Tara and Nigel In Africa: Kafue River Camp

After renting a four wheel drive truck, my boss at Habitat said, “You are driving yourselves? You should have hired a driver!” Not the best information to hear from a local before starting a six hour journey into the bush! In any case, all went well; we only got lost once and are back in Lusaka in one piece.

I have to say it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Only 2 hours of the journey were on a paved road, the rest was on dirt roads that varied from acceptable to awful. We took a paved highway out of Lusaka to a small city called Mumbwa. Along that highway we stopped and bought ripe mangoes and a huge bag of charcoal, which is not like our charcoal at all – it is actually pieces of slowly burned wood.

Mangoes for sale along the highway

Charcoal for sale along the highway

Once in Mumbwa, we got more diesel on board and took off on dirt roads from there to the end of the trip – about four more hours. The first bit takes you through a very bad stretch of road with huge potholes and many roadside stands where we bought fresh tomatoes and fritters. We have both developed a liking for fritters which can be purchased from roadside vendors all over Zambia.

vendors outside of Mumbwa

Buying tomatoes and fritters outside of Mumbwa

At this point off the main highway, the directions literally involved a hand drawn map with “markers” at various kilometer points on the road, like “big granite rock”! Unfortunately, we didn’t realize until after we got a bit lost that the truck’s odometer was in miles and not kilometers – even though it was right hand drive. We did find our way after asking for directions twice, once at a school and once with a truck driving by whose passenger happened to be a policeman in a beret. The whole time Nigel was outside our truck talking to him I had no idea he was a policeman and with the green beret he was wearing, I thought he could have been some insurgent paramilitary guy! It was reassuring though to know that unlike in the US, my husband is not afraid to ask for directions here!

After hours of jouncing, weaving and swerving around on the worst roads you can imagine in the heat with a/c that didn’t work, we arrived at Kafue River Camp, on the banks of the Kafue River. We stayed in a rustic but very comfortable tent cabin with its own en suite toilet and outdoor shower.

view from deck of common area

view of our tent cabin from the river

We brought all our own food which they cooked for us. There are four tent cabins and we were the only guests - it felt like our own private retreat. The manager, Austin Weinand and his friend visiting from South Africa, Anne McCallum were the only other people there besides the ten staff members, who were only around when needed.

After a lovely dinner and falling asleep at 8pm the first night from sheer exhaustion, we were up at 5am for a 6am game drive. Every morning we woke up to the sounds of the hippos on their early morning journey from dry land into the river – they sound like they are groaning and grousing, and never fail to make you laugh with their funny sounds. There are also a remarkable number of birds and their unique songs were wonderful. I cannot describe how wonderful it is to wake to the sounds of hippos, birds, lions and hyenas!

Everisto and Kunda

Our morning and evening entertainment

Kunda

Our game driver was Everisto and his assistant was Kunda. Both were wonderful men who did their very best to make the drives successful. Unfortunately, the Kafue National Park and its surrounding Game Management Areas have been some of the most relentlessly poached areas in Zambia. The area we stayed in was supposed to be still quite good for game viewing, but that is often a matter of luck, left up to the gods. On our first morning drive, we had not gone far when Everisto stopped the vehicle and Kunda jumped down and walked over to a pile of dried elephant dung. Much to our surprise, he picked it up with his bare hands, broke it into smaller bits and pushed it into a large tin can hanging behind the seats by a wire. He then lit a match and carefully started it burning. They explained to us that the smoke helps keep away the tsetse flies. I actually grew to like the smell – certainly more than being bitten!! Nigel did get one bite, which got rather red and swollen quickly, but it didn’t last long.

elephant dung in the smoker to keep tsetses away

We did not see any cats, zebras or giraffes, but did see warthogs, puku, impala, kudu, eland, bush pig, baboons, vultures, kingfishers, hippos, and we heard lions, elephants and hyenas.

Bush Buck

Puku

Impala

Warthog

On the night drive we saw the eyes of bush babies as the torchlight from the Land Rover caught their eyes in the trees, and saw lots of the puku and impala. We did a morning and night drive on our first day and spent the second day being lazy - reading, etc. and on the third day did another morning drive. After not seeing anything new that morning, we decided to forego another night drive.

On our “day of rest”, lounging on the deck over the river, Nigel suddenly gave a shout – I thought he had dropped his camera in the water. Fortunately he hadn’t, but a lion snake had dropped out of the tree over his head and landed two feet from his lounge chair. I ran off to find help to get rid of the snake, but because it was midday no one was around. Nigel took a picture of it before we decided we best get back to our tent cabin in case it was poisonous. Later that evening he showed Austin the picture. He identified it as a lion snake and said yes indeed, it was poisonous, but not aggressive! Needless to say, when we returned to the deck for drinks before dinner, Nigel was on his hands and knees’, looking under all the furniture to make sure the snake was gone!

lion snake

The cooks were wonderful and with an open brick oven made the best home-baked bread and roast chicken. We had heard before we left that they would bake delicious bread and if we brought flour and yeast. We invited Austin and Anne to join us at dinner our last two nights there and they were great fun. We heard some wonderful stories from Austin, a former guide for game hunting, and from a family who has been in Zambia since the 1800’s. He told us that Kafue River Camp is owned by a former CEO or CFO of Microsoft (and of course, I can’t remember the name or title) who bought it for himself. When he visits once a year or so, he and his family/friends are the only ones there, all other times it is available to the public. Austin seems to have a great job because he doesn’t have to worry if the camp makes money or not.

James baking bread

Dimas with papaya

We left on Monday morning and as soon as we got about ½ hour away, we saw the most magnificent elephant eating leaves at the side of the road. He tried half-halfheartedly to charge us a couple of times, and after we got some photos (staying inside the truck!) we left him to it.

Lubungu pontoon

In order to get to and from the camp, you have to put your vehicle on the Lubungu pontoon to cross the Kafue River. It is operated by three men, two outboard motors, and is on cables that guide it across the river. Each time you cross you must wait while they write out a receipt, even if you don’t want one. When we reached the other side on our return journey, Nigel played a little football (soccer) with a little boy who lived nearby while we were waiting. The kids are amazing; all you have to do while driving or walking by them is wave and they get the biggest grins on their faces and delightedly wave in return!

downtown Mumbwa

It was a fantastic experience and a much needed rest for Nigel whose big advocacy event was a few days before we left. I had never been in the bush before and understand now why people refer to it as “the real Africa”. I can’t wait to go back when the kids arrive and share their excitement of the experience.