“The Land that Time Forgot” in Zambia

We recently enjoyed our third photo safari in Africa. This time it was a return to Zambia to stay at two Robin Pope Safari Camps; 3 nights at Nkwali and 4 nights at Luangwa River Camp. (Nkwali is pronounced as N Quali. When you see the double consonant you just barley say the first letter, N, not NNNNN, then the rest of the word. Another example would be Mfuwe. Yes, M Fooie.)

We had visited Zambia in 2015 on a 3-day excursion from South Africa during our first safari to Kruger National Park. We flew to Livingstone, stayed at the Royal Livingstone Hotel and visited the magnificent Victoria Falls on the mighty Zambezi River. We were ready to return to Zambia to see “the land that time forgot” as the BBC said in one of their specials, “Luangwa: The Emerald Valley”.

Have You “Earned” a Robin Pope Safari?

We have traveled on all of our safaris with our friends DeWayne & Llanda. They have been telling us about Robin Pope Safari camps for years, but said they would invite us along when they thought we were ready/worthy? <Grin> I am not sure what they meant by that, but finally in 2019 they said we were ready, so we planned a May 2020 trip during the Emerald Season to return to Zambia.

Well, as we all know, things did not work out for our trip in May of 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, March of 2020 was the end of most international travel for over 2 years.

Thanks to the great staff at Robin Pope Safaris, we were able to push our trip to 2021, and later to 2022. As in our original plan, we met up with DeWayne & Llanda at the Holiday Inn in Lusaka, Zambia. They had spent the prior week in South Africa while we were at home getting ready for our trip.

DeWayne and Llanda were right when they described how much we would enjoy our Robin Pope Safari.

Like Staying at a Private Camp

At the Nkwali Camp we had a great camp host, Soral. Our camp manager was Keke. He was also a first-class guide. At the Luangwa River Camp, our hostess was Kim and our camp manager was Daudi. John was our fantastic guide. The facilities were luxurious, the staff was warm and welcoming, and the food was gourmet and spectacular!. And of course, our guides were amazing at getting us close to the animals, but not so close to frighten us. Okay, there was that one time, but more on that later. At both of the Camps, the four of us were the first visitors of the season. Very Personal Attention! Other adventurers did arrive after our first day at Nkwali and after the second day at Luangwa River Camp.

I know that I am just an amateur photographer, but I hope you enjoy some of the videos that I have attached to this post.

Here is a video of the kill site during the daylight hours.

Everyone always asks what we saw and if it was worth it to fly all that way to see something that you can see in local wild animal park. We always say that the wild animal parks are okay, but nothing is like the real thing. The smell of the air, the quiet as you sit and enjoy seeing or photographing the wildlife. Other than the sounds of the animals or the wind in the trees, the only thing you hear are the snapping of the cameras or the whispers of your fellow travelers.

That is other than the night we were stranded with a dead battery next to three hyenas chomping on a warthog carcass while growling at the leopard that they stole the kill from. Oh, and also the crocodile wandering about. And, did I mention the trumpeting angry elephant who was charging into the kill site trying to chase off the hyenas? Apparently they don’t care much for the predators. As Llanda said while we waited in the dark, “We have hyenas to the left of us and an angry elephant to the right of us and somewhere in the dark, a very unhappy leopard.” We just sat, listening to the sounds of the night as we waited for the other group from our camp to leave the leopard that they were watching to come help get our vehicle started. Hopefully, they will give our vehicle a tune-up and a new battery before the next group of visitors arrive.

That being said, it really was a night that none of us will forget. Just imagine all of this chaos and that it was so dark that you could not see the person sitting next to you.

Charging Elephant Video

Check out these Robin Pope Safari videos of the camps where we stayed while I plan our return to Zambia to visit Nsefu and Tena Tena.