We were woken up at 3am by the donkey braying in the camp site and again at 5:00 with the overlanders packing up and their trucks revving at 6:00 - to get the hell out of the place. We were close behind, after ‘all 5 of’ us took down tents and packed up, while the tannies next door fed their men breakfast and packed up simultaneously.
We then travelled 110km from Chipata to Mfuwe, a little town just before the gates of South Luangwa. The first 30 odd kilometres were on tarred road and then, OMG we were back on potholed sand roads. They are obviously in the early stages of forging a new road through and frequently we had to detour through little towns and back on the rutted road. It took us around 3 hours and we arrived to find numerous sign posts going in all directions, advertising accommodation. We had done some research and asked around and decided to try ‘Track and Trail River Camp’ as our first port/camp of call. Once we had looked over the camp site, we were going no further. Being connoisseurs of camp sites, after 3 months on the road, this had all we look for in a camp site.
After setting up camp on the green lawns, under the shade of a huge Jackalberry tree, we went exploring. The camp is on the banks of the Luangwa River, filled with hippo and fish eagles, in the trees. Along the river front are chairs, loungers and a pool. There is a stunning bar, dining area and boma, certainly an impressive place for overseas guests to stay. There are no fences and we are surrounded by bush; we watched golden baboons get up to all sorts of antics and then we had bush buck wandering across the lawns.
We all felt so chilled and relaxed here in the bush and spent the afternoon reading in the camp and around the pool. The girls went missing for a while and I found them in the bathroom applying face masks, they then waltzed around for the next ½ hour looking like ghosts, I am seriously concerned that Kirst is being a bad influence on Robs.
With the sun setting so early, around 6:00, we had an early braai. While we were doing dinner preparations, which are not as simple as they were pre-Gareth, we heard a rustling in the trees nearby, shone our torches and there was an elephant browsing in the bush. Kirst and Robs decided they were safer in the car, bush wise as Robs is, she has a fear of ellie, caused by Gray’s gung-ho attitude to these massive creatures. Needless to say, the ellie walked within 2m of the car, he was so relaxed that the girls soon rejoined us around the fire and watched him move on his way.
Drinks overlooking Luangwa River
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