1. The Search
2. The Sounds
3. Walk at Sunrise
4. Chamilandu Camp
5. Stalking
6. Chindeni Camp - The Senses
7. Snorting
8. Tastes
9. The Sighting and a Bush Breakfast

Chamilandu Camp

Brendan, the camp manager at Kuyenda, told us he had seen four leopards last time he was at Chamilandu.

We drove by jeep northeast up the valley from Kuyenda and en route encountered another huge, charging elephant unwilling to move from the path while it ate its lunch. We are the only guests at Chamilandu The name means a village meeting place, or court, and this camp is built under the broad branches of African ebony on a bend in the Luangwa River, which runs about 50 meters wide and cuts a deep bank beneath the camp. On the far side of the river is a wide, sand and gravel beach reaching up to a shallow bank and scrub woodland. To the east rising above the river is the rolling line of the Chindeni Hills. Four tree-top chalets are built on stilts over immaculately raked sand.

Each chalet faces the water with open fronts giving sweeping views from the bedroom, the deck and the bathroom. Hot and cold showers all day here and the woody smoke from the heating cauldron scents the air. The pavilion is palatial and airy. It has a large sitting area and dining area, furnishings are black wrought iron with batik cushions in tans and browns, and the side tables and chests are carved teak. There is a steady Caribbean-style breeze and it is beautiful and calm.

Chris Parker, the guide here, is an open-faced, lanky Australian, brimming with energy and he loves birds. In the evening he took us to the banks of the river where the startling red-and-blue carmine bee-eater was nesting in holes drilled into the sandy riverbanks, and we watched clouds of them at sunset darting, swooping, swarming, resting on a bush and - Whoosh! - sweeping back into the air. Chris fell in love with Africa on his first trip, he said, returned to Australia to pay back his mother's credit card and save enough money to come back. He studied for his Grade Two walking guide exam, one of the toughest guide exams in southern Africa accounting for the high-quality staff here at the bushcamps.
Deborah, a Zambian who spends winters in Devon, England, waiting to return here, is the chef and host. We eat barbecue chicken, sausage and ribs on the sandy riverbank for dinner and the cooks bring a cake with candles to celebrate Chamilandu's first birthday on August 18.

The bushcamps have their rhythm. First, an early morning wake up call, light breakfast and then a morning walk from 6 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. Each place a different terrain, each day different animals. That is the thrill of wildlife watching. You may see an aardvark or wild dog today that a guide with 20 years experience has seen only once. My list of what I see gets so long, it is more the astonishment of the moment, what touches and stirs me the most that gets etched onto my inner eye.

At 11 a.m., a varied brunch is served - much needed after the early start. Pizza, salads, fresh breads, braised beef or chicken legs, roasted potatoes. In the heat of the day, we rest and read. At 3:30 p.m., there is tea with cake or savories before the afternoon walk. Cocktails are served at sunset - sometimes at camp, sometimes from the hilltops overlooking the darkening valley, other times by the riverside.

After sundown at 7 p.m., the scout takes a search beam and standing in the front of the jeep, the night drive begins - a journey of discovery into the darkness.
Back at camp, a three-course dinner is served at 8:30 p.m., and by then we are tired and excited from the extraordinary day and are in bed by 10 p.m.

[continued...Stalking]