At last, the Zambezi has dropped to its regular levels and our winter seems to be on its way out. What a few months it has been, let's start with the record high river levels which cut off much of the Lower Zambezi, covered most of its islands and brought the river uncomfortably close to our camps. This caused us a logistical challenge of having to triple handle all our supplies and boat everything into Chiawa Camp and Old Mondoro however it was the wildlife on the islands, surrounded by a fast river and hungry crocs, that suffered the most to the point that we had to truck and boat in hay, feed pellets and licks and deliver them to all the islands between both camps. Although we got there too late for some we saved many a buffalo and waterbuck, and it was interesting to watch one herd of buffalo after their hay delivery - they spent a week venturing never further than a few meters from the bales.

Now that the Zambezi has dropped it has left behind a multitude of snow white sand bars the likes of which we haven't seen for a decade and perfect for sundowners - also perfect for the African Skimmers, and the crocs and hippos who are just loving having all this warm sand to lie down on. Every sandbar seems to have a herd of hippo and resident croc of gigantic proportions.

This has made canoeing the Waterbuck Island channel possible again which is full of saddle bill storks, cantankerous crocs and reluctant hippos - yesterday's trip enjoyed the spectacle of a herd of elephants crossing right in front of them.

Away from the river and on the drives we are having fabulous luck with lions, 6 new cubs are with us this year plus the lionesses and 3 males from last year. The large black maned lion in the pride killed a baby elephant minutes between two of our game drive vehicles and who was soon joined by the rest of the pride whilst later that day his two pals pulled down a bull buffalo right in front of our night drive and all within a few minutes of camp. The pride didn't know where to eat, swapping between elephant and buffalo until the black maned lion eventually impressively dragged off the buffs remains to a bush where he could eat in peace. The leopards have been harder work this year but we are still having great sightings at night, during the day, on foot and even from our floating lunch.

Of course we are also having magical visits from the massive elephant bulls that come wandering and browsing through giving us all hours of joy and some challenges too, dodging them to and from the tents, kitchen, dock and wherever else they choose to browse. One of the more special elephant sightings that I can recall is of a breeding herd slowly making its way towards us through the canyon with the full moon rise behind - speaking of which, we have a new sandbar to try out in a couple of nights for Chiawa Camp's brilliant full moon island dinner.

Lot's of fun at the moment is a hyena with its young and very boisterous, inquisitive pup which is providing us hours of entertainment in the evenings - a great light hearted break before returning to camp or perhaps one of our fabulous bush dinners.

Note the red tinge to the photo, this from the red filters we put over our spotlights to minimise any discomfort the wildlife might feel from our night drives and yet another shining (no pun intended) example of Chiawa Camp's commitment to conservation. A new motto - low impact on the wildlife, big impact on our guests!

The birding as ever is excellent and as you can see from the photos, the Lower Zambezi has the most beautiful of our avian friends. 

I quite like this unusual shot of a pair of white fronted bee eaters sharing a perch with a white helmet shrike. Three Pel's fishing owl sightings were the talk of our guides, as was the albino redbilled ox pecker (thanks for the photo Magali!) although last week one of our walking guides John turned up quite possibly the most unusual sighting ever at Chiawa - a family of 10 bush pigs - in Bush Pig Dambo of all places.

Speaking of flying I have included a photo taken with my iPhone of the propeller whilst flying the other week, odd effect which I can't explain so if any of you pilots/photographers out there know please share. 

On that note I will leave you with one of John's photos which he took on the Jeki Plains down towards Old Mondoro and which I think is one of the most iconic shots I have seen of the Lower Zambezi - showing not only the spectacular light and scenery that delights photographers of all skill levels from around the globe but also a herd of zebra, a herd of elephant, a herd of buffalo, waterbuck and to cap it off a prowling pair of lions. Good one John!