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| | | "Rhino SIghting In North Luangwa by John Coppinger"
29 August 2010 00:00 | | | read more... |
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 | Remote Africa Safaris Newsletters | |
"Tafika News of the Luangwa Valley March 2010 by Carol Coppinger"
- 07 March 2010 00:00
Since John and I moved to Lusaka for the rains (December to the end of March) our news of Tafika and the walking camps has been second hand, over the phone, chatting to the staff who have been minding Tafika. Francisco travelled down in January to organise and pay our student scholarships for the first term. The first week of March John and Isaac flew to the valley to check on the camp, just as the river was starting to flood its banks.
Since we established Tafika in 1995 this has been the longest period of time we have spent away from camp and John felt very excited by his return (more so having just traveled across the globe from Iceland – what a contrast!). Within minutes of his return however he felt as if he had never left. The camp was looking just great and he praised the maintenance team for having done an excellent job in our absence.
Patrick Bentley accompanied them as photographer ….and to enjoy a deep breath in the abundant space and clarity of the Luangwa in the rains. Patrick and John have hatched a plan to produce a book of Luangwa from the Air – John flying and Patrick doing the photography. They had a good start and Patrick has provided the wonderful photos for this newsletter.
The contrast in the Valley between this time of year and the dry season is astonishing and the sheer volume of water observed in times of flood is mind boggling. Upstream of Tafika is particularly low lying and the river had burst its banks, flooding vast tracts of land. The river was flowing between chalet 4 and 6 at Tafika but the ‘Tafika Spillway’ saved our bacon again. Just downstream of camp the opposite bank is more than a metre lower than our side and the water rushed over this spillway and across Lion Plain, finally re-entering the Luangwa River some way downstream. At Mfuwe there was more flooding but it was not as bad as feared….though those that were flooded might not agree with that comment!
Isaac Zulu, our oldest walking guide, whom many past guests will know, is responsible for the Tafika vegetable garden. He arrived in camp fully loaded with seeds etc to get the vegetable garden started again. During the rains the gardeners keep it tidy but mostly it rests until the heavy rains are over. New beds are now in place to provide fresh produce for Tafika’s opening on the 1st of May.
At Tafika 700mm of rain has fallen to date this season, which is fairly average, and we would expect to receive about 8-900mm by the end of April. John and Patrick had to snatch moments of sunshine to microlight as the overcast rainy conditions were unusually set in.
I love Patrick’s image of the rain falling with the escarpment clearly seen 70km away. They captured the white backed form of the bateleur eagle in flight, which is seen fairly frequently around Tafika. There is also the inevitable buffalo wallowing in mud puddles and elephant families from the air.
John was happy to see the large one eyed lioness from the Tafika pride feeding on a buffalo. The next day the four big males from the Salt Pan were finishing it off. It is generally felt that the rainy season is a time of hardship for the lions, but they all appeared fit and fat.
We will be heading back to Tafika for camp building in April. We have enjoyed the social life of Lusaka but return to Remote Africa with great enthusiasm, and some relief, ready for the 2010 season.
Tafika opens 1st May 2010
Chikoko Tree Camp opens 25th May 2010
Crocodile River Camp opens 1st June 2010
Mwaleshi Camp (North Luangwa) opens 15th June 2010.
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| Comments to this story |
| 12 April 2010 : 22:25 | Hi Carol
An informative newsletter and great photography. One day we will get to you. Right now we are planning either December in CT or March in Nilgiri [India]. I sent you a video from the National Geographic website. | | No Website. | | Posted By: John Wilks |
| 18 March 2010 : 14:33 | | Thank you , CAROL, for your fantactic descrition of your rainy season in the valley and the wonderful pictures See you all in JUNE PAUL and Charlotte BELGIUM | | No Website. | | Posted By: paul & charlotte |
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