off to Lilongwe and then onward to Zambia

Friday - July 16th
Our new bus and driver Gideon arrived bright and early and we loaded up our luggage and bags - not much lighter considering all that we left behind but filled with souvenirs in their place.
Nancy caught a ride with us as far as Blantyre, she was signing the final papers for the loan for her restaurant and was so excited. I hunted for a lithium battery in Blantyre but they are not common and was a bit sad that my camera would be out of commission for the Safari in Zambia. We reached the community of Dezda about 5 hours into our journey and stopped to purchase hand crafted pottery and indulge in their coffee and dessert shop.
Arrived in Lilongwe at 6 pm - 9 hours on the road was certainly enough! Unfortunately our hotel reservations had been cancelled and the habitat coordinator for Lilongwe - Danny came to our rescue. We dined on burgers and pizza and then headed to a guest lodge. Lilongwe has a very diverse make up, their city hall resembles the white house - the city itself resembles Winnipeg one minute and Juma the next. One block has a mini mall with American name brands on display and the next has brick and mud shacks displaying curio wares and weaved art. Still no internet at this location but there was luke warm water! As per our usual schedule we were in bed by 9.
Saturday July 16th
Had a wonderful breakfast and were picked up by another driver named Jimmy (Gideon did not have papers to travel across the border to Zambia). As we were awaiting departure the lodge's little son (about 2) came outside and took my hand and said "come" I said "where to?" and he led me over to the door and said "to watch George", I said "George who?" and his Mom answered from the doorway "that would be George in the Jungle his favorite show" so cute!
On the drive out I saw what I presume to be a funeral service at one of the cemeteries - the headstones range from piles of rock to concrete slabs to very elaborate and ornate markers.
Made one last stop at BP for gas and a bathroom break prior to the border crossing. Kevin bought some cookies to serve as a lunch - he predicts we will be at the lodge around 3 pm.
The border crossings both went very well, we merely presented our passports and filled out exit cards/entrance cards and handed them in. Jimmy took a bit longer than expected to get into Zambia as he had never done a crossing before and was unsure of the procedures but all worked out.
Onward to Zambia - we are all very excited to be out of the bus soon - or so we thought! Turns out the road was under construction and unfortunately that was the good part (they had beautiful CAT graders and Ford tractors for road construction) after the construction the road turned into washboard that made Gunn Road after a rain look good. The washboard lasted for about 2 hours as we were unable to travel much more than 50 or 60 km's an hour for most of this distance. Within minutes of entering the South Luanga national park we saw baboons everywhere, some Hippos hanging out in a river and a pile of elephants munching on the trees - who remembered the bus ride?
At 5 pm we arrived at the lodge and I am proud to report that I did not toss my cookies along the way! I picked a very bad day to leave my gravol in my suitcase.
Within minutes of seeing the lodge and touring the past 8 hours were erased. The park is not fenced in but is protected by natural boundaries of rivers and bush. The lodge is also not fenced and so every person requires an escort to and from their chalets. This may seem a bit too much until you see the baboons hanging out on your deck, the impala walking over the sidewalk or the hippo crossover from Barb's chalet to the river!
The staff encouraged us to quickly drop off our belongings grab a quick tea and set out for the last 2 hours of a game ride (they usually start at 4 pm).
Our guide Charles managed to find in those short 2 hours the following: a bush hare, impalas, a family of lionesses, zebra, hyenas, hippos, white tailed mongoose and baboons by the hundreds.
Came back to a buffet dinner, glass of red wine and live drama performance from a local drama group. Then off to a hot shower and bed - the game drive starts at 6:30 am.
Sunday July 17th
Up at 5:45 - dressed and ready to get on the road. Today our guide Paxon was behind the wheel of the land rover. He had been a guide for 19 years and was trained by the legendary Norman Carr - a famous ranger for the Mfuwe park. His voice and laugh are a dead ringer for James Earl Jones and so it was a phenomenal morning. Today we saw: Impala (hundreds of them - are in the antelope family), their cousins the Puku, elephants, zebra, lionesses, water buffalo, hippos, wart hogs, pelicans, stork, an eagle - their national bird. Paxon had descriptions and history and commentary for everything we saw. He also took us to the grave marker of Norman Carr. ON the way to our brunch in the park we discovered an impala hanging in a tree that a leopard had recently caught and would dine on later. The lunch in the park was incredible - we dined amongst the trees with a river in the backdrop - and hippos lazing in it.
back at the lodge shortly afternoon for siesta time - next game drive is at 4 pm. Had a chance to swim in the pool and enjoy a beer as the baboons, impala and water buck wandered just below. Was very, very surreal. Also a bit disturbing in the stark contrast to Juma village. But it needs to be pointed out that although the Mfuwe lodge is 5 star luxury they are very aware of the needs of Africa. They employ 80 people, their gift shop sells items made from the local textile shop (hand made and hand painted fabrics), they use solar power to heat the water, they give thousands of dollars to the conservation district and sponsor the local school much as Unicef would (provide supplies etc). Paxon said most of the guides all live 5 minutes away in the village of Mfuwe and that it is a great lodge to work for (his last 8 years), he had also worked for the mushroom lodge and directly for the park prior to this. Again - I could listen to him talk and laugh all day long! He took us out at 4 pm and said he do his best to show us the elusive giraffe. We saw so much! He drove us to a sandy beach like spot along a river to watch the sunset and have a beer (and listen to the hippos snort). The giraffe where not meant to be spotted but we saw the most incredible thing ever after dark. Paxon could hear something and killed the engine - listened - looked in his binoculars and then announced that a leopard had just killed an impala and a nearby hyena was taking his kill. We raced over and saw the leopard stalking off (licking her lips) and then saw two hyenas feast on the impala - we were about 10 feet away - it was disgusting and fascinating all the same.
Paxon explained later that hyenas will always be able to out power a leopard, lion, hog and so if they are in the area of a kill the leopard has to concede his food to them. It was so crazy to hear them bark and howl as they fed - I swear I thought that I should hear 'Whoopi or Cheech's' voice come out of them (Lion King).
Then, we were off to see if the implala in the tree was still there. Much to Barb's joy, the leopard was sitting in the tree guarding it. We were able to stay and watch and photo for about 10 minutes. Paxon said that the animals are very accustomed to the sounds of the vehicles and as long as there is not a lot of movement or talking the animals will stick around for us to observe.
Incredible evening! We returned to the buffet, hot showers and very comfortable beds. I was very upset with myself as I lost Barb's camera case somewhere on the drive - one minute it was on the seat with my room key and the next only the room key was on the seat. She was so amazing about letting me 'share' her camera, when we came to something awesome she would hand it over and let me pop in my memory stick so I could take photos too - how great is that?
Monday July 19
Final morning and once again Paxon is determined to show us a giraffe. We spotted their hoof prints (took a photo actually) and tried to track them. Saw the usual (can you believe that we now are considering zebras, hippos, elephants,water buffalo, baboons and impala the usual?) We stumbled across an elderly female elephant paying respects to the bones of a bull elephant that had passed away a couple of years ago and she had a pregnant female and 6-7 year old male with her. Then along cam another female and a baby! So tiny compared to the grandma. It was totally incredible to see their interactions - the mom's instincts were very strong as the Grandma came right up to the land rover (we are talking about 6 feet away) and flashed her ears out and pawed the ground) as the mom and baby passed by us) I was in absolute awe as elephants have been my favorite animals since I saw a National documentary about them about 15 years ago- ironically it was narrated by James Earl Jones), I did not realize that the rest of my group were near loss of kidney function and and hearts racing!
The most iron thing then happened - Paxon's radio went off and another guide said that the giraffes were out, they were at the spot we saw their prints. The elephants were now far enough away that we could speed off but by the time we got to the spot the giraffes were once again gone. Paxon laughed so hard it made the rest of us giggle too. He said that the giraffes are usually out and cannot believe that we still have not seen them.
Headed back to the lodge early so we could be on the road by 10 am. Jimmy was already there and our suitcases were loaded when we got back.
Not gonnna lie, I was really not looking forward to our bus ride but I did take a Gravol this time.
The ride seemed to go by a bit faster this time - probably because we knew what to expect, our border crossings were very smooth again as well.
Back in Malawi and off to Lilongwe for our final night in Africa! Arrived at the Longonot Lodge about 8 hours after leaving Mfuwe. Amazing that 9 pm now constitutes a late night out.