South Luangwa Park

I was due to depart Chipata after the 2 night stop and head across to Malawi for the next sector. After a few discussions about the Mfuwe township and South Luangwa Park I did a little more research and decided this was probably something I should pursue. I didn't fancy the out and back 300 km but there were plenty of shared taxis covering the distance for about $12. The main challenge being the chunk of cash I'd need to acquire for the trip. There was limited options to put it on the plastic for the more affordable operators, due to poor infrastructure and the smaller business sizes. The big guys were fine apart from the quite expensive tarrifs, set in USD. I've learnt there's no cheap safaris, just slightly less expensive choices. For some reason one of the ATMs at Chipata took a liking to my Kiwi bank Visa and just before handing out the bundle of cash I'd authorized went into a full meltdown and held onto the card for goo measure. Of course they managed to send the debit through to Visa, and onto Kiwibank. As t was just past closing it was next day that I recovered the card and then suffered a repeat event. Nightmare ! After an hour waiting card was returned, again. Fortunately the other ATMs were sensible and with a buking pocket of cash I jumped into a shared taxi for the 90 minute drive. At Mfuwe my safari guide Noah was waiting my arrival with news of Lions in residence. Despite my original next day plans for safaris, incurring only 1 day of park fees, I followed his advice and scouted the suggested accomodation, settled on 1 and headed off with him to collect the safari vehicle. This was a cracker of an evening game drive and by the end I felt it was well worth the extra cost. In some respect the next morning game drive was turning into an anticlimax. Then word of a leopard started circulating through the vehicles we passed. In 10 minutes we'd moved into the area and located the leopard cruising sedately around a blood blossom tree before lithely moving up into the lower branches. The Impala feast on the flowers which fall to the ground making them easy prey for the leopard perched higher up waiting to pounce.
As I'd complete both of my intended events I returned to the lodge packed and headed back to Chipata in another shared taxi. About square, after saving the accomodation cost for the second night.Baca lagi