Latest News
January 2011
Kafunta guides in the USA.
Josephat
& Martin have been invited by the MacFadyen Family to visit them in California.
The family has been coming to Kafunta for years and have become very good friends
with Josephat & Martin. Gary MacFadyen has, in addition to the family holidays,
been coming out to the Luangwa during the green season. For this year he had
arranged to return to the US together with Josephat and Martin. Here is the
first picture that we have received from our guides in the US!
Renovation or rebuilt?
Kafunta has been in operation for 12 years and the time has come to do some
big renovations….it turned out to be more of a rebuilt! The roofs on the
8 chalets and the main area are being rebuilt. This is a good chance for some
design changes; the bathrooms have been doubled in size, the floors and walls
in the rooms have been changed to make the rooms much lighter. New veranda doors
and windows allow an even better view of the great floodplains in front of the
Lodge. The original design on stilts and the use of natural materials will remain
and the rooms will have more of a modern and light feel.
Right now over 70 local people give us a hand with the project so we can be
ready for the reopening on 1st April.
Beautiful bush.
The green season is truly one of the most beautiful times in the Luangwa, the
bush so lush and green, great colour and fantastic skies and sunsets. The game
is plentiful but not always easily spotted. There are few visitors at this time
as road access is limited and many Lodges are closed, but those that are coming
are rewarded with a very special atmosphere.
December 2010
Christmas at Kafunta.
It is very nice to be able to escape the busy and often to commercial side
of Christmas and what a better place do to this then at Kafunta. We keep Christmas
at a very low key, but it is a special time of year and we do have our own special
way to celebrate. Christmas eve we meet for Carols by candlelight, the local
quire has been practicing and lead the sinning in there beautiful voices.
Christmas day does start like any other day with an early wake-up for Safari…but
the guides might be found with red hats! On the return we have a light champagne
welcome before the traditional lunch later in the day…the day ends with
an afternoon/night Safari…a very different way to celebrate Christmas!
November 2010
Where are the rains?
The dry season came to an end and while it is very hot and dusty every one is
waiting for the rains. We start a little completion as to who can guess the
day of the first rains, some will bat on the middle of October and generally
we would have seen the first rains by late October. But this year the rains
only came well into November. Once the first heavy storms have set in the bush
will come back to life overnight and the dry season is soon forgotten…
Superstriker Safari
As some of you might know already, Kafunta has a young football team (under
12 year olds), consisting of the team captain Luke and his friends from Mfuwe.
Apart from playing football though, it’s always nice for the kids to spend
some time in the park as well to see the animals that live around them. So I
took them out on a drive earlier this month.
We were quite lucky to see a lot of animals including elephants, hippos, pukus,
impalas, waterbuck, zebras and so many more. We just didn’t manage to
find cats!
But therefore we were treated with another very rare sighting…meeting
world famous wildlife photographer and filmmaker Jonathan Scott!
We spent a few minutes with him, taking lots of pictures and having a lot of
fun.
Thank you kids & thank you Mr. Scott for a wonderful day!
- Pictures taken by Istvan Keller
Amazing sighting
In the middle of this month, we had “many-times-returner” Dr. Tassilo
Seeger staying with us again. He’s a good friend of ours and it’s
always great to have him back!
Mr. Seeger is a very good photographer (he doesn’t call himself professional
– but I would!) and he’d taken lots of wonderful pictures during
his recent stays with us already.
But this time he was extremely lucky!
During his 6-day holiday he saw a pair of leopards mating, a male leopard on a hippo (!) kill and the same male leopard mock charging the vehicle!
Well done “Tilo” and thanks a lot for your pictures!
October 2010
Visitors at The Pool
As soon as it gets hotter and hotter, more and more guests enjoy spending their time between the safaris at our pool. Especially when the temperature rises up to 40 degrees Celsius, a dip in the cold water is just the right way to cool down at least a little bit. And afterwards there's the wonderful chance to relax under one of the trees around the pool and cherish the wildlife around Kafunta or dream about sightings that are yet to come… But what happens to the pool-area once the guests go on safari again? Well, have a look at the pictures!
September 2010
Good times for Bret
Bret Charman, who has joined us for the months of September and October to
manage the Island Bush Camp, has had amazing sightings so far.
He was even lucky enough to find wilddogs killing a Puku just outside the Camp!
Unfortunately though, as we all know, wilddogs are moving very fast so they
didn't allow him to get the "perfect" shot.
No worries Bret, next time! But therefore he was rewarded with wonderful pictures of other animals living in the South Luangwa.
Have a look at Kafunta's three favorite pictures that Bret took!
August 2010
Cooler Days
August has been much cooler than in most years and it has not been until the end of the month when the temperature changed. It seemed that the carmine bee-eaters waited for these warmer days before they became active. We have seen the first colonies setting on the steep banks of the Luangwa River. Their squeaking call certainly is one of the typical sounds of the hot season!
First Rhino Sighting in 20 Years!
We offer safaris that includ a few nights at Mwaleshi Camp in North Luangwa. During one of these safaris our client Markus was lucky to see 2 black rhino in the wild! This has been the first sighting in over 20 years as the rhinos where wiped out in the mid 80s. The Frankfurter Zoological Society has reintroduced rhinos into North Luangwa over the last years but these are still held in an enclosure. Two of the rhinos escaped and were seen on the safari!
July 2010
Road Safety
We have considered the road safety on the airport transfers as, although it is always fun to be meet in your safari vehicle at the airport, you still have 30kms of a busy road before you get into the wilderness area. This road has been getting busy over the years and we have decided that it is much safer to transfer our guest in closed vehicles from the airport. We have bought two minibuses to be used for this transfer. The safari starts once you are at Kafunta! All our game drives are in open vehicles and for transfers to the Bush Camp and all day drives we have shade roofs on the vehicles.
Kids on Safari
It is not often that we have familles with children, so Luke is always very happy if we have kids in camp and he loves making friends and joining them on safari. This month we had a family that stayed for a week and they had lots of fun on safari and in the village. The cultural experience is a great way for children to learn more about life in Africa and meet the children in the village.
Lots of Leopards
We have had great leopard sightings for the whole season and we can not even think of a client that left without seeing a leopard.
We have seen this increase of sightings over the last years and there now are a number of animals that have got very used to our presence and are not disturbed by the safari vehicles, offering great sightings. Our resident leopard is not that relaxed - when it killed an impala early in the morning right in front of the lodge it was chased off the kill by the other antelopes. It left the kill on the plain in front of the lodge and it was eaten by vultures within hours!
June 2010
Lions for Breakfast and a Leopard for Dinner.
What it week it has been Kafunta. The floodplain in front of the lodge has been very busy, one morning early this month our clients were lucky to see the lions come past during their breakfast. It was only a day later when the leopard made a kill just after dark, visible in the spotlights right in front of the deck. We all jumped into the car and got close to the kill, the leopard was not to have this dinner as the hyena chased him off. However, the hyena was not brave enough to come back while we where around. The next day the vultures got the leftovers!
Meet the President on Safari
This week has been unusual at Kafunta, Mr Rupiah Banda the President of Zambia has come for a visit to the Luangwa Valley, he was staying at Chichele Lodge across the river from Kafunta. The helicopter has been flying over the lodge a few times a day, this is otherwise very unusual! On the night drive our guest were lucky, they came a cross a very rare sighting: the President on safari! They ask if he was happy for them to take a picture and he had no objection!
May 2010
New Road to Bush Camp
The last weeks have been busy, the team has been at the Bush Camp for weeks getting it ready for the season. Most of the structure is rebuilt on an annual basis. Grass and poles are brought from the local villages and the team is based at the camp during the building.
As the road network in the Game Management Area is in poor condition we have cut a new road inside the Park to get to Island Bush Camp. This will turn the transfer into a game drive. We cross the river over the pontoon in front of the lodge and drive South, where we cross the Kapamba River and get to the opposite bank from the Bush Camp. From here we cross into the camp by boat. This trip will take approximately 3.5 hours and offers some great game viewing opportunities. Our transfers will be conducted in open vehicles with shade roofs, as usual.
Soccer in the Bush
We are starting our soccer season. There are a number of soccer teams in the Valley, some are lodge based, others are from the community and the National Parks office. Regular games are held and the Kafunta team had the first match of the season against the Salaula team. The outcome is not clear but from unconfirmed sources we understand that Kafunta lost 1:0!
Many Zambians are very keen soccer followers; we are looking forward to the up-coming world cup. The staff canteen is setup with DSTV and we are looking forward to enjoy the first African-hosted soccer world cup.
One Month is Not Enough!
Over the years we have had many returning guest, often for multiple visits. This is a great compliment to us and we are happy to see that our guests enjoy their experience with us. This year we had Jrma and Rene Krayss return for a one month stay... they took a break from their busy lives in Switzerland and relaxed in the African Bush, awaking every day to the sounds of the wild. Jrma brought her painting material and created some fantastic pictures; she also took the chance to join a workshop at Tribal Textiles. They had many great sighting during their safaris and Rene took some great pictures, of which some are on the Guest gallery of the website.
One month gave them a different view of the life in the bush and they were sad when they left. They would have loved to stay on!
Poor Giraffe!
As always in early May we joined the Indaba. This is a tourism trade show in Durban, South Africa. It is a great show for us to present our product to tour operators worldwide. I've been going to this show since 1998, Wilson joined me for the second time.
While we were away, the lodge was busy and we received a skype message that lions had killed a giraffe only a few hundred meters away from the lodge. This brought great excitement to the safari guest but was not without sadness for this beautiful animal. The early days of May have also seen the opening of the pontoon, which mean we have two entry points into the Park and can visit a vast game viewing area.
April 2009
Welcome Irwin
Irwin de Vries arrived on 26th April, he is the head chef and has many years of experience in 5 star South African lodges. We are looking forward to a new menu and are worried that we might put on weight! This is Irwin's first trip outside South Africa and a start of an African experience for him.
The staff are very excited as this will give them a great opportunity to learn, the lodges often being the only place where the local community can pick up job's and have a chance to train in a profession.
Pontoon Building
It is Josephat's project, as every year as soon as we can cross the floodplain in front of the lodge we start with the pontoon building. The pontoon offers a great opportunity to enter the Park near the Lodge and opens up a different game viewing area. If all goes to plan, the pontoon is operational in the first days of May.
The Green Bush
It is great to be back in the bush and we are busy getting ready for the season, lots of work is to be done around the lodge and we started the Bush Camp building. The first team of 15 staff have gone down to start the work and soon the next team will join to help with the big task ahead.
We enjoy this time of the year when the bush is still green, the views are clear and sunsets are stunning. We often get together at the end of the day to enjoy these late afternoon hours... everyone is excited about the month ahead.
Returning Home
The season has started for Kafunta River Lodge! Mario was here form late March to help with the reopening to get ready for the first guest on 30th March. He will be with us again for this season (and hopefully many more) as the Lodge Manager.
We (Ron, Anke & Luke) returned to the Lodge on 3rd April. We have spent the green season in our 'second' home in Perth, Luke attended school there and we all enjoyed a little break from the African bush only to enjoy it even more on our return. Jenny has joined us from Australia. She will home-school Luke at the lodge until then end of the year.