Life at Luangwa National Park

Bateleur eagle seen on our walking safari.

Life at Wildlife Camp has been great. We have been able to settle in for a few days (6 days, actually) and really absorb lots of our surroundings. We have been going on game drives, both day and night drives, and also on walking safaris. This provided ample opportunity for everyone to do lots of good game viewing, collect quite a bit of data for the student research projects, and just relax and reflect on this harsh but beautiful part of Zambia. Cliché though it is, the pictures tell a lot more than any narrative I might write. Plus, time is running short.

We leave S. Luangwa today (3 June) and embark on the two day drive back to Lusaka. We will have one day in Lusaka to collect and organize ourselves for our flights, and then we have two days of flying home to Marquette. It will be hard to leave this place, and I think everyone hopes to return…

Part of the group during the walking safari. All walking safaris are accompanied by an armed scout

Some of the gang during the game drive, elephants in the background.



Scott and Emily during the game drive on the plains.



A male and female lion we encountered at close range during one of the night drives.

Nile monitor lizards inhabited the banks near our camp.



Ginger doing some vervet monkey observations for her project.



On night safaris, you always stop for a "sundowner" and get out of the vehicles. The women on the trip all gathered for this picture.

One of the many amazing sunsets over the luangwa river. Wish we could embed the sounds of the hippos chortling from the river below...

Wildlife Camp

So without too much drama, we rolled into Wildlife Camp about a half hour before sunset, the students ready to set up their tents and get settled into their new home for the next six days. Little did they know that we had arranged a bit of a surprise for them. The Wildlife Camp owners and staff had helped arrange it so all our students could be housed in the en-suite safari tents at their rustic “Barefoot Camp” (check out the links for some pictures and explanations), and a delicious fried pork meal was awaiting the hungry and road-weary gang. At the meal, they were given a forceful safety discussion for staying in the camp – at night no one is to go anywhere without a scout (posted throughout the camp all night long), and even in the day students need to be aware of their surroundings. As if on cue, in the midst of that speech by our host, Dora, a lion began roaring within earshot. Back to our arrival –  being that they didn’t have to set up their tents, the students were able to head over to the bar for a traditional “sundowner.” And so sipping their sodas, or Mosis or Gin-and-Tonics (the true “sundowner”), the Zambassadors got to watch a fantastic sunset over the Luangwa River, with vervet monkeys in the trees, hippos rumbling from the water below and a cape buffalo grazing on the opposite riverbank. It looks like everyone is ready for a nice long visit with the Luangwa Valley. (Here sits Ginger, watching the sunset over the Luangwa from her en-suite safari tent.)

On the Road again...

After our day in the village, we had to head back on the road to get to our final destination, Wildlife Camp at South Luangwa National Park. After a brief stop in Chipata for more provisions (and a great meeting with another lovely Banda sister, Nora Banda Phiri), we hit the rough road to Mfuwe, the district in which Wildlife Camp sits. Although only 150km from Chipata, that drive took us more than 4.5 hours due to the notoriously rough road. Several of us agreed that the washboards, potholes and embedded rocks could rival any of the nastiest UP roads you could find. As an added adventure, while driving through a village, we were flagged down by a group of people who had carried an injured man out to the road. It turns out he was in a motorcycle accident and needed transport to the nearest medical facility. Without much hesitation at all, the students made room on the bus, helped get him loaded and got him some much needed water. Eventually we got him to help in Mambwe, aided greatly by one of our students, Alex Moore, who is a paramedic, and Wil Hamilton, who is a Wildlife First Aid trained responder. We got the man loaded onto an ambulance (probably a double tibia fracture…ouch) and we were back on our way

Nyanje Afternoon

After a lunch back at the Bandas and a bit of relaxing during the midday heat, students ventured off to their own desires. One group took a walk down into the village center, where they had some interesting encounters with locals and where they purchased some sugarcane for us all to try. Another group decided to head off for a hike up Nyanje Hill, the remarkable bald mountain that rose directly behind Mama Banda’s compound. Their climb was often a true bushwack, and they were accompanied by the growing throng of “Muzungu” (an African term for “white person”) groupies. Baboons and birds along the way were great, but the view from the top was spectactular. One last group stuck around the Banda compound and tried to help the Banda women with their usual daily chores and their usual daily cooking. Above all else, I think those who stuck around the compound were only further impressed with this remarkable group of Banda women who held their clan together, despite what might seem like trying circumstances.

Touring the Schools

Without going into the details of small-town politics and feuds, our intended trip to Rural Children’s Hope did not happen, but since Nelia works in the local preschool, managed by the Reformed Dutch Church, we instead went there as well as the primary and secondary schools also run by the same organization. It was clear that the preschool and the primary school in particular were in need of assistance, and our contributions were happily welcomed by the Reverend Andrew Banda (no direct relation to our Bandas). Our students were amazed at the Spartan but functional conditions coupled with the joy and curiosity of the Zambian students at the schools.

Chieftaness Nyanje

Our village arrival the night before was startling for the students – both because of the dramatically different lifestyle in the village, but also because the family was so warm and welcoming. After breakfast, Mama and Alice Banda escorted us to the home of the local Chieftaness. Since it was Friday, the day the Chieftaness holds her “court” to settle disputes between villagers, there was already a decent-sized collection of people seated outside her door, ready to be granted an audience. Whether it was because we were Westerners, or whether it was because Mama Banda is a cousin of the Chieftaness, I am not sure, but the servant of the Chieftaness came and brought us in first. Chieftaness Nyanje received us in her home, where we greeted her and got to ask a few questions. She also granted us a picture with her, for which she donned her traditional dress. (In the photo with us are the Chieftaness, Mama Banda and Alice Banda, left-to-right.)

To the Village!

After our night in Luangwa Bridge Camp, we packed up and waited for another replacement bus to arrive from Lusaka. Assured that that bus would arrive by 1100hrs, we were only a little concerned about making our appointment to arrive at our next stop, the Banda family’s compound in rural Nyanje village. Of course the replacement bus (actually the now fixed “Zambus”) did not arrive until 1430 hours, leaving us to arrive at the village just after dark. Upon arrival the gang again busily set up our traveling tent city and eagerly met our gracious and lovely hosts, the Bandas. Although the entire cast of the Banda clan is too large to really introduce here, there are three striking women who really made our stay memorable – “Mama” (Levenia) Banda, Alice Banda and Nelia Banda. Within an hour of our arrival, our entire crew was plopped happily in Alice’s living room, eating a dinner of couscous and beans (our concoction) and traditional oxtail soup with nshima (Alice’s great production).