Kafunta News from Zambia

I know, New Year celebrations seem far away already, but nevertheless I coudn’t resist and had to say it one more time!

I truly hope that you will have a great year 2017, but mostly I hope that it will bring you a fantastic safari. Whether it is your 1st one, or your 10th or even 20th one! It’s time to plan, believe me reservations have been busy!

So if you are not sure just yet, read along and look at some stunning pictures. Then grab your phone, tablet or laptop and start planning!

So that’s it. On January 8th we said goodbye to our last guests of the season, Rosi & Hans Korn. As you’ll read below, it was their 9th safari with us! This January, Hans celebrated his 80th birthday and thought there was no better place than Kafunta River Lodge to do so! We had a fun day with a surprise bush lunch followed by cake at the lodge.

You know, and this may sound as a cliché, but we love our guests, and we especially love when they become our friends. I know, managers can come and go, but our devoted staff, and our loyal guests, both contribute in making this place special, forming its unique soul and ambiance, which in turns charms new guests who then become new friends too.

What a beautiful industry we work in! And South Luangwa… what a beautiful place!

The rains have been good so far, sometimes very heavy indeed. As we are closed at the moment, it really only affects our staff, sometimes making it impossible for our employee truck to drive the 7km dirt road to the lodge.

Wilson, our Lodge Assistant Manager, is holding the fort while Ron, Anke & Luke are enjoying the Australian summer; Lisa is home in Lusaka; Rob is travelling somewhere South, and I’m enduring the freezing cold European winter.

This is a time of hard work at Kafunta when important renovation jobs are taking place. Chalets are stripped and looked after, window gauze is changed, storage & laundry areas enlarged etc. Down South our building team at Three Rivers is still working, dodging the rain, to work on the plumbing of all 5 tents.

If you think about it… in less than 60 days… we are reopening!

We’ve had great sightings of lions at the end of December and early January. And from what I hear from Wilson, they are still close by as they can be heard roaring at night.

Below are a couple of pictures from Rosi & Hans when they witnessed a romantic moment between Ginger, the light-coloured lion, and his female friend.

This special time was cut short as a herd of elephants intruded, and – as they often do – chased the lions away.

(make sure to put the sound on)

On another occasion, our guests came upon some very inquisitive lions!

If you’ve been reading our newsletters over the last year you would have seen some of the pictures taken by our own safari guides and spotters. They have a camera at their disposal to share, and even though they all had a chance to try it, two individuals in particular were especially fond of using the camera, and with great results.

We thought we would make it a competition between them and elect the best photo out of them all, but then it became simply impossible to choose! Just for this newsletter I couldn’t narrow it down lower than 20 photos at first. By eliminating some photos I was eliminating some guides, which I didn’t think was fair. So instead, I’ve just narrowed it down a bit more (I wouldn’t want you to get bored!) but left at least one picture per guide!

Continuing with our tradition of introducing you to some of our guests, it seemed obvious to interview Rosi & Hans, as long term return friends and our last guests of the season. Here’s what they wanted to share with you.

When did you take your first trip to Africa and South Luangwa?

Our first African Safari took us to Kenya, where we visited Tsavo East & West as well as Amboseli National Park and got infected with the “Africa virus” right away! In the following years we went to Tanzania, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Uganda and to Zambia as well where we came for the first time in 2002.

A big influence on going to Zambia came from Anke Cowan after meeting her at the Travel Show ITB in Berlin. The impressive picture of the South Luangwa National Park and Kafunta River Lodge convinced us to visit Zambia.

How many times have you been to Kafunta, including this visit?

Now we have visited Kafunta 9 times at all different times of the year. It was love at first sight and we felt at home right away!

The personalized family atmosphere, excellently conducted game drives and very good food resulted in many return visits. We call Kafunta our second home!

You have come at different seasons, which one is your favorite and why?

We visited at different seasons because we wanted to know what each time of year would be like, and see the differences. We realized that each season has its special attraction. During our visits in December & January we are impressed with the lush green landscapes and with the many animal babies.

But we don’t have a preferred travel time. One should know that the dry season is the time when you find animals at the waterholes.

What is your favorite animal in South Luangwa, and why?

The leopard is definitely our favorite in the animal kingdom. During this visit we also saw Wilddogs for the first time, even got to see them on 3 different occasions. The Crowned Cranes are our favorite birds.

Are there still African animals or birds you haven’t seen and hope to witness one day?

The Aardwark is the last remaining animal that we are yet to see in the Luangwa. But we know that the Aardwark is nocturnal and hard to find.

An additional reason to return!

What would be your advise to a guest coming on safari for the first time?

For those going on Safari for the first time they need to realize that this is not like a visit to the Zoo or Safari Park. One should allow time and not restrict a visit to a few days. Even the best guides will not be able to find all the animals in a short time. It also depends on a little luck; you need to be at the right place at the right time!

Anything else you would like to share?

What is unique compared to other African countries are the night drives, with a spotlight you can view nocturnal animals after dark. Also the South Luangwa is not so busy with tourists like other Parks in Kenya or Tanzania.

So now are you convinced it is time to book your own safari? I hope so, why miss out on so much wildness?!

That’s it for me for this newsletter, I hope you’ve enjoyed it.

I’m going to skip next month’s newsletter as I’ll be taking a few weeks off myself, while Anke looks after the reservations. Our next eNews will come towards the end of March. By that time we’ll be ready to re-open Kafunta River Lodge and all prepped up for the new 2017 season.

Until then, stay tuned via our Facebook page!

Izzy

Kafunta Safaris