Gap year & Travel News

From Neil Hargreaves, who went with us to Chongwe in May on a Solo Leap and NEVER CAME BACK!

Sun downers at Chongwe (Neil's the 1 with the big thumbs up!)

Greetings from Zambia,

It’s pod time! The falling of the apple spiral pods (elephant biscuits) from our Winterthorn Grove heralds the beginning of elephant dodging season at Chongwe. Our guests and staff alike are always amazed at the number of pachyderm visitors and enthralled at their gentle and patient pod picking activities. There is never a dull moment.

Let the elephant dodging commence!

Our game drives have successfully sighted plenty of big cats, both in the park and along the Chongwe River. The Chongwe activity has been particularly great with guests from Kafue in Zambia on a one night only visit being in the right place at the right time to see a lion attack on a female buffalo and her calf as they were coming to drink from the Chongwe. Sadly, but as nature intends, the calf was taken first and the adult gave chase to the lions which then turned back on her and  despite taking hold of her, she was able to escape with just some scratches.

Out on the prowl

More cat action occurred on the service road between Camp and House in July when our resident leopard – Genghis – killed an impala just behind Camp and stashed his meal in a wild fig tree. The following night, our guests were all anticipating his return to feed when we were treated to our local pride of lions (3 males and 4 females) which had smelt the kill and were congregated around the bottom of the tree. No doubt, enticed by the thought of an easy snack, 3 of the females proceeded to climb into the tree to try and reach the carcass – first time we had seen tree climbing lions in the Lower Zambezi! Luck was not on their side and it was stashed too high for them to reach – but a wonderful sight for guests and staff anyway. Genghis was finally seen that night but keeping well away from the lions.

Dispencer & Davy However, the “small stuff” delights just as well with the Pels Fishing Owl on the Chongwe River and a first of a Little Rush Warbler on an island in the Game Management Area spotted by one of our returning guests Peter Warrick and his Guide Dispenser. The Tiger fishing has been slow with the cold river water temperatures but is now beginning to pick up and we look forward to our main Tiger fishing season from September. Guests have happily been catching though in the meantime and 09 season record is 14lb, caught by Craig McCann from South Africa. Watch this space……

Canoeing the Nkalange channel remains a firm favourite with our guests. Many of you will remember Robert Mugabe, the hippo just inside the channel who has been quite well behaved this season and we have not as yet needed to pick up our canoes and walk the bank past him. For those guests keen to canoe more of the Zambezi I am privileged to announce that Chongwe will open a canoe camp during 2010, where guests will lodge in comfortable fully serviced tents on Tsika Island as part of a 2 day Zambezi trip. The team at Chongwe has been joined by two invaluable volunteers for the busy months of the season.

Neil Hargreaves arrived from UK in May on a Solo Leap and has taken on the task of keeping our food and beverage stocks and orders up to date; that is when he is not brandishing a paintbrush, stone sealing the tent walls. Debbie Read joined us in July from Australia and is keeping all our guests happy as a most welcoming hostess and, when elephant traffic allows, is seen bustling in and out of tents ensuring all our accommodation is top notch and ready for your visit.

Sadly, we said farewell to Russell earlier in the season and he is sorely missed, not least for his snake catching abilities which now seem to have fallen on CJ (how did that happen – bush girl I may be but…). Further new arrivals to the Chongwe family remain to be formally introduced but Chris and Juwayhir Liebenberg are delighted to be expecting twins and Bruce Raisbeck is looking forward to a new brother or sister to play with.

Felix the Cat

Our final arrival I wished to introduce is Felix, some of you may have met him last season. He was being cared for at Conservation Lower Zambezi for several years and obviously decided the cuisine at Chongwe was preferable and after a few attempts at ingratiating himself with the staff, he was finally accepted into the fold. He is very much a bush cat, not the friendliest, but is working for his living too taking care of mice in the store rooms. He has survived in the bush now for 4 or 5 years and apart from a scary incident with a baboon earlier this season seems to be repelling all attempts at being eaten by predators.

Finally for now, just a reminder of the wonders of Chongwe and hope we are whetting your appetite to return to visit us.

Until next time, Neil and the Chongwe Team