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WILDLIFE BLOG
Wildlife: South Luangwa 22 – 28 April 2020
Zambia's coronavirus journey continues steadily. We are approaching 100 confirmed cases, all of which are in the central Lusaka area of the country. There is little movement of people around the country at this time and social distancing is still in place, though Government took the unexpected decision of allowing churches to re-open and conduct services. Social distancing and hygiene standards are supposed to be enforced during services, but this is unlikely to happen in most [...]
Wildlife: South Luangwa 15-21 April 2020
Life in South Luangwa continues to be a blend of the normal and the unprecedented; while there is no lock-down yet, and cases of COVID remain only in the Lusaka area, there are also no visitors whatsoever to the area. So the economy of the local town is very slow at best and there is an eerie quiet; no tyres on the nearby tarmac road, no buses operating between here and the bigger towns and no [...]
Life in the Bush: supporting the Luangwa Valley in 2020
I wrote in a previous article about the impact of COVID-19 and cutting off the USD 30 million of foreign funds that flow into the Luangwa Valley each year. This has been felt keenly by the tourism operators already (in the form of postponed and cancelled bookings throughout 2020) but the effect is only now hitting home to the many businesses that are supported by tourism dollars. Many developed nations are putting together impressive (eye watering?) [...]
Wildlife: South Luangwa 8-14 April 2020
Greetings from the South Luangwa. I hope you are all safe, keeping healthy and surviving whatever form of social isolation is being enforced. We are voluntarily self-isolating but have the extraordinary luxury of being able to continue accessing the National Park. Being just 3 minutes from our house, and requiring no contact with other people to go in, it is not a privilege that we take for granted; we know that we are extremely lucky to [...]
Life in the Bush: COVID-19 and the people of South Luangwa
Throughout the course of the COVID-19 journey, my guests have repeatedly asked me about the people of the South Luangwa. How will they cope with the virus? What are the healthcare facilities like in the surrounding area? How will their livelihoods be affected by the dramatic slow-down in tourism that has resulted from the global travel shutdown? People are, of course, central to everything in the wildlife world. Much as we might think that it's all [...]
Wildlife: South Luangwa 1-7 April 2020
Zambia is encouraging social distancing, in line with most other countries across the world. We are not yet facing lock-down since cases appear to be very low and not increasing....we sincerely hope that this is not due to under-reporting or mis-representation. However, as family, we are not taking any chances and are imposing our own self-isolation, at least until the situation is clearer. We are fortunate to be able to access the National Park without interacting [...]
Safari Destinations with Edward Selfe Photo Safaris – South Luangwa
During these strange and unpredictable times, many of us are taking the chance of an enforced break to begin some of those tasks that are forever put off into the future. Some of them are recreational - such as taking up an instrument, learning a foreign language or trying a new sports activity - and some are work-related. I have several projects that I have wanted to do for some time and (amid the sadness of [...]
Wildlife: Hyaenas in all their glory….
A penny for the number of times that the word "unprecedented" has been used in recent weeks....! However, current global circumstances certainly justify that description; there is no blueprint, no prior experience to draw on (except for the recent experiences of other nations) and certainly no one to consult. This makes for very worrying times where Google doesn't have the answers and there is no way of buying a solution. I hope that you are all [...]
Photo Safari Skills: Go Through Your Archives
Zambia has reached double-digit cases of COVID-19. While the progression of the virus appears to be slow here, the testing and reporting capabilities are perhaps less developed than in Europe, so it is suspected that there are more going undetected. Of course, these undetected cases are the most dangerous as they drive the fastest spread. We are following and supporting the government's measures to control the virus, which currently include a ban on non-essential journeys and [...]
Wildlife: For the Love of Lions
These are totally unknown times. We are all trying to reconcile our responsibilities to each other as inhabitants of this planet with what we need personally and for our families. These two things may well coincide, but there are areas where the temptation to diverge is strong. We all have to remember that this will pass. And it will pass more quickly and with less disruption if we follow the guidelines that are being shared by [...]
Tour Info: Corona Virus Outbreak 2020
There will be few people on Earth who have avoided the impact of COVID-19 in some way; families, businesses, stock markets and governments have been affected by the disease as it has swept across the world. The speed with which is has infected nearly every country has been horrifying, and there is no clear end in sight. Travellers have been particularly hard hit. Responding to the spread of infection, governments have implemented regional or nationwide lock-downs [...]
Wildlife: Some wonderful elephant encounters
The world is currently full of concerns about corona virus, and rightly so. It is a threat to the stability of the world system, even though, at this stage, it is hard to know exactly what the implications will be. Everyone has their own risk profile so will decide how to respond; I feel lucky that I am in a low-risk age and health category, that I live in a place where there has been low [...]
EDWARD SELFE
I organise & run photographic safaris in the finest wildlife areas on Earth.
