As always, this monthly update from Zambia comes with the sincere wish that you and your families are well and weathering the storm of COVID with social isolation and the impending fear of a second “lock-down”.
As always, the discussion continues about why COVID appears to have hit some countries harder than others. Zambia continues to record very low numbers of cases and relatively few deaths. Of course, under-developed measurement, testing and recording could be responsible for this…but other developing nations (which presumably have similarly inaccurate systems) are faring much worse. It’s likely, as always, to be a blend of factors which will be hard, or impossible, to unravel. Whether a younger population, or an outdoors life, or a populace which is accustomed to exposure to corona-viruses in the past, Zambia is weathering the medical storm, but suffering acutely the economic one.
The weather is heating up here, making early departures in the morning all the more important. I have also been very busy with photoshoots, assisting my wife who is relocating the company which we own (check out Tribal Textiles if you don’t know about them already) and we also share the morning school run! Nevertheless, being the peak time of year for sightings, those times that I have managed to get into the National Park, there has always been something wonderful to see.
So, as always, here is the latest updates from the bush, with photos and captions to illustrate.
Safari outings with my family are not usually the best time for bird photography (!) but on this occasion the little bee-eaters seemed totally unconcerned about our arrival and the camera’s shutter clicks.
With inland water almost totally depleted, lions don’t venture far from the Luangwa River in these months. This couple were mating on a grassy shelf close to the water, only occasionally raising their heads to survey the surroundings, before slumping back to sleep.
After a bit of time hunting in her favourite gulley, unsuccessfully this time, Lucy the leopard rests in a large sausage tree.
The morning light is unreal at the moment. This is an unedited RAW file, simply converted to JPEG to put on the web!
Everyone likes salad when there are tasty sausage flowers to spice things up.
Another morning, Lucy was back in her gulley, but she seemed impatient. Racing along the bottom of the rutted channel, she poked her head up carelessly and spooked some impalas. Later on, she made a half-hearted attempt at an ibis, before heading for the bushes.
I have seen her agitated and careless in the past. She had a cub, similar in age to the two cubs she has now, who are taking a large part of the kills she makes and leaving her with little. It seems like she thinks it’s time for them to move on, but they aren’t getting the message!
In ambush mode….but only for an ibis!
Later in the morning on a very hot day, I was driving along the Mushilashi stream and commented to a friend that there were no lion tracks in the sand, which is very unusual as they love that area. Moments later, we rounded the corner and a small pride was approaching us!
They were locked on to a warthog in a thicket so we stopped and held our position not wanting to disturb the scene. They missed the pig and quickly retreated into the shade.
My morning outings are also a time when I decompress. Sometimes I just sit in a spot and stare into the bush, absorbing the sounds around me and thinking about not much! Often time passes and when I focus again, I find that there are lots of small birds all round me. Finches, waxbills, widows, whydahs, quelea, starlings, bulbuls and doves. This male red-billed firefinch flew up onto a branch when I lifted my camera but still allowed a lovely photo. He is just 9cm long from bill tip to tail tip!
While on assignment with the Zambian Carnivore Programme, vultures led us to a lion kill where the Luwi Pride (plus a couple of unknown males) had killed a hippo under a sausage tree!
It was hot! And the largest male was keen to lie in the shade, but not so keen on the vultures stealing his prize. So he made every effort to move the carcass into the shade!
It wasn’t easy, but inch by inch he moved at least 500kgs of dead hippo towards the shade of a nearby tree. It was humbling to watch such a display of raw power.
Photo safaris are about making beautiful photos from ordinary situations. Here, I loved the zig-zag shape of the shade and light in the folds of the gulley, and the impala offered a nice focal point in the frame.
Different fig species fruit at different times, always drawing a plethora of feeders to the diner. Baboons are the noisiest, squabbling over the best branches and the elephants enjoy the fruits that fall as a result. Birds such a parrots, barbets, doves and starlings feed higher up, avoiding the melee!
Replete, a large male baboon appears unconcerned as I point a large lens in his face from just a few meters away!If you don’t already follow my Instagram, please do so as I share lots of real-time updates about life in the bush…and recently a wild dog kill seen from the verandah of our house. Thanks, as always, for following along.
