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.

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
