Elton John once sang, "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight. In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight. A weeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeee oh wee om omma way." Well maybe we improvised on that last part but Elton's words are very fitting for our past weekend's trip to ZAMBIA! World Camp does safari. Early Friday morning we piled into the mini bus and took off for a weekend full of fun, relaxation, and lots and lots of animals. The ride took about eight hours in total (including customs and pit stops), and the majority was spent crawling down a windy, unpaved road through Zambia until we reached our final destination, Wildlife Camp.
Our past two weeks with World Camp have been a whirlwind of activity. Our days are chalk full of teaching, dancing, singing, prep work for the week, cooking, journaling, reflecting and nightly evaluations. So when we got to Wildlife Camp, I think most of us were excited to get the chance to relax, see some animals, and soak in our beautiful surroundings. As Zambia is a neighboring country to Malawi, we were all astounded at how different the countries were, though just hours apart. Seemingly seconds after crossing the border and entering Zambia, someone commented at just how forested the country is. There are trees EVERYWHERE, something that Malawi definitely lacks. Deforestation is a huge problem not just in Malawi but all over the world, yet I got a feeling for just how big of a problem it is when seeing the stark differences between Malawi and Zambia. Not only that, but the lack of trees in Malawi has left the country virtually empty of the animals that roam the national parks of Zambia.
We were all scheduled for two drives on Saturday, one morning drive and one night drive through South Luangwa National Park. For many of us, these would be our first safari experiences. Waking up around 5 am Saturday morning, we excitedly met our guide, Billy, packed into his Land Rover, and headed to the park. On the way, we brainstormed what animals we wanted to see: zebras, giraffes, monkeys, elephants, and of course, lions. Billy informed us that because it is the rainy season, it would be a bit difficult to spot some animals (as there is more vegetation), but he assured us that he would try his best, and we were not one bit disappointed. Although we didn't see any lions in the morning, we were all very content with our drive and eager to return later that night.
We spent the rest of the day lounging around by the pool, watching baboons run through camp, and reading. Before we all knew it, it was time to load onto Billy's Land Rover and head back into the park. We were ready to spot some leopards and lions. Eventually we did come across a leopard, but it was rather short lived, and sort of far away. We left the park that night after a beautiful sun set feeling content with our drive, but wanting more. So, we decided to sign up for a night drive the next day. That's when things got interesting.
All day Sunday, after an extremely gluttonous breakfast, we lounged by the pool. Riss loaded up on the 100 spf sunblock, while I tried as hard as I could to blend in with the locals. Needless to say, Riss is still the same color, though slightly tinted with a reddish hue, and I am about as red as a tomato...hopefully it turns into a tan? That night we loaded back into the land rover and set out to find some lions. This time, it was just us, Lauren and Kayla. Catherine had been sick all day, and Nick also decided to stay back and just relax. About an hour into the drive before the sun went down, we spotted our first lions! Four lions were sleeping by a tree and Billy spotted them, and, risking losing his guiding license, drove right off the road and up next to them. Surprisingly, they didn't even flinch! We were all so excited with our first lion sighting, and as we drove off Billy reassured us that we'd be returning tonight to see if we could spot them hunting. We continued on our drive, passing through an open field teeming with baboons, zebras, antelopes, and elephants. Seeing all the different animals together, peacefully eating and walking around was a beautiful sight and made this area one of our favorites. We drove up onto the beach by the river, surrounded by hippos bellowing in the water (they sound like they are laughing at you...) to watch the sunset yet again. Post sundown beer... (a Mosi, and apparently as the bottle stated, "A Truely Zambian Experience", well, when in Rome!), we took off again in the Land Rover for a lion hunt. The sun set, and it became so dark that we needed a spotter, Isaac, to shine a spotlight on the surrounding brush to see any of the animals Driving down the road that we originally saw the lions on, anticipation built, and although we were hopeful, we mostly thought that we'd never see those lions again. We slowed down as we approached their tree and the were met with four pairs of gleeming eyes against the spotlight. As Billy zoomed over towards the lions, we noticed that they seemed to be significantly drunker than we were. In fact, the noticed a rather large zebra positioned in the middle of the 4 lions. Clearly, it was dinner time. Billy, fearless and ignoring all safari-ing laws, pulled us right up to the lion's dinner table. We watched in awe as the 2 lions directly in front of the car attempted to break through the skin of the zebra, and the 2 lions about 5 feet to the left of the car, carefully watched us watching their good ol' friends. Billy eventually backed away from the lions to the road, we guess fear of losing his license finally got into his head, and we watched for about 15 more minutes from the road. Needless to say, we were speechless and we still are. Even Billy, who has been guiding in the park for 10 years, told us that he has never seen the lions feasting during the rainy season (jackpot!!). As we drove away, we didn't think the night could possibly improve, since after all we felt like this was fake life. Then we rounded the corner, only to spot a leopard. We pulled off onto a smaller dirt road and watched in awe as this leopard slunk around and climbed on top of a fallen tree. All of sudden, Caitlin, hearing a sound similar to a person walking on gravel, asked Billy what the noise was. Isaac swung the spotlight around, and low and behold, a hyena was a mere 5 feet from the Land Rover, munching, er crunching, away on a freshly killed Impala and it's bones, courtesy of the Leopard. As we all sat in shock and awe, switching back and forth from the Leopard and the Hyena, we were sure that this night was actually a dream courtesy of the Malarone, and none of this was really occurring. But of course, Billy brought us back to reality by narrating the events that had transpired while we were transfixed by the lions. "Oh but of course, the hyena is eating the impala that has been killed by the leopard, and now the leopard is mad so he's walking away angrily" ... Oh, duh! Why didn't we think of that, Eliza Thornberry?
Needless to say, World Camp does Safari was incredibly successful, and in the words of Jaren, "you guys had by far the best drive in World Camp history... and I hate you for it."
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