FEBRUARY 2007

A big hello and belated Happy New Year to you all from Zambia where the rains have finally set in. Indeed, as of the last week of January the Zambezi Valley had received very little rain but 150mm fell in 2 days, unfortunately about the time I went into camp to switch over and supply the off-season crew. This entailed a treacherous drive through the Zambezi escarpment where a Chinese road crew are widening the road and blasting chunks of mountainside away amongst the debris of wrecked trucks. This was followed by a very wet boat trip down the river, where, just as I was beginning to start feeling sorry for myself, we stopped at one of the villages for a stark adjustment of perspective. We were delivering a wheel chair donated by Chiawa Camp and the team to the crippled relative of one of our staff. This poor man had been relegated to dragging himself around in the dirt for a year!

Carrying back on down the river we passed about 20 eles, buff, lots of hippo, some crocs and some wonderful birdlife – goliath herons, roosting colonies of egrets, European and Blue cheeked bee-eaters, various cuckoos – beautiful. Camp was looking great and incredibly green. However there will be a lot of work to do before we open and already we are busily working on this. Dave is making great progress on the vehicles and boats and new at Chiawa for 2007 will be another land cruiser game viewing vehicle, a third Superior tent (one of the Classic tents has been dismantled and the new deck is almost complete) and a new generator. There is much to do in the coming weeks as Chiawa is reopening for Easter – please put that in your diaries – April 06 visit Chiawa for Easter!

Time is really flying by – Scott has just celebrated his first birthday and going back out into the bush for the season is just around the corner. The more baby-friendly/predator-proof house is complete and looking very much like the home it will be for us for much of this coming year as it seems like it will be another super-busy season for Chiawa. I am sure Lynsey will be offering her spa treatments to the lucky ladies, complete with the proverbial pitter-patter of little feet for background music!

We look forward to the wonderful surprises the wildlife no doubt will turn up for us. Could 2007 bring even more leopard sightings than the 230 (our most ever in one year!) and 262 lion sightings we had in 2006? With at least 6 individual leopards identified in a 3km radius around Chiawa Camp it is not surprising our amazing guides racked up 53 leopard sightings in September. We have had numerous encounters of lion and leopard on foot, by canoe and by boat as well as on game drives, a couple of aardvark and 9 wild dog sightings. Great kill action too – we really couldn’t have wished for more. And magic moments like the lone leopard cub drinking at a lagoon in the company of 3 civets, a porcupine and a pennant winged nightjar. A baboon trying to chase off a leopard whilst at the same time stuffing his face with figs. How about 300 elephants crossing an open plain in front of us? The fishing also turned up some great action and although it was rarely easy, dozens of tiger came in over the 10lb mark with the largest tiger fish of the season at 19lbs and the largest vundu catfish was heavier than 55lbs – it exceeded the limits of our scale! All released of course.

As the 2007 season approaches I wonder what changes in the lion prides we will find. On the way to the airstrip to leave for our massive overseas trip we came across the “3 Boys” – the male lion coalition from Old Mondoro – deep in the territory of Chiawa’s prides and that of our magnificent resident male, Doug “The Thug”. Concerned that the lure of the 8 or so lionesses would be too much for these males, I was somewhat relieved to later hear that they had been spotted back on their own turf. Fingers crossed that Doug (& his cubs) managed to keep out of their way during that time. Often, as I sat on a plane high over the USA or in Scotland’s rain during our time away, my thoughts would go to these creatures which we do our best to protect from the greed and short-term wants of man. And which of those individuals we have become familiar with would, and would not, be there for us to enjoy when we get back. I guess the best we can do is make sure that these animals get to thrive in a protected habitat where they can live, and die, as nature intends and not influenced by man’s inputs – other than of course having their privacy occasionally invaded by our camera and binocular lenses. Chiawa Camp and Conservation Lower Zambezi (www.conservationlowerzambezi.org) go to great lengths to maintain this however it is not without significant cost so if you would like to contribute in someway please consider making a donation to CLZ for its vital conservation and environmental education activities.

We will keep you posted of developments as they come up. In the meanwhile we leave you with this guest comment – take care and we hope to see you soon!

“The site, staff & sightings all worked together to make a seamless transition from man to nature” Chiawa Camp, September 2006, Anon

Grant and the Chiawa Team.

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