Week 29: South Luangwa National Park: Two days safari and transfer to Lusaka
Today we leave Malawi for South Luangwa National Park, Zambia. The safari tour includes the all day drive to the park, then two days of safari in the morning and evening. Also on the tour is a father and daughter from Wisconsin. The father is visiting the daughter who is a Peace Corp Volunteer in Malawi. We have arranged to be dropped off in Chipata at the end of the tour, so we take our bikes and gear with us to the park.
The border crossing was delayed when the father had overstayed his visa. This took awhile to sort out but then we were on our way again. For lunch, we stopped at the backpackers place, Mama Rusa's just outside Chipata and two kms off the main road. Looks like a very nice place to stay, though for cyclists sometimes it's nice to be closer to town. We arrive at the camp late afternoon. We pass by cotton fields and a big China-africa cotton factory.
Kiboko tours rents a space from the Track and Trails camp that is next to Marula Camp. We had use of their facilities which includes a pool! Our meals are wonderful with lunches of soup and quiche, and dinners of shephard's pie, beef stew, and spaghetti. There is a night watchman that chases away the hippos and monkeys, and provides an escort to the toilet after dark. An excellent company for tours of this park!
Rather than dropping us off in Chipata, the tour guide has arranged for us to catch the 3am bus to Lusaka from the town near the park, Mfuwe. We had cyc,led this stretch in 1994. We arrive in Lusaka 12 hours later.
We let the two pages of photos tell the story of the safari. Enjoy.
Loading our bikes and gear on the roof on the Kiboko safaris landrover. They will drive us from Lilongwe to South Luangwa in Zambia.
Our safari tent. To our right we have a view over the Luangwa River. Elephants, hippo and monkeys frequent the camp. We are told to keep our door closed because of the monkeys.
A pride of lions has killed a cape buffalo. We arrive on scene about an hour after the kill and find nine lions feasting on the carcass. We are told the nose is very tasty and one of the first parts to go.
