Zambia 8 Day Bush Safari - Chindeni Camp

We were giving our hosts at Kapamba big goodbye hugs when our guide Mishek, who we understood was about to go on a month break in Mfuwe, the village where he and his family live, told us that we would be seeing him again at Camp Chindeni.  We were delighted and asked if he would be our guide and why his family break was cancelled.  He laughed and explained his joke; his twin brother Peter would be our guide at the next camp.  You can imagine our joy when we were introduced to Peter and saw that he was an identical twin and shared the same quiet personality, incredible knowledge and cheeky humour as his brother.  Staff at the camps told us that they can now tell the difference although it took a long time to get them straight.  Even the tribal facial markings, given at birth (too fine to see in photo's) looked identical.  

Chindeni is surrounded by hills, shaded by ancient ebonies and nestled on the top of an ox-bow lagoon.  This was the perfect location to explore the evergreen forests by foot and view game from our veranda.

Mishek

Mishek's twin brother Peter with Chindeni Manager, James (left)
and Junior Guide, William (right)

Awaiting our arrival

Our fabulous tent house

All kinds of action in the lagoon,
all day, all night

Gorgeous!

Resting on the track

The river was home to hippo's, crocs
and birds

Early the next morning, we are treated to many animals and birds we had previously encountered, however here, we found pretty much all species rounded up into a treasure trove of game viewing.

Sadly, only around half of the babies will live to
maturity.  They provide a favourite meal to eagles that
carry them high into the sky then drop them to kill them, then
swoop down to eat them.

Kingfisher

Closer view

Puku Mom and baby

Isn't this the cutest little thing?

Like all things bright and colourful
in the wild....it's poisonous

Peter taught us a simple rule about selecting mushrooms to eat in the wild.  If no insects land on the mushroom, it poisonous.

This is William, our junior guide and sherpa.  William's story is quite amazing in that he is one of the few people to survive a Black Mamba bite.  A year ago, he was home in his village on a break.  His dog ran off and began barking around the foot of a tree.  William ignored him until he heard him howling.  He ran to the tree, just as his dog came out of a hole at the base of the tree, writhing and foaming at the mouth.  As William knelt beside him, the Mamba shot out of the tree and bit William.  His dog was dead in seconds and the only reason William is alive today, is because the snake expended most of it's venom into the dog.  William was unconscious for days while the village women applied poultices and gave him herbal drinks.  A miracle man!  Another warning:  If a bee hive in Africa, has a hole in it, leave it alone...it is a sign that a Black Mamba may be living there.  This snake is territorial and the only way to get rid of them is to kill them, something that is difficult for aboriginal Africans, since they respect and appreciate all living things.

The largest group of hikers for one day only.
There were 8 of us...6 from England, Bob and me.
A really fun group!

Flower and sausage on the Sausage Tree

We could smell it before we saw it.  A leopard kill
 in the tree and no sign of the leopard....yet...

Not wishing to confront a leopard while on foot, we left and returned at dusk, in time to see a hyena dragging the antelope away.  Peter told us that it had to be a young leopard that didn't know enough to drag the body higher into the tree.  Hyena's can't climb trees and the body must have shifted slid low enough for the hyena to grab it.  Peter knew that the leopard would not be far away and we waited silently until it returned.  I am showing you all of the photo's, some of them not so great, however the experience was so mind-blowing that I am including all.

Leopard returns to the base of the
tree and finds a bit of the remains
on the ground

She climbed the tree and realized that the body was gone

We could see the confusion as she
seems to look at us as though we might have taken her dinner.
 At no time were the leopards we encountered, nervous about
our presence

She wanders away eventually

Then returns again to chew the tiny bit
left behind by the hyena

Once the leopard leaves, we drive away and lo' and behold, we encounter this fellow, and wonder if it was the thief.  Peter figured that it wasn't and that the thief would be off somewhere eating and fighting off other hyena's.

Day or night, there is activity everywhere

What's this??  We move closer

And find the sweetest sight.

"The Night of the Leopard" was shared
with Sue (left) from London, England, Sarah,
originally from Zimbabwe, now living in
South Carolina

Peter and James, Manager of Chindeni

..and Sarah's father, who lost his farm when
Mugabe forced all white farmers out of
Zimbabwe.  He now lives in South Zambia

Bush pear, actually a nut, that locals
use for jewellery.  By the way, that
is Bob's right hand and Sue's left hand

Warthog skull

Fish Eagles

Beautiful and ruthless as we were about to see.

We heard the eagles calling to each other after they flew out of the tree and blazed through the sky in separate directions.  Suddenly a crane flew down to the lagoon and caught a large fish.  As it flew back into the sky, a Marabou Stork flew out of nowhere and snatched the fish out of the crane's beak.  Just as suddenly, we saw a flash of black and white careening out of the sky and the fish eagle took the fish from the Stork's beak.  Survival of the fittest indeed!!!

View of our tent from the lagoon

The deck of the lounge/dining room

As we walked along the rougher and drier parts of the lagoon, we had to watch the mounds of earth created by the hippo waddling over the soft earth as well as the cracks that went deep into the now bone dry soil.  As I hopped from mound to mound, I asked Peter why we saw so few big and dangerous snakes in the camps and that I had been wondering where they all were....not that I wanted to actually see them of course!  He replied that, because we were in the hot and dry season (which only actually lasts a month or two in this part of Zambia), the snakes kept cool by living in the deep cracks under our feet.  Do you think it took me long to get back to the camp?  The rainy season was expected any day and THEN the snakes would appear and move to higher ground.

On our last evening at the camp, there were just three guests; Sue, Bob and me and we met at the lounge at 4 pm as usual for "tea" (G and T in our case).  We had only taken a couple of sips when we heard the baboons across the lagoon going crazy and barking to each other.  Peter became restless and asked if we could leave on the night drive ahead of our 4:30 departure time.  He knew by the baboon warnings, that a leopard was in the immediate vicinity.  We were very excited and hustled to the jeep.  James (the manager) was also excited and commented that he wished he could come along.  We all asked him why he couldn't and that is all it took for him to hop into the vehicle, bare feet and all.

Peter drove at break-neck speed around the length of the lagoon and to the other side where he slowed down to a crawl.  No sightings, so it was decided to have our Sundowner break early then carry on in darkness.  Along the way we discovered this Mom and newly born baby and immediately feared for the life of the baby.  

There's the "M" that identifies the Impala

As we roll to a stop, this "Tower of Giraffes" breezes past

So we go in for a closer look.....

So close that we could see the Ox Pecker birds
making a meal of ticks that feed on the giraffes

Suddenly Peter spots the leopard that disappeared into the
bush

Then we saw this baby crocodile making his way
from the lagoon to the river

Around another corner, we find the leopard resting

Little did we know that there was about to be a confrontation, and that the confrontation would be between the cat and the little guy below.  The leopard suddenly sensed something and as we watched, rose from the ground and made it's way through the bushes until it found the crocodile.  Just like a house cat, the leopard leaped in the air, jumping from side to side and front and back of the crocodile, and just as quickly, the crocodile spun around, snapping at the leopard.  The cat managed to hook the neck of the crocodile with a claw, however the cat was bitten several times and finally gave up, an amazing feat when we knew that the leopard was fully grown and the croccie was only 18 inches long.
Peter said however, that the crocodile would not make it through the night because of it's injury.  Once it reached the river, the blood would be sensed by predators and it would be devoured.  Sad end to a well fought battle.

Licking her wounds

A little rest before resuming the hunt for dinner

There was lively discussion at dinner that evening and we were queried about our thoughts of a crocodile dying versus a baby Impala.  Sue said she didn't have a problem with either while I had to admit that, while I felt euphoria at the croccie's win and sadness at the prospect of it's early demise, I would have felt worse about a baby antelope.  Is it because antelopes are cuter??  I don't really know the reason.

Following dessert, the waiter whispered to James and he whispered back with a twinkle in his eyes.  Then Peter disappeared.  We wondered what was going on and then, out of the darkness toward the cook house and staff accommodations, we saw a faint light and then we heard men singing.  It was a singing tribute to their guests on the final night of their stay.  Peter is a pastor at his church, as well as a music teacher (he spent 4 years at university studying music) and taught the staff at the camp, how to sing.  A perfect ending to eight wonderful days in the Zambian bush.  We loved every minute of our time in Africa however we agree that the Bush Camp experience was our favourite.

The choir

The next morning we were awakened at 4 a.m. and were on our way back to Mfuwe Lodge where another driver took us to the airport.  This time, we flew from Mfuwe to Lusaka then on to Johannesburg where we would join a new group of travellers on our final safari, from Jo'burg back to Cape Town.  We had a stopover in the airport at Lusaka and to kill time, we wandered around the shops.  Bob finally went and sat down while I began to chat with a young shop-keeper.  Suddenly, I heard a disembodied voice ask "Is that you Sharon?"  I peeked around the end of aisle and to my surprise, I found Tanja, one half of the couple Tanja and Stephan, who hiked with us at Kapamba Camp.  They were returning home to Germany that day and were on the same flight to Jo'burg.  

The four of us sat and chatted until our flight was called....lovely to reconnect with such a nice couple and to be able to take a photo of them from the front!  We had forgotten to do so at the camp.

In our Christmas email, we learned that their flight home was not the restful one they thought it would be.  Stephan is a doctor and a young woman on the flight from Jo'burg to Germany, was terribly ill.  The captain nearly turned the plane around however Stephan was able to keep her stable until they got to Germany.  He was exhausted and his situation was made worse because he had to return to work the next day.

Thank you Bush Camp Company....for the most amazing experience!!