Late 1999

  The 1999 safari season is now over - the impala are dropping their young, the first rains are already upon us, and the summer heat has settled in. This has been a landmark year for Chiawa Camp, with significant in-roads having been made into new markets. We are extremely grateful for all the phenomenal support and we look forward to an even more successful season next year.

 We are pleased to hear that Zambian Airways (ex Roan Air) is commencing direct flights between Lusaka and Heathrow, which we hope will make travel to Zambia cheaper and more convenient. Further, Proflight will be offering scheduled flights into Jeki for the 2000 season making it easier and cheaper than ever to pay us a visit.

 We will be moving one of our platforms to face the confluence of the Zambezi and Chowe rivers, which will ensure each and every tent has a private and unique view of the spectacular scenery. The new platform/tent will be sold as our honeymoon suite for a small extra charge however it will be unrivalled in the area for romance and luxury! This platform will be getting a larger tent that will be about double the interior size of the current tents but more importantly, will get a shower-for-two and a bath with a view of the river and escarpment. Book now.

The game viewing for the year was superb – lot’s of elephant including visits to camp by old regulars such as Sergeant Bilko and Gunner Milligan, loads of big cats (210 lion and 65 leopard sightings for 1999), plus all the interesting small stuff like honey badgers, servals, civets, even mating porcupines!!

Some of the more memorable sights included:

-          7 hyenas being chased off a fresh impala kill by a lone lioness (Tag) that immediately took out their frustration by chasing off 3 young male lions that were malingering in the background.

-          2 lionesses teaching 6 cubs how not to hunt porcupines and then immediately afterwards kill an impala in front of our vehicle. Incredibly the lionesses did not take part in the feeding and appeared only too happy to watch the cubs eat and then lick them clean. At least 300 elephants passed in single file in front of our vehicles while on a morning drive near Waterbuck Island. When we left the scene there were still more elephants emerging from the thicket!

-          3 wild dog (or African painted dog) sightings this season, including 5 dogs playing and lolling right in front of our vehicles. A pack of 16 wild dogs were recently seen near Jeki.

-          A crocodile right in front of the viewing hide caught a hyena late one afternoon. The wailing of the hyena was incredible and the hyena fortunately escaped without serious injury.

-          A leopard was chased off a freshly killed impala by 3 hyenas. The leopard simply climbed up a tree next to our vehicle and nodded off after licking herself clean.

-          A new young blond male lion got chased off a buffalo calf he had just killed by 15 hyenas, which in turn got chased off by the new black maned lion. As the two male lions settled down to eat, Tag and White-Tip (2 lionesses) charged out of the bush and sent the lads packing after which they called out their 3 cubs to join in on the feast.

Of course we can’t forget Momba our resident Ground Hornbill. We will be leaving him, or her, at Chiawa where we hope he, or she, will team up with the many others in the vicinity. Momba we know is looking forward to the wet season with the bountiful insect, reptile and amphibian invasion imminent. I saw Momba sharpening his beak on a rock in anticipation!

I hope that we all have a fantastic Y2K season and that we’ll get to see some of you and your clients in that very special paradise - Chiawa Camp in the Lower Zambezi.

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