Zambia - The quest for the Leopard

Day 1

Early morning wake-up call at 05:30. Half an hour and several cups of coffee later, I was sitting in a topless Land-cruiser heading for the park. My companions for the next two and half days were Keith and Barbara from the UK and our guide was called Willy. We were staying at Kapani Lodge, which is located just outside the South Luangwa National Park.

I had never been to the African continent before, but had watched just about any and all documentaries on the area. I thought I was reasonably prepared and knew what to expect. I can honestly say that within the first hour inside the park, I was awe struck. Nothing prepares you for the emotional impact of such a beautiful place. The sights, sounds and smells of the African bush are nothing like you imagine them to be. The sheer size of the place is amazing. In fact, it’s so big that a dozen elephants can disappear without a trace, but more on that later.

Willy asked if there was anything in particular we wanted to see. “Everything” was the unanimous reply. I was hoping to see a leopard resting in a tree but I knew that was very unlikely. We saw lots of different animals in the first couple of hours, elephants, puku, kudu, zebra, giraffe but no leopard. We stopped for a tea-break in a semi dry lagoon, accompanied by several giraffe and puku. With no toilets in the park, a man has to do what a man has to do. There is something quite disconcerting about having a pee whilst being watched by a giraffe. I was just glad it wasn’t an elephant!

We drove around for another hour or so, then headed back to the lodge for brunch. After brunch, it was siesta time. By midday, the temperature had reached the low 30’s, so it as pretty hot. I guess it’s a combination of having just eaten, the heat and getting up at 5:30 that makes you feel tired. It is well worth getting your head down for an hour or so.

After a nap, I went and climbed up a tree that overlooks the lagoon. From there, I could watch the hippos and a couple of pied-kingfishers feeding. They were too far away for the camera, but I could see them through the binoculars. Then I could hear something approaching off to my left. I had no idea what it was, it sounded big, but I couldn’t see it through the trees. It was definitely getting closer though. I should point out that we had been told the night before about a very grumpy hippo that had been causing problems in the camp and was in danger of being relocated, permanently. So you can guess what I was thinking. Time to get out of the tree. I waited around to see what it was, but it never showed itself. I suspect it was nothing more than a baboon or two, but I wasn’t taking any chances.

It was soon time for tea and cake and at 4pm we headed to the vehicles for the evening drive. We were joined by a “spotter” called Dave. It’s his job, after sunset, to use a spotlight to see some of the nocturnal animals. We saw lots more animals and birds driving around including fish eagles, bateleur eagles and even a brown snake eagle sitting in a tree. Willy took us to a bend in the river to get some stunning sunset shots. The sunrises and sunsets are gorgeous. The dust on the horizon makes the sun turn a beautiful shade of red / orange, but it moves so fast that the whole thing is over in a matter of minutes. And once the sun has set, it goes dark, I mean very dark.

After drinks it was back in the car to go hunting again. Dave used the spotlight to scan the area for animals. He could tell the animal by the colour and height of the eye-shine or “red-eye”. It’s quite eerie, seeing eyes staring at you from the blackness. After a while, Willy noticed that the impalas we saw appeared to be nervous and twitchy. They were all staring in the same direction, away to our left. Dave shone the spotlight in that direction and then we could see the cause of their nervousness… a lioness. She wasn’t interested in the impala, or us for that matter, she had a far more pressing matter to attend to. A male lion could be heard calling in the distance and that was where she was headed. We got within six feet of her and she never even looked up. I had not brought my flash with me so was unable to take any pictures of her but she was beautiful and looked very well fed. We left her to her mission and continued with ours. Before we knew it we were back at the park entrance. We hadn’t seen a leopard, but the lioness more than made up for that. Back at the lodge, it was time for a quick shower before dinner and a chance to catch up with the other guests and talk about the days events.