Zambia Solo Leapers Diary

Fred Million and Alex Arkell

Africa is awesome, the flights out were a bit of a hassle but after about 24 hours of travelling we arrived in paradise.

The animals -such as elephant, monkeys, baboon, hippo and crock walk freely around the camp, we have daily encounters with them, on the 1st day here the elephants decided to sit outside our house -me and Fred in our ignorance got too close- and consequently it charged at us.... slightly terrifying in our 1st hour in Africa. But now we're used to it and simply march past them.

Our job is mainly bar work, which is perfect as we get to sit by the pool in the day and work at night. ITS HOT -which is also nice! Flat dogs is an awesome place...hope England isn't too cold..Love Alex and Fred

Hi GuyYour be glad to hear Africa is still great, we've both settled in now like you said and are getting on with everyday like part of the team here.... There have been a couple more close encounters with very large elephant and hippo but we're getting pretty used to it now and just stroll on past them....a massive change form the tiptoeing around when we 1st arrived!We've been given a house to live in which is a privilege as everyone around us is in tents; this is way above our expectations.

We were expecting a shack or a tent! The bar work we do at night is great; we get to rest on most days, doing the stock in the morning. The bar is the busiest in the valley so we meet a lot of people.Fred has joined the Flat dogs football team, the other day we went to a match, which was amazing.

The team is made up of all the local staff and we play other lodges every few weeks, the pitch we played on was stuffed with supporters -especially children who would come running up to us in large crowds. All the locals come to watch, Fred and me were the only two muzungu's (White men) there.... slightly daunting but they are all so nice it's not a problem.We also when on a hour game drive the other day, amazing, we saw all the big game except leopard unfortunately we've not seen any yet.

We're trying to go an as many game drives as possible and they let us go whenever there's space.Thank you for the e-mail, the third week blues don't seem to have been a problem yet, although Fred is a little sick at the moment -possibly too much drink!Speak soon Alex.....and Fred (from his bed)

Katie Wright

Hi

Yesterday I went out with rob (doctor) and we went into the park for about an hour and would you believe it we saw three lionesses and a lion, all quite old though so not much excitement, but still it was great to see, they just lay their and mulled over the afternoon! like you do in the hot sun.

Saw birds which have the most beautiful turquoise and blue colour on their wings!! Impala (sorry for spelling) and the odd eley in the distance!! But the cuttiest of them all are the little girls and boys of the human race that I see when in Mfuwe!! Or generally about. Its just as amazing still and loving every moment, jess and ade have asked myself and rob to theirs tonight, which will be nice. I am on duty kind of in the evening from 7- whenever (drink beer and socialise, which I love)

Well the day is ending and people are off home, its still hot and the sun is shining, hippos are in the river and life is good!!Went on some game drives yesterday to soak up the wildlife as its not to busy this week, saw lots of fantastic sites which was great, lion quite happily lazing in the road, two giraffe male and female, beautiful animals, strolling across the flats of the land! zebra, impala, these guys are in matting season so there are lots of males on there own, making funny noises, standing on there territory waiting for the ladies to come!! so that’s what you are all doing wrong boys!!

Also saw a left over cobra snake, which had been eaten, so the tail was off and the shape of the carcass was left with the insides taken and left!! NICE, elephants and there babies, saw a few more closer on the night drive!! The night drive was interesting to say the least, it was really good until the steering wheel broke so we had out break when the sun was setting, and in the distance you could see the storm coming in, huge clouds with the lightning inside all the cloud, changing colours from red to pink the blue!!

So this was fine as the reinforcements come out with other vehicles, the sky when clear is just amazing, you can see everything, even venues! but later the storm came over and we were following at the time a lion and lioness and as soon as the wind gets up you know the rain is coming you literally have 1min to take cover, we had nothing and got absolutely drenched, soaked, nothing was left dry, it was very amusing, myself and Rob(doctor) went along with these clients who were Spanish and quite funny and we just began to sing, singing in the rain, some in English and some of it in Spanish!! Katie xx

Peter Gordon Finlayson

Hi Guy,

Just thought I'd update you on things Flatdogs. Everything is going well so far!I went out on a walking safari this morning, because they were training some of the new guides. It was quite strange not being in one of trucks. We saw some zebras, and an elephant from quite far off. We also came across the nearly complete skeleton of a hippo! I have had some quite strange experiences already, from nearly walking into a small herd of big elephants in the dark, to finding a mouse in my house!

Yesterday we went to go and play rugby with some of the locals and other mzungu from other camps and lodges. We arrived at the 'pitch' to find 10 elephants grazing not far away. We decided to play anyway, and low and behold some of them charged at us! So we all ran and the eles stopped at the edge of the pitch and stayed there.
So after a while we started shouting and clapping at them, and they ran away. This happened about 3 times! Not many rugby matches get interrupted by charging elephants! I also have a bit of a problem with monkeys around my house.

They keep climbing onto the roof and waking me up in the morning, pulling out the thatch. They also try and use my outside loo, and always miss! One morning I thought someone was in my spare bed because I woke up to a rustling sound. That's odd I thought, I wasn't drinking last night and I don't remember inviting anybody back! I got up expecting to find a baboon or something all snuggled up, but the bed was empty.

I looked out of the window however and found our resident family of 'Flatdogs' elephants eating the trees not 2 metres from my house! They couldn't see me so I got a REALLY close up view through my windows!

I have met up with 4 other 'Leapers' so far, who all seem nice. I met up with Madie and Llalana (is that how you spell it?) from Wildlife camp the other day. I met Llalana at my familiarisation visit in Hungerford, but I had forgotten how Very Nice she was!!! It's nice to be able to meet up with similar aged people etc.

I have also enjoyed meeting some real characters who come in on the overland trucks. Really good fun people, and often good looking too!I have been doing various bits and bobs in the mornings, cleaning the pool, making a volleyball court chopping up wood. I got the shock of my life, twice when chopping up a large fallen tree the other day. The grass has all grown up around it and I thought a I approached it, this looks like a perfect habitat for snakes etc! I climbed onto the tree anyhow and started chopping it up. Once I had done a few branches, one of the lads came and dragged some of the chopped branches away.

Whilst he was off taking them away I heard what sounded like a large branch being dragged through the grass. I turned around expecting to see my friend with another branch in his hands, but he was nowhere to be seen.

I realised that the sound was coming from more or less beneath me! At first I thought it was a HUGE snake, but apparently was much more likely to be a harmless monitor lizard. Needless to say I jumped clear of the tree quite swiftly! Then about 5 minutes later I was happily chopping away again with my right hand on the saw and left holding the branch steady. A small gecko ran across my left hand and images of huge monitor lizards flashed in my head. I swore loudly, in a very manly way of course (I screamed like a girl!) and luckily nobody was there to see or hear!I wonder what excitement tomorrow will bring!Speak to you soon Peter

Neil Hargreaves

Hi Guy,

Just a brief (sort of) note to let you know that I've arrived in one piece and am roughly halfway through my first full working day at camp. I had no problems getting here and ended up flying down to Chongwe from Lusaka in the smallest plane that I ever will or am ever likely to fly in - it could hold 3 passengers plus the pilot! It was a great flight though and I got to camp around mid-afternoon yesterday. Chris the owner is away at the moment but I've met his parents and his sister who were all very welcoming and I've had a tour of the camp from Flossy, the general manager.

My safari tent is great and the facilities are a lot better than the briefing notes had led me to believe. I've got a flush toilet, a proper shower and towels are provided as well. I've paid good money to stay in places a lot worse than my tent and it's going to be a great base for 2 months!

As you know the camp locations are fantastic and there is a group of 15 or so hippos who seem to be permanently situated in the river about 50 yards from camp and they are currently providing the background music for when I go to bed. 

All the staff and guests have been very friendly and welcoming, I just need to try and remember everybodys name!

Cheers,

Neil

Hi Guy,

Yes things are going well and I'm continuing to enjoy myself out here especially As the dry season starts to kick in and game start to become even more visible.

The last week and a half seems to have flown by as things have settled into a nice routine. Things are going well and the people are fun to work with. My tent is great and I'm being well looked after and very well fed!

In terms of responsibilities I'm looking after the food and beverages at the moment and as the previous Food and Beverage manager won't be coming back (for various reasons) Chris has asked me if I could stay on at Chongwe for a longer period of time! Obviously I have plans to go to Kenya on 10th July but would it be possible to get my placement with Serian Lodge moved back? It would mean me staying on at Chongwe until around the end of September/beginning of October so could you get in touch with Serian to see if I can move my placement with them back a few months?

Obviously it would mean me changing my flights and things but I can probably sort that out from here. In terms of visas, Chris has said that he will organise something should it be possible for me to stay on.

In the meantime I've attached a couple of photos for you, hopefully you're not squeamish!

Hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers

Neil

Neil Hargreaves

Hi Guy,

Things continue to go well out here!!

Alex and Mark have been very good in terms of letting me go on activities and I've been out virtually every other day in the last week or so and managed to see a migration crossing a couple of days ago which was great!!

On the work side of things, we're trying to re-organise the workshop and stores and it's a very big job, which will take a lot of time so I just have to be patient. I really want to get on with it but nothing happens very quickly in Africa! It’s just the way.

Cheers

Neil