Green Christmas at Kafunta!

Getting out of October, with its unbearable heat, many of us were waiting for the rains to come. While November still provided excellent wildlife sightings we were watching the sky for signs of rain to relief us of the heat and the humidity that was now building up. Around mid-November we got the first rains – and as expected, it was a welcome relief! As the rains started slowly, with decent breaks in between, the period was very enjoyable for our guests and sightings were absolutely wonderful as many animals are having their young at this time of the year.

The activities in front of the lodge were now also getting more interesting. Elephants would come and visit us every few days to drink and bath at the lagoon right in front of the lodge, enabling our clients to watch them at leisure from the deck or their veranda. They come in large groups, with their young, very often strolling right through the camp, nibbling on the fresh leaves they could find. Besides, we watched lions hunting right in front of the lodge, a hyena coming to drink late in the evening, hippos seeking the fresh grass, and frequent fly-bys by the Pennant-winged Nightjar delighted our guests.

As November progressed, the rain got more frequent, thus turning the bush into the luscious green that makes this period of the year so special. With every rain, different greens appeared and we were able to watch the scenery change basically daily, with grass growing thicker, leaves sprouting, and the wild mango tree at the centre of the lodge sharing it’s fruit so beloved by the baboons and the elephants! While our lagoon got wetter, the roads got more slippery and muddy thus bringing with it some challenges for our guides – and adding just a bit more adventure for our clients!

With the river is slowly starting to swell and the lagoon is filling up, our birding guests have been spoiled by an African Fish Eagle coming to rest quite frequently on the dead tree just in front of the lodge as well as sightings of a Pells Fishing Owl. Luckily, the rain gave us a break for Christmas – which proved to be a wonderful period with many beautiful sightings – lions with their cuddly cubs, baby impala testing their jumping abilities, leopard, large buffalo herds, and a huge variety of birds.

Unfortunately, beginning of December the bridge on the main road to Kafunta got washed away – complicating operations slightly – but a solution was quickly found and a passage through the river secured by the Kafunta team. The game drives can thus be continued in the normal way.

With this a great year 2007 is coming to an end.

I would like to wish all our readers a Happy New Year!

From the luscious green of the Luangwa valley,

Warm wishes
Hannelore

(interim Lodge Manager)

Kafunta Safaris
Kafunta@luangwa.com
Phone 00260 6 246046
After hours 0026 6 246132
www.luangwa.com