June 11 - Zambia: Game Drive at South Luangwa National Park
Elephants on the Game Drive - view from the truck
We woke up super early at 4:45 so we could eat and be in the truck at 6:00AM when the park opened. The game drive was amazing, despite the ungodly wake-up time. A new pack of animals were only about 2-3 minutes apart, so we were hardly bored. I kept a running list of what we saw and when, but pardon my butchering of the spelling. I haven't had a chance to double-check the game book yet:
| 6:00AM - 7:00AM: | 7:00AM - 8:00AM | 8:00AM - 9:00AM | 9:00AM - 10:00AM |
Fish eagle Waterbuck Giraffe Bushbuck Waterbuck Open-billed stork Lion Yellow-billed stork Impala Female elephants and babies |
Kudu Tons of elephants Lilac-breasted roller Stork Worthogs Lions (male and female) blocking the road Fisher's lovebirds
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Zebras Monkeys Elephants Warthogs Impala Zebras Vervet Monkeys Crocodiles Hippos Waterbuck Fish eagle More crocodiles More hippos Baboons Impalas Waterbucks Giraffe Infinite numbers of zebras and impalas in waterbeds More waterbucks
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Zebras HUGE herd of water buffalo Crocodiles Zebras Baboons Hippos |
It was incredible! We were so close to the animals, and many of them crossed the road right in front of us. The lions we saw were lazing on the side of the road and we had to slow down to pass them. We were so close that we could see the female lion was blind in one eye. They were a bit put out that we had disturbed their nap time. At one point in the morning, Brendan stopped the truck and said we could get out for a quick loo break. We all stared at him and someone said, "Uh, Brendan. There's an elephant about 100 meters back there." This is the way the morning went - animals everywhere we turned! The herd of water buffalo we saw was like something out of "Dances With Wolves". The herd seemed to stretch across the entire skyline.
A lion and lioness trying to nap alongside the road
At 10:00, we came back to camp and had brunch of eggs and leftovers from last night. We were all so exhausted that none of us wanted to do an afternoon drive. I sat in the sun for a while, took a shower, and then fell into a very deep sleep for 2 hours. Jon woke me at 3:30 because our evening game drive was set to leave at 4:00. The evening game drive wasn't quite as rewarding as the day drive, but the first two hours while the sun was out were spectacular.
| 4:00PM - 6:00PM | 6:00PM - 8:00PM |
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Puku Elephant Crocodile Zebra Warthogs African Ebony Trees (not an animal, but notable) Bushbuck Impala Giraffe Warthogs Waterbuck Crown Cranes (Zambian National Bird) Puku Zebra Warthogs Baboons Hermited Ginea Fouls Impala Zebra Cested Barbat Elephants, elephants, and more elephants Hippos
An incredible sunset that lasted from 5:30 - 6:00!
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Zebras Impalas Giraffe Kudu with huge horns on the male Large spotted mongoose-thing White-tailed mongoose Elephant Shrew Elephants Hippos Even more zebras and impalas
We had hoped to see a lot more predator-type species (lion and leopards). The park is said to have the highest concentration of leopards in the world. The other truckload of people saw 2 leopards. We had no such luck, but they seemed pretty excited by it. |
For the record, the "big five" of game driving is as follows:
Lion
Buffalo
Elephant
Leopard
Rhino
I think we did pretty well overall! Now we will make our way to the bar to celebrate.