South Luangwa Zambia Is A Leopard Spotting Haven

South Luangwa Safari Diary

South Luangwa Travel Company Featured:

Flatdogs Camp

Duration: 3 days, 15-17 October 2003

Journal Authors: Noel And Bron, South Africa

Picture by Bruce Whittaker, www.african-safari-journals.com

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Noel and Bron and their trusty Landrover nicknamed Ted started an African adventure shortly after their wedding. Zambia and the South Luangwa was one of the stops on their epic trip.

Accommodation:

Flatdogs camp is situated right on the edge of the Luangwa river opposite the National Park on the other side.

It caters for campers and has self catering chalets for those people who don't want to brave the wildlife wandering around at night.

The camp is sandwiched between two elephant crossing points so they enter the campsite regularly.

It also has a pool which comes in very handy to cool off when the African heat becomes unbearable and you can spot a fair amount of game just lounging around there.

Trip Highlights:

At midnight Noel was woken up by a hippo at the bottom of the ladder leading to their tent but he was scared away by the noise as Noel scrabbled around for the video camera.

Went on an amazing night time drive and after sundowners next to the river they saw a buffalo stuck in the mud and a pride of lions. They also managed to see two leopards out hunting together and spent over 25 minutes tracking them.

Also saw several hippo out of the water, three genets, two civets, a family of feeding elephants, Pells fishing Owl, and a couple of small snakes and then just to top it all they found another leopard standing in the road just before leaving through the parks gate. South Luangwa had lived up to its reputation for leopard sightings yet again.

Woken up by an elephant in the dead of night going through the dustbin for discarded vegetables. He came so close that his head was about two feet away from the window of the tent and they found themselves eyeballing an elephant.

South Luangwa Tips & Recommendations:

There is a fee to enter Zambia by vehicle which at the time of writing is $60 but you can get in for free if you have booked a game drive with one of the safari camps and they advise the border post of this before your arrival.

Unless you want to be awoken by some large nocturnal visitors (elephant and hippo), it's a good idea to throw away any leftover food as far from your tent as possible. And make sure that if you have anything edible stored in a vehicle that the windows are securely closed because the elephants have been known to reach in with their trunks and steal any available food.

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