News from Zambia’s Kafunta Safaris

I’ve titled the above picture: "Reflection in the pool". Right, it’s not exactly original, but it’s actually the meaning of "thinking" or "thoughts" that I was getting at with the word "reflection" because at this time of the year… the pool is about the only place where one can actually do any thinking! I mean it is really hot now that end of October is upon us, and the pool is definitely the "place to be"!

So after work, while our guests are out on game drive, Lisa, Hadley, Rob and I enjoy a refreshing dip in the infinity pool while reflecting on our busy day "in the office"!

Ron and Anke are back in camp after an adventurous family holiday with Luke in Papua New Guinea – hiking the Kokoda Track. Luke is however back at school in Australia to finish the last term of the year.

In the meantime, the lodge and Island bush camp have been busy and as you read this, Island is about to close down for the season, with our last guests leaving on the 31st of October.

Talking about rains, we had an early thunderstorm during the night of October 3rd. We had been forewarn that Lusaka had seen rain in the afternoon, and luckily our staff at Island had covered the roofs of the chalets in anticipation.

We smelled the rain before actuallly seeing the first drops. After month of dryness it is a very specific scent when somewhere in the area, rain has fallen and made the ground wet. No-where else but in Africa does one so anxiously wait for the first signs of rains.

Saying that it was a heavy thunderstorm and the rain, while light at Island, was pretty intense at Kafunta – but by morning everything was almost back to normal. So a random episode like we can always expect at this time of the year, although these last few days we do see signs of potential early rains.

The fun part of the rain is to look at the fresh tracks of animals in the mud, like this hippo track below.

Lisa had a wonderfult sighting when joining a recent game drive, and came across a few giraffes with a very – very – young baby, probably only a couple of weeks old.

A baby giraffe is just that, a miniature version of its parents, and just like all babies they are full of energy (not usually something we associate with giraffes!), and they love running around and looking at all the strange things around them.

The pictures are absolutely adorable and we are so lucky here at Kafunta to see giraffes often by the lagoon.

Early October, Hadley and I were both at the same sighting of a female leopard who had killed a puku earlier in the day. When we arrived on the sighting we realised there was a second leopard, which we assumed was her son, sub-adult, who was tempted by the easy meal.

We stayed with them for some time while mom was sleeping up a tree, and the young male laid low in the grass.

After a while, mom moved to another tree branch, before eventually heading back to the kill for a snack.

The kill was laying down in a gully, on the floor. It’s quite a amazing there were no hyenas around to steal it from the leopards.

It was a beautiful sighting and we really enjoyed staying with the leopards for a long time.

Below is a series of specialist tours, which will be staying with us in 2017, and which are still open for reservation. Feel free to contact me regarding any of these group safaris, or use the direct contact listed under each safari.

The safaris are listed by alphabetical order, not chronological order.

You can also click on the logo to access the relevant website directly, and find more information about the trips.

Duma Naturreisen

General safari, combining Kafunta and Island Bush Camp, to include game drives and bush walks.

• August 13-22 with a Kafunta English-speaking guide
• September 3-12 with a Kafunta English-speaking guide, along with a German-speaking accompanying guide.
• October 15-24 with a Kafunta English-speaking guide

Contact: Dieter

Edward Selfe Photography Safaris

Focus on photography (English-speaking) – small group of 4 clients only. Under the guidance of licensed South Luangwa guide and wildlife photographer Ed Selfe.

• September 24-29. Kafunta River Lodge

Contact: Ed

In Africa

Focus on photography (German & English-speaking), under the guidance of wildlife photographer Stephan Tuengler

• June 11-20. Kafunta River Lodge

Contact: Stephan

Let’s Go Africa

Focus on photography (French-speaking), under the guidance of professional wildlife photographer Tony Crocetta

• October 26-November 3. Combination of Kafunta River Lodge & Island Bush Camp

Contact: Eric<a href="mailto:eric.lego

NatureTrek

(English-speaking)

• Focus on Mammals April 3-10 (Kafunta River Lodge)
• Zambia on Foot September 12-14 (Kafunta River Lodge followed by walking safaris with Robin Pope Safaris)
• Malawi & Zambia October 8-12 (combination of Kafunta River Lodge and Island Bush Camp after Malawi)
• Focus on Birds November 13-20 (Kafunta River Lodge)
• Focus on Mammals November 6-13 (Kafunta River Lodge)
• Focus on Mammals December 21-28 (Kafunta River Lodge)

Contact: NatureTrek

Per Stoen

Focus on genuine wilderness, game drives and walks, as well as local community and conservation, under the accompaniment of tour leader Per Stoen ((Norwegian and English-speaking)

• September 30 – October 9. Combination of Kafunta River Lodge & Island Bush Camp
• October 12-21. Combination of Kafunta River Lodge, Island Bush Camp and Three Rivers Camp
• October 21-30. Combination of Kafunta River Lodge & Island Bush Camp

Contact: Per

Sacred Harmony Safari

Workshop on African animal communication with international speaker and author Amelia Kinkade (English-speaking).

• November 24-27 Kafunta River Lodge

Contact: Kafunta Safaris

Tatra Photography – Nikon Photography School

Focus on photography, under the guidance of Simon Stafford (Technical Editor to Nikon Owner magazine)

Simon has just been awarded The Overall Winner in the Mammals Category – Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 competition.

• May 21-27 Kafunta River Lodge
• May 28-June 3 Kafunta River Lodge

Contact: Matt Jevons

Wild Eye Safaris presented by Busanga Safaris

Focus on photography, under the guidance of professional photographer Andrew Burnett

September 16-23. Kafunta River Lodge & Island Bush Camp

Contact: Tony (Busanga Safaris)

Ole & Jette are lucky kids! With mom Claudia Brehm and partner Ingo Kelterer, they’ve just spent a week here at Kafunta River Lodge.

They are lucky kids because they were actually told that this year they would spend their holiday in neighboring Helgoland (a grim island in the North Sea, off the German coast), a prospect that was far from exciting to them.

In the meantime Claudia and Ingo were secretely preparing the family safari, their very first trip to Southern Africa for all of them.

Sadly convinced they were heading to a grey and rainy destination, Ole & Jette got ready for the departure day. The flight to the island was supposed to be one hour, and they didn’t quite understand why a detour to Dubai (a 6-hour flight) was necessary. But they tagged along. Only when boarding the second flight towards Lusaka did things start to look really strange, and by the time they landed in Zambia the secret was out and Ole & Jette exploded in joy!

An African Safari! Oh wow!!!

Conversing in German, Anke asked them a few questions.

Anke: Why did you choose South Luangwa as your safari destination, and Kafunta River Lodge?

Claudia & Ingo: We had never been to Southern Africa and had no idea how or where to start. We entrusted our agent, Stephan Tüngler of InAfrica, and he immediately recommended Kafunta in Zambia. That was it!

Anke: How did the children react when they finallly understood where they were going?

Claudia & Ingo: It was quite funny as they were really not realising we were heading the other direction, even when we connected in Dubai. They were very surprised when we landed in Zambia and were very excited!

Anke: How was your experience at Kafunta?

Claudia & Ingo: We are having a wonderful time, it way beyond our expectations.

Anke: What was your greatest wildlife sighting?

Claudia & Ingo: Definitely when we saw the lion cub, but unfortunately Ole had decided to stay back in camp that morning and missed it. The next best was when we saw a leopard on a waterbuck kill.

Anke: You went to see the local teams play football during the Independance Day Celebration. How was that?

Claudia & Ingo: At first we were a little uncomfortable as we felt a bit out of place, there were very few other white people around, and hundreds of spectators. But after a while we were at ease and really enjoyed watching the game, the Mfuwe kids won!

We actually enjoyed this so much that we took another morning off our safari to go visit the village, markets and a school.

Anke: Do you think you will travel again in Southern Africa after this?

Claudia & Ingo: Actually, we would love to see the South Luangwa in the rainy season, when it is all green.

With the end of October comes my own "migration" as I leave Lisa and Rob behind at Kafunta River Lodge, to head back to Europe where I will be spending the "rains" while doing a few sales trips in additions to reservations.

I’m starting with London, hopefully it wont’ be too much of a thermal shock!

I’ll end here with three pictures from September guest Chris Malloy showing a pride of lions observing what our guide considered to be the largest bachelor group of kudus he has ever seen in South Luangwa.

What an extraordinary sighting!

Stay tuned for more in our next newsletter coming out end of November.

Cheers for now,

Izzy

Kafunta Safaris