Monday March 12 is Youth Day, a national holiday here in Zambia. Youth are mostly defined here in the way that I would define young adults. I think the age range is something like 15 – 25. In any case, a friend and I took advantage of this long weekend to take a short camping holiday. This friend has a 4WD high clearance vehicle, which increased our options significantly. We decided to go to Blue Lagoon National Park, because it’s close to Lusaka and is supposed to have great bird watching.
To get to Blue Lagoon we drove 22 km west of Lusaka and then turned off the main road for about 90 km of riding on a road that was described as “all weather”. The first 30 km or so weren’t bad, but then “all weather” wasn’t really an appropriate description anymore. The traffic became quite thin, until we were seeing many more bicycle tracks than tire tracks, and the mud holes were quite amazing. Then to make matters worse it started raining (see picture), although it only rained hard for a short time. We only got stuck once (shifting into 4WD got us out) but it was slow going. After a couple of hours of this we reached the turn off into the park and on this smaller road the tire tracks were entirely full of water, at times quite deep. We were thus very happy to arrive at the small lodge that was there. They were happy to see us too, having not had any visitors since mid February. There were cheap chalets available so we decided not to set up tents, but slept in a chalet and cooked on the front porch as we watched the lovely sunset and then the stars.
The national park had originally been a farm owned by a British couple who had become great conservationists. They built a causeway out over the Kafue flats, a wetland that seasonally flooded. My friend and I were accompanied by the camp scout on a wonderful walk out on this causeway the next morning. The bird life was quite amazing including several types of herons, egrets and storks, as well as spur winged geese, bee eaters, and an immature African fish eagle. There was also some amazing insect life, including the dragonfly pictured here. The Kafue flats are known for their large herds of lechwe, a medium sized beautiful reddish antelope. The lechwe were a bit hard to see in the tall grass (the black spots in the grass are their antlers/horns), but this photo shows some of the large bachelor herd we saw, with a little egret in the foreground.
That afternoon we made the trip back to Lusaka choosing a slightly more traveled (but longer) route, and we didn’t get stuck at all, although my friend’s impressive driving skills were still needed. I also was amazed by the numbers of minibuses we saw on these bad roads throughout the journey. Good driving skills are clearly important in rural Zambia!
To get to Blue Lagoon we drove 22 km west of Lusaka and then turned off the main road for about 90 km of riding on a road that was described as “all weather”. The first 30 km or so weren’t bad, but then “all weather” wasn’t really an appropriate description anymore. The traffic became quite thin, until we were seeing many more bicycle tracks than tire tracks, and the mud holes were quite amazing. Then to make matters worse it started raining (see picture), although it only rained hard for a short time. We only got stuck once (shifting into 4WD got us out) but it was slow going. After a couple of hours of this we reached the turn off into the park and on this smaller road the tire tracks were entirely full of water, at times quite deep. We were thus very happy to arrive at the small lodge that was there. They were happy to see us too, having not had any visitors since mid February. There were cheap chalets available so we decided not to set up tents, but slept in a chalet and cooked on the front porch as we watched the lovely sunset and then the stars.
The national park had originally been a farm owned by a British couple who had become great conservationists. They built a causeway out over the Kafue flats, a wetland that seasonally flooded. My friend and I were accompanied by the camp scout on a wonderful walk out on this causeway the next morning. The bird life was quite amazing including several types of herons, egrets and storks, as well as spur winged geese, bee eaters, and an immature African fish eagle. There was also some amazing insect life, including the dragonfly pictured here. The Kafue flats are known for their large herds of lechwe, a medium sized beautiful reddish antelope. The lechwe were a bit hard to see in the tall grass (the black spots in the grass are their antlers/horns), but this photo shows some of the large bachelor herd we saw, with a little egret in the foreground.
That afternoon we made the trip back to Lusaka choosing a slightly more traveled (but longer) route, and we didn’t get stuck at all, although my friend’s impressive driving skills were still needed. I also was amazed by the numbers of minibuses we saw on these bad roads throughout the journey. Good driving skills are clearly important in rural Zambia!
1 comment:
Hi Heidi, I loved reading your blog, especially your trip to the Blue Lagoon, bumpy long road and all. I would love more pictures of you and the scenery. What a wonderful immersion experience for you. I would love to hear, taste, smell all the continent's riches along with you.
We are all fine here in Massachusetts. !5 inches of snow last nite, Corey out shoveling for the city, Amanda in Fla visiting Ira' family on her week off from BU, Steve and me pretending someone else will dig us out. We all send love and more love.
Penny (Auntie)
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