I spent the last two nights at South Luangwa National Park, a wildlife sanctuary that nearly everyone I have met here has recommended that I go to. Flatdogs Camp, where I stayed, was right near the entrance to the park. When I first arrived, I saw an elephant right in the middle of the camp! The next morning, I woke up to a sleeping hippo outside my tent, and in the afternoon, another elephant came up to munch on the leaves on a tree less than 10 feet from my tent. And that wasn't even inside the park!
I went on four safari trips: two in the morning (one driving, one walking) and two in the evening. In the evening, we would go out until the sun set; then the guide pulled out a big spotlight, and we would continue scouting for the nocturnal animals.
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| My "luxury safari tent" |
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| View from my tent |
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| Elephant in the camp on my first day |
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| Safari trip! |
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| Impala, which you can tell by the McDonald's "m" on its butt |
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| Leopard, which we had seen up in a tree with its kill earlier in the day, came down in the evening after its meal |
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| Sunrise over Luangwa River |
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| Monkey grooming |
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| Puku - no "m" on butt |
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| Water buck |
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| More elephants (in the park) |
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| Lilac-breasted roller, which did this unusual pose for us |
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This bird caught a frog and tried to smash it on the ground to kill it, so it could eat it.
Every once in a while, it was accidentally let go, and the frog would flail around before the bird snatched it up again.
After a while, the bird flew up to a nearby tree and tried to smack it against the branches.
(It hadn't eaten it by the time we continued on our way.) |
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| Elephant crossing |
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Symbiosis like we learned in middle school science!
Birds eat ticks off the impala.
Impala gets rid of itchy pests, birds get fed. Win-win. |
