February 2006

Hello everyone and a warm, Happy New Year greeting to you all. This newsletter is being written from Glasgow, which is unusual for me as newsletters usually originate from my tent on the banks of the Zambezi River, surrounded by a wonderful array of wildlife and lots of “bush stories” to talk about. Now, whilst looking out the window at grey skies and leafless trees bending under gale force, rain soaked winds, the Lower Zambezi seems very far away. On the other hand it is raining like mad in Zambia too and the Lower Zambezi is apparently getting a good share – so we don’t envy my Dad (Dave) and his mechanics getting the vehicles and boats ship-shape for the season which is now just around the corner.
 
Some of you will know by now that Lynsey gave birth to our gorgeous baby boy who we have named Scott and who I can’t wait to start teaching about the bush. Today the sun made a rare appearance so we gave Scott his first “game drive”, a ride around the Park in a pram looking at ducks and geese. Admittedly Scott slept through the entire exercise so I am hoping he will be more interested in African wildlife. Our days have been spent trying to recover from near sleepless nights and buying and learning all sorts of vitally important things we never even knew existed a few weeks ago.

Anyway, to Zambia! For those of you who have been to, or would like to visit Old Mondoro, herewith a link to our bush camp’s first newsletter – I am sure you will agree that Roelof did a great job with the game viewing and photos! By the way Helen and Roelof have been on holiday with Joe and Barbs on a beach in northern Natal but they will be back in Zambia next month.
 
We also would like to welcome Julie Matthews to the Chiawa Camp team – she will primarily be assisting Jenny in Lusaka with reservations and is currently spending a month under Jenny’s wing getting the lie of the land. By the end of February we expect that Julie will be handling the majority of Chiawa’s booking enquiries, releasing Jenny to spend more time on operational duties and with her growing clan of Grandchildren. So you know, Julie has lived most of her life in Zambia, is well experienced in the bush and in town and will also step in to take over from Barbs at Chiawa, as and when she gets to take some time off. Julie will be joining me, Lynsey and Scott at Indaba so I hope you will come and see us on the Classic Retreats stand 291 in the ICC – please email me or Jenny to make an appointment.
 

                                                                           Savannah Flax with a monster

For those of you that don’t already know, we are dismantling Cheetah Tent (No. 8) and replacing it with a new Superior Tent with indoor bathroom – although it will have an outdoor shower too for those of you who like the stars above your head whilst enjoying washing off the African dust. Craig is already back at Chiawa and construction is well underway, along with the usual preparing of camp and opening of the game viewing “roads”. Craig says the valley is looking very wet, the bush is lush and it seems all the lagoons are very full so we are expecting a bountiful year in the bush.

Purple crested Lourie

 
The 150^th anniversary of David Livingstone’s “discovery” of the Victoria Falls was marked recently and my brother Kevin, who runs the family transport business, was tasked with transporting and installing two imposing statues of the famed explorer and abolisher of the slave trade in what is now Zambia, one at the aptly named Livingstone Museum and the other at a spectacular vantage point overlooking the Falls. I am sure our Great Grandfather Cumings, who was prospecting for gold in the same area more than 100 years ago, would be proud to see these statues erected by his Great Grandson and which ought to be standing for many future generations to come.
 

At Conservation Lower Zambezi we said a sad goodbye to Ian and Lea who have now moved on to a project in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley and from where they report numerous conservation challenges to overcome, not to mention a population of 3,000 villagers in the area, who specialize in eating elephant meat but have a herd of 13,000 cattle with which they trade! The good news is that we welcome Adrian Hudson and Anna Harrisson who are now in place at CLZ HQ and preparing for what certainly will be another busy year. They will be keeping CLZ’s membership updated with periodic newsletters and if you are interested in joining CLZ I ask that you email me for further details – indeed CLZ’s most recent newsletter is linked here.
 

In the meanwhile take care of yourselves and we look forward to joining you on the banks of the Lower Zambezi, at a travel show, on the road somewhere or wherever.
 
All the best,
Grant

  

Chiawa Camp Newsletter – December 2005

 

Hello everyone – another season has come to an end and Christmas is just around the corner – what a year it has been. And yet one more record year for Chiawa, this has been our busiest yet so thanks to all of you for your fantastic support. I must say it was great to have Lynsey full time with me in the bush this year after she finally hung up her BA wings and as most of you know, the result of which is due to arrive in early February in Glasgow, where Lynsey is now going for her pre-natal check ups every two weeks. Her pregnancy has been fascinating for both of us and thanks to Britain’s NHS we are signed up for our “Parent Craft” classes in early January! I will be having Christmas with my family in Swaziland before joining Lynsey just before Hogmanay in Glasgow where we will remain until we return with the baby.

But back to Africa – I thought I would roll out some interesting statistics for you – this year, out of approximately 200 game viewing days at Chiawa Camp our terrific guides managed to find 236 lion sightings, 124 leopard sightings, 11 wild dog sightings and 3 aardvarks just for good measure. I have not included the sightings at Old Mondoro which were also spectacular – anyway this translates into pretty impressive odds of seeing those sought after kitties! For those into fishing (all catch & release of course) Chiawa’s erstwhile anglers caught 62 tigerfish in the 10lbs or larger category with Ivor Phillips catching the largest of the past two seasons – a chunky (the fish, not Ivor) 19 lbs! The largest fish of the season was a magnificent 53 lb vundu caught by Ted Kemkers although this only narrowly beat a few other massive vundu’s caught at Chiawa this year in the 45-51lb range so well done to Chiawa’s guests and hard working, first-rate guides. And how about some logistical statistics for you? Food for thought and to give you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes to make Chiawa happen. We consumed at Chiawa this year the following: 15,500 litres of petrol, 15,925 litres of diesel, 3,900 litres of bottled water, 2,200 litres fruit juice, 2,700 bottles of beer, 650 litres of white wine, 975 litres of red wine, 13,000 eggs and pages more - thanks Barbs for your great record keeping and thanks Dave & Jenny in Lusaka for keeping us stocked up – I don’t think we ever ran out of anything essential throughout the year – we had ample fuel and cases of tonic water when no one else did!

I must tell you of an amazing afternoon in camp whilst Lynsey & I were at WTM. One of our guest’s was taking a midday nap in the viewing hide when he was woken to a squeal and a very close growl – a lioness had chased a warthog up from the dry river bed and under the hide in which he had been snoozing. Louie’s waking up disturbed the lioness and the warthog made good its escape although one of its pals wasn’t so lucky – in the fracas Louie got to see another warthog getting pulled down and eaten by 3 other lionesses that had been hiding nearby. Once the lionesses had dragged their kill off Louie was able to get back to his tent without further incident – I wonder if that was one of the warthogs we get to see every afternoon eating the grass in camp? Anyway, if that wasn’t enough, the lionesses which had by now increased in number to 6, then decided to chase through the back of camp and pull down under our water tank, one of the three bull buffalos that rest around camp most days. What a spectacle for everyone to see before tea – from the safety of a game viewing vehicle this time. By the next day there were 11 lions and 2 cubs on the kill and you can imagine the noise, especially after the hyenas joined in, right through the night literally in camp. At one point 5 hyenas chased a lioness, with lots of wails, whoops, growls and howls in the process, right past Joe & Barbs’ tent. What a way to close down the season!

And on to next year – we have dismantled the tent next door to the Superior Tent and it is being replaced by another Superior Tent which I know will be gorgeous. I had hoped to do all the tents this way for 2006 but these would be big changes and I want to take this slowly, one step at a time. Although once we feel the time is right, don’t be surprised to see the other tents soon follow. There will also be a couple of small changes which I prefer to keep as a surprise for now. We are looking set for a great 2006 and although we still have space please confirm your bookings asap as we are filling fast.

And so until next year, from all of us at Chiawa we wish you all the best.

Grant, Lyns and the Chiawa Team