion roar, the most deafening hippo guffaw and the ear piercing shrill of a baboon alarm call. However, earlier this month, the animals decided to rebel and if they were awake in the deepest darkest hours, then so should Joe!!

At about 0400 in the morning the lodge had some visitors; a pride of six lions and a lonely male hippo. Although common visitors to the lodge, it has to be said they don’t often visit at the same time. Needless to say the two night time guests met, right outside Joe’s window! Both the lion and the hippo were shocked and a moment of aggression past between them accompanied by roars, bellows and a few angry blows. However, no one was as shocked as poor old Joe. He was rudely awakened by the raucous and had no clue what was going on! There was even a moment where he thought, as the noise was so loud, they must be inside his room! Needless to say, Joe struggled to sleep for the rest of the night and was disturbed by dreams containing hippo and lion encounters of the deafening kind!

Since then, our night watchmen have not seen the same lion or the same hippo in camp!

Fips the Monkey

There are many ways of using a cushion. Most people just sit on them, others cuddle them or use them under their heads to rest with comfort.

Our tents each have a little veranda with a bench and of course each one has a cushion too which recently caught the attention of a monkey. “Fips the curious” took advantage of an unobserved moment to grab the cushion and run away.  Most likely he tore it apart into a thousand pieces at his own resting place, looking for some food inside. But the imagination of a little monkey sleeping peacefully on our cushion – drifting away to the sweetest dreams certainly has more appeal!

A surprise visitor spotted in the kitchen

Last night we were sat with our guests around the evening campfire, exchanging safari stories and tales from the bush when we heard a dreadful commotion in the kitchen.

Nervously I called for Wigson, dreading the worst (I, of course, automatically thought he had been either trampled or eaten!) He answered in a hushed whisper and stumbled rather shakily towards us. He had been attending to the oven fires when our resident male leopard meandered into the kitchen to see what was going on (no doubt drawn by the tantalising aromas of the delicious beef that Wigson's team had cooked for us all earlier).

Wigson had tried to stay calm, but hastily threw burning logs at the leopard, who turned and ran way, knocking over every dish, pot and pan in his path!! It was quite an exciting end to the evening.

Two young women from Cologne

...and their adventure of a lifetime in Zambia. Read about it all in their blog (if you can read German) http://crossboarder.blogspot.com/2009/05/this-is-africa-unser-785-stunden.html