In To Africa - Mfuwe, Part 1

A bit of background - I have always wanted to visit Africa.  If you are into the whole "bucket list" thing it was on mine.  I first got the urge to go there when I was in the 5th grade and did a project on Kenya.

I have no idea how these things work now but when I was a kid we usually had one major project to do each year that combined several subjects.  I'm not sure how I ended up with Kenya but I did and a curiosity about "The Dark Continent" began.

I wrote to the Kenyan Embassy in Washington and asked for information to help me with the project.  I received a large envelope full of all kinds of cool stuff.  For a 10 year old, it was pretty exciting.  I made an A.

I always assumed if I ever did manage a trip to Africa that I would do it by hitching a ride with a friend doing a mission trip.  I am very adaptable....  Instead, I struck up a friendship with the McPhees - an Australian couple who live as ex-pats on an immense mining site in northern Zambia.  The long distance motorcycling community reaches almost everywhere, it seems.  On several stays at my house, we hatched the plan for me to spend the holidays with them so they could show me Zambia from their perspective.  We were joined on our adventure by their 19 year old daughter.

Dates were set, flights were booked, pet sitting was organized.  By design, I was oblivious to most of the details of where we were going and what we would be doing.  I like to be surprised.  The McPhees managed to totally exceed all my expectations.

I left Atlanta on Saturday, December 21st on a non-stop flight to Johannesburg.  From there I flew to Lusaka, Zambia.  I arrived in Lusaka the evening of December 22nd.  My concerns about how I would find my hosts at the airport were put to rest very quickly.  The Lusaka airport makes the Mobile, Alabama airport look like Hartsfield.

Exactly what I envisioned Africa to be.

We spent the first night at a friend's farm just outside of Lusaka.  The next morning found us back at the airport heading to our first stop of the trip in Mfuwe, an hour's flight northeast.  Zambia isn't a huge country but most people fly from city to city because the roads between them are really bad and the trip would take 10 hours.  18 seat prop planes are the way to go.

Mfuwe is home to South Luangwa National Park.  It covers about 3,500 square miles (about the size of Yellowstone).  It was exactly what I had envisioned Africa to be.

Our cottage at Kapani

We were picked up at the airport and loaded into a classic safari Range Rover.  I got really good at climbing in and out of those vehicles over the next four days.  We were taken to Kapani Lodge, which sits just on the edge of the park.  The original plan was for us to stay at Kapani for our entire safari portion of the trip.  We ended up there for one night before being moved to its sister lodge, Chinzombo because they needed to make room for a large family. 

The common area at Chinzombo where we ate, drank & visited

And while Kapani was fantastic, once we saw Chinzombo we didn't mind the move at all.  It gives new meaning to "5 star resort".  Having our own private pools (one for each cottage) didn't hurt either.

Over the course of our stay at South Luangwa Park, we managed to go on four safaris.  And while we covered some of the same ground, each one was totally unique.  The safaris are scheduled for evenings (sunset) and mornings because that is when the animals are most active. 

The first evening out with our guides from Kapani was magical.  We saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, baboons, amazing birds, puku, impala and my absolute favorite - hippos.  As the sun began to set our guides stopped on an overlook and quickly created a makeshift bar.  And while my entire time in Zambia was beyond fantastic it was truly astonishing to stand with my friends watching the sunset over the bush and drinking the most delicious vodka tonic of my life.

Seriously, who does this?  Apparently, I do.

Next up, The Circle of Life.