LATEST NEWS AND LOCAL UPDATES

 2006

For our visitors to Wildlife Camp this is the part of the web site where we keep you up to date with changes and animals sightings, weather conditions and new happenings! All to be taken with a bit of light hearted humour.
 

NEWS FLASH....NEWS FLASH… THE WARTHOGS PUB IS OPEN!!

We undoubtedly have one of the best views in the valley for watching the sunset across the Luangwa River, so please join us for a sundowner at the recently renovated Warthogs bar and appreciate the true beauty of Zambia. Each night as the sun sets the hippos make their way slowly ashore, so you can start your game viewing from the comfort of the bar! Warthogs offers comfortable chill-out areas in the bar, darts and also some relaxing tunes to unwind too. James (our current gap student) is busy updating the music but also feel free to bring along your own i-pod and plug in your favourite music (we do like to keep the music mellow however)

Oscar has been working on some interesting cocktails so come and see what we have – Zambian Zingers, Bacardi Boomslang, just to name a few.

Every rainy season we plan to renovate part of the camp. What is next, time will tell. A new staff compound is being worked on at present. We have plans to upgrade the family room no 5, give Patsy and Monica a bigger office, upgrade the ablution blocks on the campsite……enough to keep Patsy, Herman, Oscar & Miriam and our wonderful staff busy for a long time!

OUR SAFARI GUIDES

Our grade one qualified guides are Nyambe and John and they accompany all walking safaris to our guests great satisfaction. Their knowledge and enjoyment of the bush rubs off and everyone enjoys it tremendously. They are also the guides who take our guests to our bush camp and spent the night under bright starts with nothing but bush sounds to ease you to sleep.

Our grade two guide is Julius and our hopeful candidates are Philomon, Sylvester and Billy, all about to take their grade two exams in the coming weeks. Julius is enjoying his guiding and has gained a lot of experience over the last year. Hopefully he will sit for his grade one license in 2007.

OTHER STAFF – some new and some who have been with us for years!

Monica has enjoyed her leave and still plans to be with us for this season – her husband Masau is busy studying in Lusaka. She is as beautiful as ever and puts us all to shame with her great dress sense!

Kelly and James are our gap students and will be here until about end of June.

BJ is still in the restaurant and of course our kitchen staff are all with us – Evance, Harrison, Jerry and Morgan.

Luka is still trying to learn Italian!

Moffat has been kept busy during the rains with vehicle rescues and breakdowns on numerous guest vehicles, plus helping maintain our new fleet of Landrovers. (We did have one occasion where we are still convinced some guests were looking for hedgehogs as we have no other explanation as to why they would have been driving so far into the thickets and getting horribly stuck!)

Thomas is still making sure no-one gets eaten, trodden or otherwise upsets the peaceful nature of the campsite.

 

FOOD AND STUFF

Our restaurant is ever-changing, and we are expanding our menu. We are sure to have something for everyone regardless of tastes. Our “special of the day” works out great for our long term guest, offering them something different from the set menu. Kids are being taken care of as well, as we are working on a special “kiddies menu” to also feed the hungry little mouths.

More and more guests seem to enjoy the Full Board option. Not only does this include two game activities a day, but offers our guests all meals as well. From a light breakfast early in the morning, a hearty brunch after return from the first game activity, to afternoon tea and a full three course dinner in the evening. Life is easy in the bush!

Our bars sell the much needed snacks like chocolates and crisps, should you get the munchies while relaxing around the pool or watching the riverside from the main restaurant.

SIGHTINGS AND OTHER ANIMAL INFO

Last year a pack of wild dogs was spotted on one of our walking safaris in the Game Management Area. An exciting day for all of us, these rare animals and are seldom seen. To have them also hunt in our area is just too good to be true. This year we have had enthusiastic guests reporting the wild dogs close to the campsite a few days in a row! On morning drives a pair of these very rare animals were seen around our camp and we are hoping they are looking for a new place to set up their den. Great to see these highly social animals are finding a way of living in South Luangwa and adapting to the environment offered here.  

Our game viewing has been good over the rains and we have had many happy guests.

Nyambe and his guests have been watching the impalas rutting –interesting to see one male with only one horn drive off his rival.  On last nights game drive a lion was after a hyena – who just managed to escape – with much tense giggling!

John was lucky enough to see an African jacana carrying its babies under its wings – an interesting fact is that the male jacanas look after the babies – women’s lib in the wildlife world.

Julius – a few days ago saw a crocodile grabbing a puku on the Mfuwe lagoon, the puku fought back and managed to escape.

Sam, the Miles family dog, is still dodging leopards. He finds friends everywhere in camp, but seems to enjoy our campers at the pool the most. His need for attention is satisfied by all our guests. Mouse (the cat) is still alive and well and waiting for Antonia to come back!

The squirrels in the house are still doing fine and making a lot of noise to any animal intruders trying to get too close.

Another bushbuck was saved from baboons, bringing the number to 3 and “Bushy, Bob and Esmeralda” are enjoying the attention they get every day from the children. They have all been hand-raised and as soon as they were old enough were released and can come and go as they please. They all still return faithfully to the house for their bottles of warm milk.
 

THE CHIPATA (and a possible other) ROAD

The best news for everyone is that the CHIPATA to MFUWE road has been graded.  Sorry – this is a myth but certainly got your attention!!!. With rains, traffic and of course the soil itself playing a major role, this road will never be a smooth ride. As of now it still takes about three hours for a high clearance vehicle (4x4) to reach Mfuwe. For trucks it will be even longer.

What happens now, after the rains, nobody knows.  We are hoping that someday our government will put some money into road works but as I have been hoping this since 1985, we might have a long wait. When in camp do come and see us and I will explain the mystery of the two bits of tar over the hills!

We keep looking at the sunny side and your real “African Experience” starts in Chipata.

For self-drivers from Lusaka, the Petauke road is still an even bigger challenge than the Chipata road, but is under heavy construction and is looking better. In any case, it affords a pleasant scenic change. The road may be as “good” to travel as the Chipata road soon.

HORSES … did anyone mention this??? Watch this space!!

 We hope to welcome you all (back) to our camp for the new season!

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