The drive from Kasanka to Kafue National Park is about 800 km and too far to go in a single day, so we stayed the night at a working farm about 60 km north of Lusaka. What we had imagined would be a fairly low key evening turned into a much more social affair. Fringilla Farms is an expansive complex that includes all the features of a working farm along with a conference center, lodging, restaurant, post office, clinic, and butchery. While Jenny checked us in and inquired about our dinner options, we perused the products for sale that were produced on the farm, including eggs, biltong (similar to jerky), meat pies, and honey. When we were in South Luangwa, one of the goals was to get Zambia's best biltong from a local market, but they were sold out when we arrived and were not getting another batch until after we left. Jenny is quite fond of biltong and was very sad we had missed out. We bought a couple packages from Fringilla to see if they were up to her standards before committing to buying more.
The camp sites are located at the far end of the farm along with a few small chalets that were currently being used by staff. Covid had certainly hit this side of the business quite hard since there had been no conferences for 18 months. We were the only ones at the camp and were given the keys to a chalet so we could have a toilet and shower. Before we had even gotten our tents set up, the owner rocked up in his truck to say hello. Before too long, we were hopping into the back of his truck to go see the vulture safe zone they had recently established. This really amounted to a somewhat creative use of the offal produced from their butchering operation, particularly the chickens. Every few days, they bring the carcasses to an open field, providing a safe food source for vultures and other scavengers. Many of the vulture species in Zambia are endangered or critically endangered, mainly due to poisoning. Similar to our California condors, vultures are highly susceptible to lead poisoning when they feed on animals that have been killed with lead shot. Poachers also use poison to kill animals, particularly elephants, which are then fed upon by the vultures after the poachers have taken the tusks. Vulture feeding safe zones are thus really important for maintaining vulture populations in Zambia. They were planning to dump carcasses the next day, which we were highly encouraged to stick around for, so there were no vultures on site. There was, however, the largest congregation of marabou storks, another scavenger, I had ever seen. They were everywhere - in the trees, in the fields, on the fence posts, on the road. As you can imagine, the smell wasn't the best, but it was neat to see the farm using their animal waste that benefited the local bird life. They were also in the process of building a hide so you could get out of the hot Zambian sun while watching the birds feed.
After a lovely sunset with the marabou storks, we set up camp and headed to the restaurant for dinner. We had just provisioned that day, but after our long day on the road we opted for someone cooking us dinner. We also knew the restaurant would be serving meat from the farm, which was another reason to give it a try. The owner and two of his friends, who had also recently arrived from out of town, joined us for dinner, which included many crazy stories of life in Kenya and Zambia. We met up again the next morning before we hit the road and were loaded up with almost more meat than we knew what to do with. We packed the already full fridge with boerewors, a kind of sausage that is one of the farm's specialties, along with meat pies for lunch and enough chili bites (a softer, bitesize version of biltong) to last us a week.
The second day of our drive to Kafue was uneventful until we checked in at the park gate. They asked where we were going and when told the name of the camp, the reply was, "they are closed for the season." We had tried to email the owner a few days prior to our arrival to get an update on the roads and the suggested driving route for getting to the camp. While he had previously been very responsive to J&A's emails, we got nothing in return this time. Andrew assured the ranger that the camp was expecting us and that while they are closed for their regular guests for the season, they are still open for campers.
The timing and route of our trip hinged pretty significantly on this camping opportunity. We were headed for the northern-most part of the park called Busanga Plains, which is the "must visit" portion of Kafue NP. The park is roughly the size of Massachusetts (or Wales) and the animals can be very spread out and difficult to find. During the dry season, however, animals tend to congregate on Busanga Plains because there is still water available in the many channels and pools that dot the landscape. However, for self-drivers and campers like us, there is no place close to the plains to stay because all of the lodges are super-duper fancy and expensive and do not allow camping. If you camp, you end up having to drive up to two hours just to get to the plains, all the while adhering to the rules about when you can be driving around in the park, which means you miss out on all the early morning and late afternoon viewing. One camp, however, allows campers to stay in November if it has not started raining and the roads are still passable. This was a concern for us because the rainy season starts in November in Zambia and we were arriving on the 9th. Fortunately for us, it was still dry and the road was in good condition.
As we started our drive through the park toward our camp, we started seeing animals and a lot of birds. We also started seeing signs for lodges and camps, but none of them for the place we were staying. We had GPS coordinates from the owner, but the combination of the lack of communication from the owner, the ranger's warning, and the lack of signs made us feel like we may have been led astray. We carried on and when we were mere meters from the camp, we saw a sign. Hooray! As we drove into camp, we were greeted by two staff members who guided us through some narrow trails not meant for the truck to the area we would be camping for the next three nights. Everything at the camp was essentially packed up and deserted, but we did have access to a covered shelter (usually outfitted as fancy safari accommodation) and the outdoor toilet and shower area. The two staff who greeted us were the only other people in camp. They were going to be there for the next six months to keep an eye on things during the rainy season. While they had both done it before, they seemed happy to have some outside company for a few days before they were alone for six months.
Our time in Busanga was quite spectacular. The plains was a very different habitat than what we had seen in all of the other parks. Vast expanses of green vegetation as far as the eye could see, often dotted with large herds of puku and lechwe (antelope). Pools and channels of water were common across the landscape, giving us ample opportunities for watching hippo and wading birds of all kinds. The plains were also full of lions! We saw 15 different individuals in our two days of game driving, including two breeding pairs. We also had an incredible cheetah sighting that turned into a hunting attempt on a herd of wildebeest. The hunt was stymied when the adult wildebeest realized they were bigger than the cheetah and chased it off. It was a pretty impressive chase and a bit odd to see prey chasing predator. We also saw two jackal, roan (a large antelope with very large ears), cranes, warthogs, and our first sighting of sable (another large antelope with very long scimitar-shaped horns).
getting around and hunting with another male. He likely
lost his foot to a poacher's snare. Very sad to see.
At the end of our second day, we arrived back at camp just before dark. We had a cup of tea with one of the camp staff, learning about his family, life in Zambia, and the adventure that awaited him during the rainy season on Busanga Plains. Once the rains start in earnest, the area becomes a wetland, is completely inaccessible to vehicles, and is navigated solely by canoes. Supplies are flown in and canoed to the camps, and staff sometimes canoe to neighboring camps for a bit of social interaction. This description sounded incredible, but also a bit abstract because it was still dry. As we finished our tea, as if on cue, the clouds moved in and thunder echoed in the distance. We quickly cooked our boerevors over the fire, hoping to finish dinner before the rain started. I should mention at this point that we saw very few people in the park. We saw a couple of lodge vehicles, including one that had left the park that afternoon, taking all non-necessary lodge staff with them. That should have given us an indication that the weather was changing, but the mostly clear skies had lulled us into believing that we would be lucky and get out before the rains came.
And then the rains came. We finished cleaning up after dinner just as the rain started and the storm moved closer. We headed for our tents and once again tried to stake out our tent flaps so we could have some air circulation in the tent. As the rain started pelting our heads inside the tent, it became clear that that was not going to work with this storm. Pete bravely went outside in the pouring rain and secured all of the flaps, keeping us dry but increasing the temperature inside the tent significantly. Fortunately, our little battery-powered fan was still working, so we switched it on in the hopes it would help us sleep. The storm turned into the most impressive thunderstorm I have experienced since my childhood in Minnesota. It was awesome! The center of the storm passed directly over us and parked there for a while. We were quite happy in our ground tent, but a bit concerned for our friends in the roof-top tent. The sound of the lightning was deafening and you could feel the charge in the air. The rain stopped briefly after about four hours and then round two came through about an hour later. It was still raining when we crawled out of our tent at 5:30 am to assess the scene.
cooking the boerevors before the rain
Near our campsite, there was a small puddle that was inhabited by fish and frogs, and was the watering hole for the resident bushbuck. The water level was getting very low and the fish were congregated in a small area with their mouths above water gasping for air. Pete had commented that the rain better come soon or the fish were not going to make it. Wish granted - fish were fine! Judging by the puddle that had now become a proper pool and the lake that had formed around our tent, we likely got about four inches of rain in nine hours. Our plan had been to have a leisurely breakfast before moving to a different part of the park, but we were now concerned that the Busanga Plains had turned into the Busanga Wetlands overnight and we were going to be joining the camp staff for the next six months if we did not get out soon.
We had planned to drive back to the main park road and then head north to get to the second camp in Kafue NP. This route would have taken us through villages and required crossing the river on two pontoons, which sounded fun. As the camp staff helped us pack up camp, they mentioned that they had radioed the rangers and there had been no rain in the south but that it was still raining in the north. The previous evening our camp person had also told us that the road north would be fine after the rain, but he admitted the next morning that he had only ever travelled that route because his village is to the north of the park. The rangers suggested going south, which turned out to be good information to have.
As we left camp, we quickly discovered why this part of the park is inaccessible during the rainy season. With a single night of (heavy rain), the road looked like a small stream. It became clear very quickly that this was going to be an interesting exit from Busanga Plains. The Land Cruiser did pretty well, but would occasionally get bogged down and slide as the clay soil coated the tires. The going was particularly challenging in the areas where the water had soaked into the clay rather than still sitting on top of it. At one point we approached a left-hand curve in the road with a steep drop off on the inside of the curve. As Andrew slowly approached it, the back end of the truck started sliding sideways, pulling us towards the drop off. We stopped and backed up to try again, but quickly got pulled back into our muddy ruts heading for certain disaster. Jenny graciously offered to get out of the truck in thick tsetse fly territory to see if the ground next to the road was solid enough to support our weight. Her facial expression did not suggest great confidence in our next move, but she thought we might be okay if we could get the wheels on the right side of the truck up and over the grader berm. The rest of us agreed that it was worth a shot, so Andrew carefully started to maneuver us over the berm. As the front wheel made it over, the back end started sliding to the left again, but the berm was holding us and soon the back end pulled back in line, allowing us to get around the curve. An audible exhale and cheers of relief filled the truck and inspired a game of "would you rather," comparing the conditions of getting stuck in the Lower Zambezi (hot and dry) vs. Busanga Plains (cool, rain, and tsetse flies). Everyone agreed that the Lower Zambezi conditions were better, so we continued on keeping our fingers crossed that we didn't need to dig ourselves out of Busanga. It was a long and slippery 30 km to the crossroad where we had to decide which direction we would go. If we went south, we would be backtracking most of the way we had come a few days prior, which is never as exciting as a new route. However, as we looked at the menacing rain clouds to the north, the blue skies to the south, and our slog through the flooded road, we decided to play it safe and head south as suggested by the rangers. When we arrived at the park gate, the ranger was surprised to see such a muddy vehicle and told us they had received no rain at all.
We made it out of Busanga Plains, but our adventures in Kafue NP were not quite finished. Stay tuned for the final trip report from McBride's Camp (including some adorable baby genets) and our final days in Zambia.
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