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Two months have passed since our last newsletter, and we are now only a few days away from reopening Kafunta River Lodge for the 2017 season!
We are really excited and we look forward to welcoming our first guests on April 1st. .
As you know it is an exciting year for us, with the opening of Three Rivers Camp later in May. Levy and his building team have continued to work down on the site, despite some heavy rains. We’ve also done some work at Kafunta, with fresh painting jobs and some other enhancements.
We’ve had good rains this year, which is what the bush needed. We just received these stunning areal pictures from Hardus Vermark (with the Aqua Vision video team, taken earlier in March) showing Kafunta River Lodge from the air. We love them!! |
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| And below, see Rob’s pictures showing how high the water has come, flooding our private dining deck. |
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| The lower deck slightly under water |
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| The lower deck completely under water
Rob and Wilson have been holding the fort during the off season, supervising the maintenance work. But also enjoying the wildilfe around camp – which is never OFF! |
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| Just recently they also saw the wild dogs on a kill of a young puku. |
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| Goodbye Josephat!
If you have visited us once or several times, you would have probably heard of Josephat, and you may also have had the chance to be enriched by his incredible knowledge and experience his good sense of humor.
Josephat has been with Kafunta Safaris since the very beginning, almost 20 years, and was our head guide for many of those years. We were privilege to keep him to ourselves for all this time! Sadly for us, but excitingly for him, Josephat has plans of opening a bush camp of his own and it is time for us to let him go.
Needless to say that such a (large) character, who has filled the lodge with his friendliness, skills and … many jokes, will be greatly missed. A huge thank you to you Josephat, and we wish you all the best with your new project. Come and see us any time!
PS: in the meantime we’ll make sure to look after your grandmother’s bones on the flood plains (one of Josephat’s favorite jokes)
Here are a few pictures of Josephat over the past years. |
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| With his family, some years back |
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| Life is good! |
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| Always smiling |
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| Our second longest standing guide, Martin, will be taking over the role of Head Guide and Safari Manager. |
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| Martin & Josephat at the bar (2008) |
| What is it like?
If you wonder what it would be like to come to the Luangwa Valley at this time of the year, and be our first guests of the season, here are some pictures taken last year by Alistair McGlashan, when we reopened in March 2016.
It’s a lovely time to visit, with only a slight risk of random showers and muddy roads, but with smashing colors, bright skies and just as many animals as one can see later in the season. |
| Share your photos!
I couldn’t fill these newsletters if it wasn’t for the contributions from all our guests over the years!
All of us at the lodge love photography but we often get caught up in the office so we don’t always have the same opportunities to bring as many photos!
So please make sure to send me your favorite photos after you return from your safari. Just like Duncan Woodhead and Sheila Wright did after their visit in November 2016. That way we can all enjoy the fun! |
| In the spotlight – Lisa Peake
I can also finally take this slower time to feature a few of our Lodge Manager, Lisa Peake, ‘s many pictures from last season.
Equipped with a small but sophisticated compact camera, Lisa really enjoys taking photos of wildlife around the lodge and when going on game drives.
She’s got a good eye for it too! |
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That’s it for this March newsletter.
I can’t wait to see what the new season will bring!!
Bye for now,
Izzy
Kafunta Safaris |
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Kafunta Safaris, Box 83, Mfuwe, Zambia |
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