Chiawa's 20th Anniversary ~ April 2009

20 years ago, 1989, many memorable things happened.

• the world wide web was officially presented and born, albeit in an embryonic form

• the Berlin Wall came down

• the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan

• Chiawa Camp pioneered tourism into the Lower Zambezi National Park and opened its tent flaps to business for the first time

Since then Chiawa Camp has brought wives, children and grandchildren to not only the Cumings Family but also to others who have worked and visited Chiawa!

A beautiful wilderness that would otherwise have been destroyed by poachers and consequently reckless development is protected - and although these threats persist, Chiawa Camp's presence and unrelenting conservation efforts has ensured these effects have not prevailed.

A new economy for the surrounding areas was created and training, medical care and education for the surrounding communities improved.

Now, 20 years later, Chiawa Camp is once again opening brand new following an extensive refurbishment which took place in two stages, the first replacing the main social areas in the camp and the second, replacing the 6 remaining "Classic" tents with superior tents, ensuring Chiawa Camp remains one of the premier safari camps in Africa and certainly the premier safari camp in Zambia.

 

Each of the new tents, with inspiration taken from Grant & Lynsey's own bush home and Chiawa's existing Superior Tents, have incredible features such as super king sized beds, indoor and outdoor showers, ball & claw baths, his & hers washbasins, Molton Brown amenities, a spacious changing area, comfy soft arm chairs and split level decks over looking the Zambezi, complete with day bed and more chairs to relax in.

Although totally luxurious and wanting for nothing the tents remain true to Chiawa's ethos of unpretentiousness and authenticity, perfectly combining timeless Africa with the modern world and are utterly appropriate to the magnificent surroundings in which they rest.

What more appropriate accolade than to be listed in May 2009's House & Garden Magazine's Guide To The Most Beautifully Designed Hotels In The World! Not that Chiawa is an hotel, rather it is one of the World's Leading Safari Lodges as declared in the list of Finalists for 2009's World Travel Awards, said to be the tourism equivalent of the Oscars. 

Thanks to the fabulous support from our network of agents around the world, Chiawa has made the list of finalists in the Good Safari Awards in the following categories: Best Safari Lodge in Southern Africa; Best Guiding Team in Africa; Best Community Lodge; Best Eco Lodge and Best for Cuisine.

A HUGE thank you to everyone for nominating us and a HUGE thank you to all the team at Chiawa for helping our family deliver such a fabulous safari experience whilst at the same time ensuring the wildlife, habitat and surrounding communities of people are taken care of. These are massive achievements for us.

We are crossing fingers that we will win at least some of these awards, to be announced at Indaba in May this year, and especially to retain our Best Guiding Team in Africa trophy. For 2009 we have taken both our guiding team and our guide training to the next level by not only hiring on two more renowned professional guides but also establishing a new safari guide training course through Conservation Lower Zambezi this year.

Thanks to a generous donation from Janet & Jack Helfenstein via the Piton Foundation made to Chiawa in recognition of its exemplary in-house guide training program, funds were made available to hire a hand picked team of trainers and custom build a guide training course specific for the Lower Zambezi and aimed at uplifting members of the local community as well as overall guiding standards in the Lower Zambezi.

Chiawa Camp has made this course available to all in the Lower Zambezi and all monies raised through this course are being donated to Conservation Lower Zambezi for its vital and effective conservation work. If you would like to learn more about CLZ and how you would like to help please click on www.conservationlowerzambezi.org

Just in case you are thinking Chiawa might be losing focus on what is most important (the guiding and bush experience) Chiawa has also improved its renowned and award winning guiding team by bringing into the fold two well known Zambian pro guides namely Sebastian Sakala and Rory McDougall.

Sebastian has already been guiding in the Lower Zambezi for 5 years and he approached us saying "he wanted to join Africa's best guiding team because he felt there was much he could contribute and learn from being a part of it". In his first month at Chiawa we feel he is well on his way to becoming one of the Lower Zambezi's top guides and is a welcome addition to Chiawa.

Rory McDougall, being an accomplished artist as well as a well known guide in Zambia has degrees in botany and zoology and is also one of Zambia's top ornithologists. This means Chiawa will be offering specialized birding safaris at an even higher level than it's been able to offer in the past and also safaris and activities with a focus on art where Rory will have all the kit in camp plus his patience and skill to help budding or already competent artists render their memories the old fashioned way ... new to Chiawa so contact us for details.

Briefs on all our guides are available on our website.

For those of you who want more than ordinary guides I can think of no better team than Chiawa's.

 

And so on to game viewing, although we have only been open little more than a week we have been blessed with some great sightings. Huge ele's in camp feeding literally around our feet and checking on progress - drinking from the pool even, mating leopards close to camp, two male lions killing an aardvark almost in camp early one morning and then dragging it into the bushes ...

2 new cubs have joined the lion pride although it looks like some of our old faithfuls haven't seen through the rains ... "Doug the Thug" our long time resident male seems to have been forced on by all the pressure (judging from the photo of one of the new young males it would seem he didn't go without a fight!) and then it seems Tag, one of the Alpha lionesses and estimated to be some 16 years old (unusual for wild lions) has disappeared. On the other hand we have new blood in the area and we look forward to seeing a hopeful proliferation of new cubs in the coming season.

How about more than 40 banded mongooses playing in the morning sun? Yesterday we had a "dancing" elephant which performed in front of one of our signature floating lunches, where it dropped to its knees, splashed around with its head and even tried to spray the luncheoners with water! Then a lovely sighting of a leopard and cub the other night plus the camp tom, Mr T.

Of course the fish have been biting with some fighting tigers being landed and, from the banks of camp, some huge bream taken (& released as always) on fly. Well done Darien for catching a 3kg bream, Chiawa's fly record for bream and doing a splendid job despite interruptions by thirsty elephants who wanted to drink where and when he was doing battle!

 

I thought you might enjoy these candid snaps taken during the rains and just 3 short weeks before camp opened - I must thank all of our team but especially our carpenters Wallace & Brown but not forgetting our friends Herby & Irene who made the miracle happen and despite flood, washed away roads and suppliers who did not share our urgency in getting camp ready, our amazing new tents opened on time to a full camp!

Just in case you did not notice, that canoeing is taking place in the "dry" riverbed!!
 

 

Old Mondoro is almost through a freshen up and I must remind you that this is the Lower Zambezi's most intimate and exclusive camp. John, Lana and Levy head up Old Mondoro and who have just been joined by Morat, one of the first Zambian guides to obtain a guiding license and well known for his in depth knowledge of the area - so Old Mondoro is also excellently placed with its guides this year, for walks and drives alike. Situated deep inside perhaps the most picturesque part of the Park and offering uncomplicated, unpretentious but superb comfort and service - Old Mondoro is the ultimate and only choice for safari purists. However, as bookings are slower than we would like for Old Mondoro we are offering a rate of only $555 rack for all new bookings through Oct 31st. Remember this is an 8 bed camp and we don't charge single supplement either so this is incredible value. On its own, in conjunction with Chiawa Camp and / or in conjunction with top camps in the South Luangwa, Old Mondoro is a must do for Zambia.

All the best,

Grant