Goodbye Zimbabwe, Hello Zambia Sept 3 Wednesday

We woke up to lion tracks in our camp this morning. It was the same pride we had seen last night, according to our guides. They drank all the water from the bird bath right beside the lodge, tried to dig up a water pipe, and walked all around the camp in the middle of the night. Their paw prints are cute and scary. This is why we need an armed escort to our tents every night and we are not allowed to leave until morning. There are of course, procedures in place for emergencies, which involve blowing the very loud air horn in your tent and everyone else turning out all their lights so the staff know who called for help. Sadly, they made it clear that a Gin and Tonic is not an emergency, Steve.

Lion tracks at our camp

We started out with a chilly and bumpy 2.5 hour drive in our open air trucks out of Hwange National Park. Right outside our camp we encountered the same pride of seven lions on the road. We got to watch them for a bit before we had to move on. At the park border, we transferred to a bus where we drove to Livingstone airport in Zambia. The border crossing from Zimbabwe into Zambia was an interesting bottleneck of barbed wire, various electrical wires, vendors trying to come on the bus, baboons dragging trash cans around, locals on bicycles and on foot carrying goods on their heads, and So. Many. Trucks. in a very long single file line waiting to be cleared. There was one lane in each direction and apparently a lot of trade happens here between Zambia and Zimbabwe every day. It was quite chaotic and unorganized. After we got through the border, our bus broke down at an intersection. More vendors, but this time one of them fixed the bus and told us he had an auto mechanics degree. You just never know about people, so you shouldn’t assume.

Zimbabwe/Zambia Border

We made our way to the Livingstone airport for our flight to Kafue National Park. Livingstone is a regular, but very tiny, airport with a very small terminal. We divided up into two groups to fit into the small bush planes. The flight was surprisingly smooth, though we had been warned it would be bumpy. Once there, we had a short drive to Lufupa River Camp in Kafue National Park in Zambia, in open air safari vehicles. Unfortunately, the park is on fire and thousands of acres have been burned. We found out the fire had come very close to the camp last night and our camp staff was up all night fighting the fire to save the camp. The park has no dedicated fire fighters. They are all exhausted, but greeted us with enthusiasm, served us a beautiful dinner, and took us on a short game drive to see the devastation at night. There are amazing humans here in Zambia. 🩷