Very Much Delicious: Part 16

Part 16 of my diaries from 1996 about my trip to Malawi and Zambia. And, by the way, the title of these posts was explained in Part 5.

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It was the first day of the new year and we planned to spend the whole day in the Park, driving much further South than we had so far gone. Sadly Louise was feeling ill and had to stay behind to await a doctor. The rest of us though were soon under way and this time we drove straight to the airfield and then on past the plain where last night we had admired the sunset. Almost immediately we saw a group of giraffe in the distance, their long necks bobbing up from behind the trees. The distance to them was however too great and the ground between us too uneven to allow a closer approach. It didn't matter. A few minutes later we came upon a solitary male. He was chewing at a tree top in a clearing and was no more than twenty feet away. Obligingly he posed for photographs.

    Near the river we paused to stretch our legs and I spent a few minutes observing and sketching a tiny white spider that was too small to photograph. Later I identified it as one of the Salticidae, a jumping spider. Before we had set out Sarah and Sheila had complained about a rather bigger Arachnid that was sharing their cabin. That had been a large baboon spider, the African equivalent of a tarantula. Geoff had killed it with enough bug spray to fell an elephant which I thought was rather unjust. It wasn't actually hurting anybody after all.

    When we continued David was continually asking for more giraffe. My facetious comment that I would be really impressed if Geoff could find us a kangaroo received the reaction it deserved. David's wish was soon granted. We came upon four giraffe together, a little way from the road but across an even grassy stretch of ground where we could drive closer. Not only was the group more interesting than the solitary male had been but the light was much better here for photography. We all snapped away happily, David especially so. When he was done he sheepishly confided that the reason he had so keenly wanted to find more was that for the first one he had had no film in his camera.

    Our next encounter was more dramatic and had no time for pictures to be taken. We had been on a track skirting around a dried up river bed heading towards an area where we hoped to find lion. This led down through some fairly thick trees before emerging into a clearing. Of to one side, near an isolated stand of trees was an elephant, a large full grown male elephant. He trumpeted a warning and started a lumbering mock charge. We stopped. He stopped. Then he turned as if to go back into the trees. Without warning he wheeled around and with his ears flat and his trunk down he came thundering towards us in a charge that was anything but mock. Geoff slammed the Land Rover into reverse and took us back into the trees at very high speed. Satisfied that he had scared us off the elephant aborted his attack and followed us no further.

    The next excitement came when Barry caught sight of two lion in the distance on the  opposite bank of a tree filled valley which we had been following south. Geoff, who seemed to know every path and track in the park, tried to find a route round towards them but without success. We were on the verge of quitting when we found another lion, a female, resting in the shade of a tree and looking rather bored. She let us get within a few yards before yawning and walking off into the dense bush where we could not follow.

     We were going to have a picnic lunch but before that we went to the South Lodge and cooled ourselves in their swimming pool and with a few beers. We could have eaten our picnic there but instead drove away and laid out our spread on the ground at the edge of a plain that had to be a mile or more wide. A herd of hundreds of impala and puku grazed on it and there were a few dozen zebra wandering about. It was another scene from my imagined Africa.

    There was another Toyota stuck in the mud. We had come away from our lunch stop and started back North. Half a mile along the road was the Toyota. Unlike yesterday's encounter this one was accompanied by a number of mud splattered people , half of them desperately pushing and the other half desperately pulling. There was a logo for another tour operator painted on the door of the vehicle. Not only were these people clearly trying to help themselves but the chance to tow a rival operator out of the mud was one that Geoff couldn't resist. Having pulled them free we went on. Circling a tree in the distance were three vultures. Geoff steered us towards them. After half an hour of carefully manoeuvring the Land Rover between increasingly dense trees and bushes we were there. There were more vultures in a tree and a couple of hyena prowling about. Whatever was dead though we couldn't see, the undergrowth was just too thick. All the same something had died, the presence of so many scavengers proved it. We gave up trying to find it and continued on our way.

    It was getting towards sunset now and we drove out onto a plain. In the distance was a herd of elephant that was much too large to consider approaching. There were more than twenty adults and perhaps a dozen juveniles and young. They seemed peaceful enough but there was also a hyena, slinking along behind them. Suddenly they caught his scent and we found out just why keeping clear was wise. As one the herd wheeled about and thundered towards the scavenger who took to his heels and fled into the bush. Even at this distance we could hear the thunder of their pursuit. It was magnificent and frightening.

    By the time we reached the gate and left the park it was dark. We expected that there would be nothing more to see. We were mistaken. It was about a mile from the gate to the camp, mostly along roads similar to those in the park. Of course the park is a convenient fiction for the benefit of humans. The animals neither know nor care where it ends. As we approached the camp we turned a corner and there, right at the side of the road was a herd of giraffe. We stopped to watch them and more arrived, appearing as if by magic from the trees. At the end there were seventeen of them, the largest group we had seen and barely yards away. It was a stunning way to round off a perfect day.

Very Much Delicious: Part 15

Part 15 of my diaries from 1996 about my trip to Malawi and Zambia. And, by the way, the title of these posts was explained in Part 5.

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We were up at five thirty and for once everything went properly to the plan so that by six we were already in the park. Almost immediately there were Zebra, dozens of them grazing near the road. Nearby, perched on top of dead tree was a magnificent Batleur Eagle that took flight at our approach, rising on the powerful steady beat of its massive wings until it was a distant speck. Silhouetted against the sky was a flock of open billed stork, their distinctive shape clear even to the naked eye.
    At an algae covered pond a monitor lizard, about five foot long from nose to tail was out for its morning stroll while two Crowned Heron and a Goliath Heron, a bird so large that it could have stepped straight from the pages of a bestiary of imaginary creatures, all watched from the centre of the water.
    We drove on deeper into the park. Ahead of us we could see a vehicle, a white Toyota, off the road and in the mud. As we approached it a middle aged man in a white suit came towards us. With him were two boys aged about eleven and seventeen. The younger one looked fairly normal but the older had on a torn T-shirt and faded jeans and had rings through his nose and ear. Capped by a mass of spiky unwashed black hair he looked a real mess.
    "We are stuck." explained the main unnecessarily. His accent had the over preciseness of a Scandinavian. He was Danish we later learned.
    "Sixteen hours. No food. No water." whined the punkish teenager.
    "Have you tried to get it out ?" asked Ken.
    "Of course." replied the father. "It is not possible to move it. Do you perhaps have a rope ?"
I couldn't help thinking, and from the expressions on their faces neither could everyone else, that he couldn't have tried very hard considering that there was no mud on his white suit and even his shoes were still spotless. Geoff shrugged.
    "No, we have no rope." he said. He clearly had no inclination to help people who had no inclination to help themselves.
    "Oh. Then perhaps you could take us to the Wilderness Camp ?"
    "I don't want to lose the whole morning for my people." said Geoff "But there's a lodge here in the park. I can take one of you there and there will be someone there who can come and tow you free. The others should wait in the car. There are lion and leopard in the park."
The teenager was in the Land Rover before either his father or his brother had time to move.
We drove back towards the gate and turned off down a side road towards a group of buildings. Geoff halted and got out. A couple of park employees greeted him like a long lost brother. We couldn't hear what he was saying to them but they were obviously amused by it. One of them gestured and our sullen faced guest got out and went to them Geoff came back and in a few moments we were off again leaving the youth to negotiate a price for their assistance.
    This morning we had more time so that we went a little further into the park, past a disused and slightly overgrown airstrip that had been laid down when the park was opened. The park is huge and criss-crossed with rivers. The roads pass over them on a mixture of wooden and concrete bridges. One of them crossed high above a dried up river bed. Two hundred yards away crossing the hardened mud were a family of elephant. We watched them scramble up the bank and disappear into the trees. Half a mile further on Geoff suddenly swung the vehicle off the road and  shot at high speed between the trees. We strained to see what he had seen. It was an animal about the size of a dog with striped hindquarters and it was moving very fast as we tried to chase it down. For a moment it hesitated and then changed direction, flashing in front of us. It's face was feline apart from the rounded ears. We were too slow in turning and it had gone. Geoff stopped and got out.
    "That," he said "Was a very rare thing to see during the day. It was one of the civets and they are supposed to be completely nocturnal. You're very lucky to get one in daylight."
    By now we were feeling peckish having come out without breakfast to get an early start. By common consent we headed back to camp to eat. The rare sightings weren't quite over though. We were by now all rather blasé about the birds although the twitchers kept adding new species to the list which currently stood at more than one hundred and seventy. The Egyptian Ibis was the latest, seen several times in quick succession. Sarah however had her eyes on the ground. She had proven to be our most keen-eyed spotter and now she did it again. She banged on the roof and Geoff halted. By the side of the road was a tiny, but clearly adult antelope of a type we had not previously seen. We consulted the books while it stood patiently there and finally pinned it down as a Sharpe's Grysbok. It was one of the rarest antelope species in the reserve. As it finally moved away we caught sight of its mate, a brown blur among the green background.
    Our afternoon drive, by comparison, though producing game in abundance produced nothing that we had not already seen and when the sky started to turn black we decided to cut it short. After all here was to be a third drive today, a night drive.
In the event the threatened rain never came and when we assembled for this last drive it had turned back into a fine and sunny early evening. The park rules permit only specially licensed operators to drive around after dark so this trip was not in the Land Rover. Instead we were in a modified Toyota Land Cruiser driven by one of the camp staff. This had three tiers of seats at the back arranged so that everyone could see properly. We drove into the park and followed a similar route to the morning. The usual animals were out, warthogs, antelope, zebra - including one very heavily gravid one - lots of birds.
We went past the airstrip and down to the river. On the river plain we stopped and got out. The driver took a large plastic bottle of orange juice and shared it between us in tin cups. The sun was just touching the horizon and as its lower edge spread out into a golden glow the landscape was transformed. It was as if we had entered a new and magical land. The colours were impossibly beautiful. The trees on the far bank took on a rich shining hue as if someone had poured honey on them and as we watched it deepened into the colour of flames. Meanwhile the water darkened to a cold black mirror reflecting the trees as a ribbon of fire. Behind us the trees on the plain became black skeletal monsters silhouetted against the darkening bruise of the sunset. Everything was perfect. This, I thought, is how I've always imagined Africa.
    Then someone turned off the lights. The sun dropped from view and it became night. We climbed back into the Land Cruiser and the co-driver turned on a spotlight whose piercing beam stabbed out for a thousand yards and made the surrounding darkness seem so much deeper that it was as if we were driving along an infinite black tunnel. At first all we found were smaller nocturnal creatures, genet, elephant shrew, slender mongoose and a white tailed mongoose. Then, as we came around a bend there was a solitary giraffe. As the beam illuminated him he gave us a disdainful look, turned his back and strode haughtily into the trees.
    Further along the beam froze a large group of puku, their eyes glowing like a field of tiny stars. Circling them, sly and sinister, a hyena stalked, seemingly undecided about where to go or what to do. A few minutes later we found out what he was waiting for as the beam found a leopard, slinking low against the ground, choosing its supper from the herd. Hyena are scavengers. This one would wait until the leopard was done and then feast on the remains.
Down by the river the he swept the lamp towards a loud grunting and found two hippo facing off for a fight. They charged each other, veering off at the last moment for a bone crunching shoulder to shoulder collision. Suddenly one of them lost his nerve and turned and lumbered off into the darkness leaving the victor to voice his throaty triumphal laugh.
    We returned to the road, pausing to let an elephant cross, and drove on. Suddenly there were lion in the beam - two males, one old and slow and limping and the other younger and leaner. They watched us approach. Neither seemed at all aggressive but no-one felt like leaving the safety of the vehicle for a closer look.
    It had been a magnificent drive. Even Barry had to admit that it was one of the best that he had ever been on.
    "You can be out for a week without seeing as much." he said as we climbed out of our seats back at the camp.
    There was a roaring fire going over which Geoff was grilling chops. After a couple of beers we were ready to eat and to go with the chops Peter had done a thick, rich bean soup and pancakes filled with a delicious tangy cheese and vegetable combination. As we ate an exhausted but satisfied silence fell. Everyone was reflecting on what a great day it had been. When we had finished, clearing our palates of the rich tastes with a light fruit salad, everyone retired to bed, oblivious of the fact that this was New Years Eve. Further festivities would have felt redundant, not to mention being more than any of us could have managed.

Very Much Delicious: Part 14

Part 14 of my diaries from 1996 about my trip to Malawi and Zambia. And, by the way, the title of these posts was explained in Part 5.

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Africa just kept defeating us. All our carefully laid plans constantly fell apart. We were up and ready on time but the Land Rover had yet another puncture. It was six O'clock before we set off and a string of further problems with the new wheel delayed us further. We stopped at a garage and ate a breakfast of cheese sandwiches and boiled eggs and watched a group of children playing 'whips and tops' with a corn cob and a piece of string while Geoff organised some repairs to the wheels. Running an hour and a half late already we arrived in Lilongwe. 
    Our bad luck continued unabated. The coffee shop that he had told us about had a large notice on the door saying that it would re-open on the 3rd January. After an hour of looking around we found a back street coffee shop and sat down to order. They had run out of coffee. By the time they had sent someone down to the shops and bought some, a freshly laundered and shaved Geoff was back and we had no time left to drink it.
    We were now on our way to Zambia and this close to the capital the roads were of a good quality so that we could make up some of the lost time. It seemed only a short time later that we approached the first of the two border posts which are separated by a bizarre half mile of what is technically still Malawi but which even the residents need a pass to enter or leave. Everyone had expected difficulties at the border and we had built a delay into our schedule to allow for them. In the event we were astonished at the speed and ease of our processing. We were through and moving again, passports stamped, in under five minutes. The Zambian border control at the other end of the half a mile limbo was equally brisk so that before we knew it we were in Zambia with almost all of our lost time made up.
It was now early afternoon and we were all hungry. Just over the border there was a petrol station with a snack bar where we bought hot pies and a kind of doughy bread with mince on top passing itself off as a 'pizza'. The quality was indifferent but we were hungry and it was hot and no-one was complaining.
    When we moved on it was onto a sandy road with an uneven surface that bounced and bruised us as Geoff made up the remaining time and even managed to pull ahead of schedule. The countryside here was very different from Malawi. Zambia has never had the slash and burn approach to ecology that the Malawian administration has so that first impressions of it are of a country that is much greener. Another difference is apparent on closer examination. Much of Malawi is forested with exotic imported plantations, Japanese Pine for example. The Zambian forests are almost entirely composed of indigenous hardwoods.
We were on the road for several more hours so that once again it was late afternoon when we arrived at our accommodation at the Wildlife Centre which is just outside the South Luanda National Park. This consisted of a group of sturdy bamboo chalets and a separate dining area. There was more to it than that of course. The camp is actually quite large and at the other end of it, separated from us by a camping area, were more chalets and a restaurant and bar. However the north section of it is self contained and we had it to ourselves. We quickly sorted ourselves out, leaving our bags without unpacking in our eagerness to get our first look at what had been promised would be the best game viewing in Southern Africa. In a matter of minutes we were on top of the Land Rover and approaching the main gate.
    Inside we stopped on the wide concrete bridge that spans the river and looked at the panorama that was spread out around us. In the distance the hippo were still laughing at that dirty joke, their booming voices echoing along the river. Fishermen poled fragile looking boats along it. Hundreds of starlings swifts and swallows swooped and dived in their aerial ballet. On the far side of the bridge the trees thickened quickly into a green wall. We drove over and immediately saw our first animal. It was Bambi. Standing at the side of the path completely unafraid and staring up at us with wide innocent eyes. We drove on, catching a glimpse of a family of warthogs as they scampered away from us with their tails comically pointing straight up like the antenna on a radio controlled car. It was beginning to get dark but we saw all of the usual antelope species again. For the thousandth time Geoff told David that they were not deer and could not be deer because there are no deer in Africa.
    "OK," David agreed, also for the thousandth time "Antelope they are."
At a bend in the road, less than ten feet away from us, there was an elephant - a young adult scraping itself against a tree as if it was trying to get rid of an itch. Or perhaps trying to get rid of the tree. We drove down to the river, past one of the enormous termite mounds that were still with us even now we were in Zambia. As the sun started to set we parked and stretched our legs and drank bottles of beer. Across the water the hippo were beginning their nocturnal perambulations. In the air two brightly coloured kingfisher flashed down repeatedly skimming the surface of the water. When it became too dark to remain we piled into the Land Rover and headed for home. It had been a short excursion after a long day but it was at least a taster of what was to come.