Into the Zambian bush

So here I am, my new home - the Zambian bush! Following a 1hr hair-raising flight in a bumpy prop' plane (which smelt strangely of the Imperial War Museum, presumably a hint at the age of the plane) from Lusaka to the near non-existent town of Mfuwe, I was met by my beaming driver, Kelvin, to take me the 45 min ride the lodge.

The drive along the red dirt track through the tiny villages was amazing. The smell was just incredible; warm dusty air and the wood smoke from the villages and the charred shrubs burnt back as part of the yearly 'slash n' burn' cycle. Before we even made it to the lodge we saw a group of about 4 lions lounging by the road in the increasing midday heat - I could tell I was going to be happy here.

To make this blog slightly more digestible I'm going to stick to a plan of each week uploading ten of the best photos of my past 7 days and then tell you all a bit about what's been going on - hopefully that way I can share the best of the filming and tracking action our here, as well as giving me a nice and easy guide to stick to (the heat, about 30 degrees, makes my thoughts a little slow you see!

The action so far: Week 1

The amazing sunset I was blessed with on my first night's game drive. The dust kicked up from the parched mid dry-season landscape gives the sunsets out here the most amazing orange glow. Just out of shot was another juvenile giraffe and a tiny baby. This was taken just a few minutes before the adults attempted to cross the river before meeting a croc and deciding to go back the other way.

A hyena making off with the remains of an impala. The kill was actually made by a leopard we had seen only moments earlier, but as is the way with hyena, they must have bullied the lone leopard out of its meal.

Three beautiful lions taking in the sun on the banks of the Luangwa River. We had hoped to drive along this track and down on to the sand, but with these amazing animals blocking our way we had to simply admire them from our vehicle and then head back the other way.

And of course my bush edit suite...this is just part of my double en-suite room, pretty amazing for the African bush!

Self portrait on our morning game drive. We set off from the lodge in one of the game viewing vehicles around 6:30 every morning, just after the sun has come up and the game is beginning to awake. The morning drive lasts for about 3 hours (with a little break for tea, coffee and snacks around 8) and provides amazing light to film the wildlife just as it goes about its morning business.


This is the beautiful dawn sky that greets me everyday, just as the bush begins to stir for another day.


Our evening game drive is from 4 to 8, and even though the light is only good for filming for the first few hours, it's still a beautiful drive, topped off without fail with an amazing pink and orange sunset. The joy of filming with a luxury safari company is that of course every sunset is accompanied by a sun-downer, so most evenings I can be found sinking a couple of G & Ts watching the setting of the Zambian sun....which is nice!



Spot the leopard! The South Luangwa National Park is one of Africa's top locations to see leopard, and I can definitely vouch for this. This is just one of the handful of these amazing cats that I've seen in my first week here, hiding up in a tree to escape the midday heat.


Sometimes I think it would be nice if the wildlife could keep itself to the bush and not follow he home at night! As well as the hippos, hyenas, bushbuck, impala, baboon, monkeys, lion and leopard that are found wandering our camp at night, there is also a veritable menagerie in my room, in the shape of geckos, skinks and horrible spiders.