Maggie was easy to find, Kate was hiding in the midst of the herd so I could not get a picture of her.

Maggie was sick and this picture does not show her ribs, but she had not recovered from giving birth to this little guy above, unknown to me, named Milo! He hung around with another little bull call Dezi and they would butt each other as they played.

 

These flowers are considered weeds yet one morning I was up early at our plot out on the Kafue road and found this flower still wet with dew. Proteas are more commonly associated with the western Cape of South Africa but on the drive into the Luangwa Valley we made frequent stops waiting for the supply truck to catch up and these magnificent flowers were in bloom.

This dragonfly let me get so close I could hear it buzzing to it's mates. Again waiting for the supply truck to catch up near a typically english countryside babbling stream.

Whitefronted Bee Eaters make their nests in the high banks of the Luangwa river. One afternoon while fishing we sat near a noisy colony and they put up a great display of flying and insect catching. Luangwa is known for the Carmine bee Eaters which form massive pinky purple clouds as they hover above their nesting sights.

Dawn on the first morning after arriving in the Chikwa camp, a lone Hippo bull slowly accompanied me along the river as he made his way back to his snoozing place upstream. The first time he noticed me he stood up out of the water and gave me the typical hippo warning - he started pooping and spraying it around with his tail!

African kids have the most genuine happy smiles and getting them to drop their inhibitions does not take much. Unlike some tribes, the Luangwa Valley people love having their pictures taken and the kids jump around with joy once they hear the camera click, almost as if you have given them something.

Jenny

Sad
This foursome found us on the river bank when we were fishing and shuffled around behind us until we noticed them and started talking to them. Their village is close to our safari camp so they see us driving by each day and I knew them from the years before and have seen them growing up. Their fathers work for me as trackers yet we never interact with the kids when clients are around. Last time I saw Jenny she had spikey braids in her hair and could not walk yet.
I could see who belonged to which tracker and once we had given them empty bottles of water which they call 'chikopo' they were all smiles except for Rikki below who didn't quite know what to make of the full bottle I had given him. We call him Scuba Steve because one day we drove past and he had a scuba mask and snorkel on and was running around with arms outstretched as if he was an airplane! His name is Rikki but most Zambians cannot pronounce their R's and L's and Rikki become Likki while Lady will become Rady!
Joe
Likki aka 'squba steve'
July 2008

The cats are always the most difficult for me to hunt, usually because of the mere fact that I am party to the death of a magnificent beast. Yet in rare instances the following up of a wounded Lion or Leopard makes my stomach turn and then when all is done, physically exhausted and worn out. In theory, a group of well armed humans going out against a hurt cat sounds like the odds are stacked in our favor yet time and again people get mauled.

The stupidity of a very experienced professional hunter as well as what may be called organised chaos reminded me how perfectly adapted cats are to their purpose of survival AND how fragile and distanced we have become from our ancestry. If this leopard wanted he could easily have snapped this PH's neck as the main bite marks are concealed beneath his hair. Instead this 200 pound cat growled while in mid air warning the PH, bit him a few times on the neck and shoulders and then fled. I followed him afterwards for 5 hours, slow painstaking work with every nerve and muscle tensed. I never found him and later that week we found his tracks in the road, he had survived!

Leopard bite
Leopard mauling
August 2008
The flowers of the Sausage Tree (kigela africana) are a source of food for many different animals yet monkeys and giraffe tend to always be in residence around a flowering tree. Molly & I spent a night at a campsite which had elevated platforms for your tent. One morning this old giraffe bull gently glided past our heads and started feeding from our tree.
In late August warthogs start having their young and the tiny matchstick like piglets seem to be on speed as they dart back and forth. This little guy was standing still for a split second before he sped off after his mom! 4 warts on his nose mean he's a he!
I found this baby monitor hiding in a tree by the river. I sat down to rest one day and he curiously poked his head out at me then went to call his buddy who took one look at me and darted back into their hole. This old elephant bull was resting in the shade next to the river while we fished. In a park that had been totally poached of it's elephants 2 decades ago he was unusually calm and serene tastting our scent as we floated by.
We found a lioness and 6 youngsters resting in the shade and we sat and watched as this little cub tried a stalk on us Puku's, endemic to Zambia, never appear very bright and this shot says it all! No wonder everything eats them.
StinkBugs!
 Lappet-faced vultures usually hang around our huting camps as we put out the carcasses of croc's for them to eat. The local people don't eat crocodiles as they believe they are witches.
This warthog wallowed in the mudhole near our camp each day at 11am and I sat in tree to get a shot of him. He'd chase all the piglets and their mothers away when they came near until one of the older females had enough and saw him off in a series of grunts and headbutts!
Don't ask the name! Mud wasp!
Foxy Charaxes - not a stripper but the name of this butterfly that likes to feed off elephant dung. Most Zambians eat maize as their staple food. Ground into a rough porridge they eat this with a relish made out of leaves and any protein they can find, like the minnows above, called Kapenta!
Annoyed Locust
Pied Kingfishers at sunset

Women and girls are the workhorses of african societies and this young girl was walking along one of our huting roads, miles from her village carrying water for her mom. I called this group the football supporters club as the 2 on the left are wearing Chelsea and liverpool soccer shirts. Boys and bikes!
Fanny with her sweetie!
Sweeeeeeeeeties! in a sugar deprived land, sweeties are worth their weight in gold!
These two girls liked my driver Eddie and when we pulled up I overheard them whispering it's him, it's him! They stood and pouted at him until we left. Not usual for Zambians, these two had recently been scalded for not doing their jobs properly hence the sour faces.
My client Werner shows a group of local fishermen a picture he just took of them. This guy was selling brooms made from roots along the reat North Road
Ever wonder what Molly gets upto while I am hunting????
September 2008 - My last Luangwa Safari
Ant Lions ply their trade in any available soft sandy spot and along the Luangwa river banks there is ample opportunity to prey on tiny insects.
Lilian's Lovebird, congregate in great green and red flocks blanketing the ground and trees in search of seeds and fruits. They are incredibly nervous jittery birds and their presence is usually accomapnied by a cacophany of screeches and false alarms.

These 2 boys take up regular residence outside the door of the local Wildlife police camps temporary goal. On this occasion they were warming themselves in the morning sun while a suspected poacher languished in the cell behind them. On some occasions I find them taunting and terrorising the suspects, throwing stones and sand at them and then running off with glee.

   

Those African women again - I had to stop and take a pic of these two women, up early one morning, the one carrying a double bucket arrangement of water - yes, those two buckets are filled with roughly 100 pounds of water PLUS her hand washed laundry on a basin ontop of that!

The undertakers - Marabou storks are usually resident around our hunting camps, standing in clumps like a group of funeral attendees. When you get near they take flight briefly, land awkwardly and then stare at you sullenly as if to say have you got no respect for the departed?