Kafue's Rivers and Plains - Lufupa Camp - December 2011

Weather and Landscape

We received a total of 308mm of rain in December, which was slightly more than we received in November. But still we had days in a row with no rain at all! This means that the rain would either come in a serious downpour, or stay away and leave us with sunny and clear skies. The temperatures varied from 18 to 35 degrees Celsius during the day. The nights were in general pleasantly cool.

The vegetation has become extremely thick and lush and has covered the ground in a thick carpet of green. A vibrant mix of flowers have also began to blossom, adding a kaleidoscope of colour to the greenery.

Wildlife

The rains have brought a huge variety of game to Lufupa. Herbivore and antelope species that normally prefer to stay in the open plains now look for higher and dry ground, driving them to Lufupa. Impala, puku, Lichtenstein's hartebeest, zebra, wildebeest, buffalo, Defassa waterbuck, bushbuck, oribi, kudu and common duiker are likely to be seen.

At the beginning of the month, we experienced some great sightings of our resident wild dog pack and were able to find them on an almost daily basis. It was clear that the alpha female was heavily pregnant and we suspect that the pack has begun denning as we have not seen them for the last two weeks of the month.

Lion sightings have been good this month; as the Lufupa Pride has been around camp and the three brothers were often found at the big dambo close to camp. As for the other cats we have had good cheetah sightings, but the leopards have been hiding a bit in the thicket this month.

A special sighting that should be mentioned is our new 'member of staff' - Henry.  Henry is a young male hippo, who was kicked out of his pod by the dominant male and has since taken up residence around camp. During the day he shows himself to the guests as he relaxes in the water. As soon as the sun sets he comes out and wanders through camp. Henry has become part of the Lufupa team and is mentioned in almost every single guest evaluation as one of the highlights! Thank you Henry for choosing Lufupa as your new family!

Camp Activities

With the rains it is getting more difficult to go on the game drives without getting stuck in the mud. In Kafue National Park we have black cotton soil and even the 4x4 game viewers struggle sometimes to get through! Luckily we have a tractor on standby to come to the rescue. A couple of times our guests enjoyed the adventure of getting stuck and unstuck again!

The water-based activities have been very popular and our guests have really enjoyed the boat and fishing trips.