It was a beautiful day in Kafue National Park. I was the first to arrive for coffee this morning, and Fanuela, the manager, taught me how to play Insolo, which is the Zambian name for Moncala (not sure of the spelling, and I can’t check right now).
After breakfast, we went out in the jeeps to look for wildlife. It was a lively morning out in the bush: as for birds, we spotted hornbill, emerald spotted wood dove, western banded snake eagle, gray go away bird (his call sounds like he’s saying “go away!”), lilac breasted roller, wattled plover, red-necked francorine, fish eagle, and more.
Akim saw hyena and serval tracks (a serval appeared on our evening ride and the hyena on the path back to the cabins after dinner). We also saw bushbuck, waterbuck, puku, kudu, and…a male lion!! He was trying to nap and really not interested in us, though we were very interested in him.
When we returned from our drive, brunch was waiting for us, and then we had free time. I power-walked 2.5 miles up and down the cabin path (I am loving this trip, but it’s a lot of sitting). I then watched a mama warthog munch grass as her three little babies frolicked around her.
After a short cat nap, i went on a nature walk with Clyde, where I learned about many of the trees here (Edwin and I were the only ones who showed up for it). Then Brian talked to us about Zambian politics and the issues surrounding trophy hunting.
We set off on our sundowner drive, in which we look for animals and stop for an evening drink in a pretty spot and watch the sunset. On one side of us, a huge orange sun set behind the trees, and on the other side, hippos bobbed, grunted and snorted in the river. And I just heard one grunt outside our cabin.
My Corner of the Village 