Into the Bush...and safely back: 18-23 May

Kafue National Park, and the Kafwala Rapids Camp did not disappoint for a good wilderness bush experience. We had breakdowns, planned encounters, chance encounters, missed encounters, adventures, and misadventures.

Kafue National Park is one of the largest in Africa, and boasts some of the highest species diversity of any national park in the continent. However, it is also underdeveloped, which in many ways may contribute to its high conservation value. One of the important ecological components of African ecosystems is the occurrence of fire. We got to see lots of examples of this, including on our drive in, when the landscape alongside our drive was burning. This is a regular event, and our driver was nonplussed.

We set off on the 8 hour drive, picking up our scout, Clement, on the way. Scouts are trained, highly skilled Zambians who travel with us anytime we are on foot in the bush, away from camp. Clement could spot game before any of us could, was able to identify tracks and sign from animals we couldn’t otherwise see, and he was trained with a firearm if need be. As a good scout, Clement never needed to use his firearm in large part because he never allowed us to be put in a position where he would need to. Here you see Clement with Rochelle and Rachael collecting data during a walk.

No seed, scat, or track goes unexamined by this crew.

We also came across a couple of hippo skeletons. Remarkable.

 We went on regular game drives, where we saw lots of new game like puku, roan, and hartebeest. We also got eyes on a few more elephants, bushbuck, and warthogs.

We also saw some new bird species, like Bohm’s bee-eater, white-backed vulture, white-headed vulture, and variable sunbird.

This visit has also been graced by some nice encounters with herps (reptiles and amphibians), including this flap-necked chameleon and this bark snake (non-venomous).

Game drives were generally interesting, but every so often, we might have a breadkdown, and when we did, it was nice to have our scout along not only for pushing, but also for insuring we were safe in the bush.

Once again, our evenings included a lot of field note validation and field guide checking...and also a bit of euchre.

Kafwala Rapids camp is definitely remote - no electricity, no borehole (we had to boil river water to drink), and only the roughest of two-track dirt roads for us to travel. It was both rugged and enchanting.

This is the water heater for our showers. At least we had showers (and toilets)!

Speaking of toilets...which if you look closely you can see are open-air stalls.

On our penultimate night in Kafwala Camp, we did have a crazy episode where the largest battalion of army ants I had seen (or any of the Zambians had ever seen) moved into camp after dinner, and started to take over two of our tents. We got everyone moved away from the path of the army, although crickets and beetles and wasps weren’t as lucky….

Here you see the tent we had to surrender to the ants, their march redirected by hot coals from our fire. (Don’t worry, we didn’t give up the students in that tent - they were moved to a new tent, away from the advancing horde.)

We also got to take two really relaxing but unique boat cruises on the Kafue River. The “Malaika” is a double-decker that easily accommodated our number, and also didn’t really run any risks from the local hippo or croc populations.

From the Malaika, we were able to see lots of great birds, the hippos, water monitor lizards, and even a croc or two.

The highlight of our stay, however, was the time we got to spend with the Zambian Carnivore Programme staff in Kafue, Ben and Lamack. ZCP collaborates with NMU faculty and graduate students on several projects, but they do tremendous work in Zambia, and we were able to benefit from their work. First, we were able to find a pack of wild dogs that they have collared, and observe them up close.

The students know how privileged they were to have one of Africa’s rarest carnivore be their FIRST carnivore sighted. (A few people did see a leopard just a few hours earlier, but the entire group saw these dogs, and it was amazing.) 

And if that weren’t enough, on another day, working with ZCP’s staff, we were able to track down a pride of lions who had just made a kill of a puku *and* a hartebeest. The lions weren’t terribly cooperative for photos (they were staying largely concealed in the long grasses), but the dozens of vultures were equally interesting (at least to the ornithologist).

Ben and Lamack from ZCP not only stayed with us and talked about their work, they also provided a lot of insight on just what sort of data they collect on the carnivores and students were able to ask lots of questions about field work and to see firsthand what sort of skills and aptitudes it takes to successfully do field work. It takes a lot more blood, sweat, and tears than one might think from just watching Discovery Channel specials…

Now we are back in Lusaka for a day of restocking and refueling. Shannon and Rachael helped with dinner tonight, as our driver, Mr. Mike Dube, laughs at our comedic friend and chef, Mr. Bachi.

On Saturday we head out to the Nyanje Village for a couple of days of Village life, then we finish at South Luangwa National Park. Hopefully I will be able to post from S. Luangwa, but probably not for a week or so.

I want to be sure to point out that many of the best photos on this blog are contributed by the students, especially our star photographer, Devon Hains. Attributing them is very tough on this blog, but everyone gave permission for their use.