Lilian's Lovebirds

This trip we saw Lilian's Lovebirds everywhere in small flocks.

Their colours are incredible painting the drab  brown of the bush with flashes of bright green and red.

Seats with a view at Flatdogs Camp

South Luangwa - Heaven on Earth and home from home

Our 2017 trip took us back to the South Luangwa national park in Zambia, one of our favourite safari areas.

This huge area of more than 9000 square kilometers, known for its abundant wildlife, is simply referred to as "The Valley" by those in the know. Inside the Mfuwe Gate entrance, the river is often crowded with hippos. The woodland savannah is home to hundreds of bird species and herds of elephants and rare Thornicroft’s giraffes.


This trip started out with a few days at Flat Dogs, a camp just outside the park, but perfect for trips into the Southern area. It's a really friendly camp with some wonderful guides who we know from previous trips to the valley.

From there we went North to a bush camp called Tena Tena, a wonderful tented camp on the banks of the Luangwa River owned by the Robin Pope safari company. Here we met safari enthusiasts from Australia, Germany and Hull and had some amazing bush experiences.

After Tena Tena we crossed over to the Western bank of the River and went deeper into the park to stay at Luwi  and  Kakuli, two bush camps run by Norman Carr Safaris. Truly fabulous places to stay for the full on African experience.

We've been to all of these camps before and this was our fifth or sixth trip to the Valley. It really is starting to become a home from home.

2017 South Luangwa, Zambia

Evening on the deck at a Safri Camp in South Luangua.

 It rained quite hard when we were in South Luangua in Zambia in 2011, and when we returned to our room after dinner we found these Brown House Snakes entwined around the metal grill screen which separated our bedroom from the outside.

The Millpeed is preyed on by very few other creatures as it contains Cyanide. We saw this fine specimin in Zambia in 2011 in South Luangua.