Firstly I would like to point out that Shanie is not normally caught on camera with her mouth full of lunch but this wonderful photo sent in by Tony and Anne Timberlake was too good not to share. They took the photo during lunch at Nkwali last week as the elephants had a wonderful time mud bathing in the lagoon right next to the table.

Simon, Shanie’s hard working husband, is meanwhile up in the north of the park leading one of our mobiles. The following photo was taken by Jos and Norbert when they were walking with him last month.

This week has seen the arrival of Millie’s father and sister. Millie is our caterer at Nkwali and neither of her visitors has been on safari before. (Millie is seen with Keyala, Jo and Robin in front of our super new especially converted mobile transfer vehicle – commonly know as The Tank!)

Their first gamedrive was therefore eagerly anticipated. Millie and her family set off after tea and the first animals that they came across were a pride of lions. Six lionesses and a male were doing what lions do best, lying around sleeping. They eventually got up and had a wander around the vehicle and then disappeared off into the bush. After sundowners the group saw them again as they set off in search of prey and at one point there was a scuffle between the lions and a hyena, who was obviously after the same but nothing resulted. 

Their next sighting was of a leopard walking across a dambo in clear view, this was followed by lovely viewings of elephant, warthog and antelopes of course, as well as bush babies near the pontoon – a first for Millie. Heart rates were certainly raised when a grumpy hippo decided that the vehicle was in his way. He made a half hearted attempted at a charge but soon thought better of it and disappeared into the bush.  All in all a fantastic game-drive for Millie who we normally keep chained to the camp (!) and for her family on their first drive –not sure how we are going to top that!

Nsefu have also had a great week with Kerri taking guests on a wonderful trip to the Salt Pan. Lions, leopard, reedbuck, a large herd of buffalo and even fighting puke were all seen as well as lots of interesting birds. Highlights being painted snipe and a pied kingfisher in action, as well as a flock of approximately four hundred crowned cranes.

A pair of lions have now been mating in the area for about 2 weeks and these were caught in the act by Kerri last week too. Fingers crossed that this will result in cubs in about 3 ½ months time. We will keep you posted...

Best sighting of the week – Daudi in training for the Nsefu marathon! – well actually he decided to join a couple of our guests who are training for a triathlon  and did not want to lose condition so did some laps around camp. However after one lap our short manager decided that maybe he was not quite as fit as he used to be! Happens to us all Daut!

Stay well and have a great week

Cheerio

Kim
Robin Pope Safaris

Robin Pope Safaris are acclaimed owners and operators of three exclusive bush camps in the Luangwa Valley including Nkwali, Nsefu and Tena Tena camps, and Robins House. They are also specialists in unique guided walking safaris in the South and North Luangwa National Park.