An incredible end to another epic safari season!
Office Africa - November 2019
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As the 2019 season draws to a close, both Kaingo and Mwamba enjoyed welcome rain showers, big cat migrations and amorous affairs of all sorts! It is the time of year where we feel the season speed up, and we try to grasp at the last days of us out in the bush before they sweep past us - as the rest of the season so quickly seems to disappear behind us. The end of our safari season is all about those warm summer days, hot breezes, shallow waters in the river, and a whole lot of fantastic animal activity. All this action has our guests bright-eyed and bushy-tailed in the early mornings as they head out, and buzzing at dinner tables at night! From the end of life, with epic hunts and kills, to new life of joyful playing of cubs, to everything in between: our guests have had their ultimate wildlife experience! There's nothing quite as satisfying for us to see such happy guests as the season closes!
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Commonly known as the "suicide month", October has delivered, as it always does, astounding sightings. Once again, as with last year, the early rain showers we enjoyed have brought down the temperatures! We're definitely on trend with the previous year in calling this month "Cat-ober"! Lions and leopards at every turn, one pair of guests enjoyed 16 different sightings of 8 different leopards with us, while our resident lion pride have been showing up like the fresh shoots of grass; everywhere! Astounding wildlife sightings and perfect temperatures? What a treat for our guests!
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The Mwamba-Kaingo Pride, the MKs, spent the last period split across the Luangwa River. They are proving that the invisible boundary that we have decided to be the border of their territory, is not their limitation. We watched anxiously as the lions crossed, two by two, crocodiles around them gaining interest. We spent a couple of days observing the eight MKs across the river and the rest with the cubs on our shores. After causing some havoc with the Nsefu Pride, the MKs decided to return to our corner of paradise, reuniting with their remaining cubs and matriarch.
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Our leopards have instead been up to some amorous affairs! Our firm favourites; Chiphadzuwa and Mchenja Boy, have been seen mating! Not with each other, unfortunately, as we'd love to know the outcome of such relaxed and beautiful leopards. But with other leopards in our areas. Who knows, maybe Mchenja Boy will hear Chiphadzuwa's mating calls and head out of his territories to see the beautiful cat behind the voice! Once again we've come to the end of the season and into the "unknown" with our fabulous leopards, uncertain who will be having cubs, and who will be taking over which territories.
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Of course, apart from our big cats there are the phenomenal carmine bee-eaters, the herds of elephants crossing the Luangwa river, endless pods of hippos - heaped over one another in the shallow waters, antelope and buffalo, and all the other game that we regularly get to see. A special mention to Conservation South Luangwa, for the increase in animal numbers in the park. As always, the true testament of their hard work is the ever-increasing numbers of animals in the South Luangwa National Park. Several young calves with new herds of elephants not known in the area, increasing numbers of varied herbivores - special mention for the fabulous "journeys" of giraffe that we have been enjoying at both Kaingo and Mwamba. A sign of a fortunate and robust park that we are all thrilled to behold!
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As our team closed down camps, Mwamba was packed away on the 1st November 2019 - while Kaingo instead held out against the rain, closing only on the 4th November this year. We packed away with choruses of lions in the distance as they hung around camp in our final days. Pack up is always a whirlwind affair; the Shenton Safaris' Family all eagerly clean up all items and store them away for the rainy season. There's one significant moment that calls the end of the camps; when Kaingo's main deck is lifted from the shallow waters of the Luangwa River and Packed away. All hands on deck mark this closing event: shouting in unison to lift the heavy metal frame out, not a small feat but one that ends in exhilaration! As now it is done, it is time for our extended family to head home and back to their respective families.
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This year we say goodbye to a couple of our extended family. It was the final season for Loraine Weitsz - reservations. Loraine started her journey with Shenton Saris in 2017, after three seasons with us, Loraine is on to new adventures, and we wish her the very best with any new endeavour she embarks on, whatever it may be!
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Another farewell is for Shayne Hodges - walking guide. Shayne will be heading back to the Lower Zambezi, to work together with his loving partner. Shayne joined the team in 2018, and after two very successful seasons of Shayne being a part of our incredible guiding squad, he's off for the next adventure. We wish both of them the best of luck as a happy couple!
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Our delightful Anna Mansfield will be continuing on the media desk until May 2020; we've had a wonderful time with Anna in camp this season, trialling a young and fresh soul dedicated to all of our media and blog work. She's done incredibly well, and though will work side by side with me during this rains, we can't wait to see what the future has lined up for her!
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Saying goodbye to family members means that we will be looking for new members to join the Shenton Safaris' family at Kaingo in 2020. We're looking only for the best of the best to grow our family and safari experience even further! The three roles that we will be hiring for May 2020 are the following:Media & Reservations Manager, Front of House Manager for Kaingo and a Level 1 Teveta Accredited Walking Guide. We thought we'd reach out to you our subscribed newsletter readers, as there's one main driving force behind our hiring process - passion for our wild corner of the paradise and for Shenton Safaris! We'll be collecting CVs from all applicants until January 2020, and we can't wait to find the perfect people to adopt into our Shenton Safaris' Family! We're delighted to say that the rest of us, will be back again next year - to welcome familiar and new faces into our camps - your home away from home. Our incredible guiding team: Patrick, Sylvester, Yoram, Sandford, Hendrix and Andrew will be back with us next year. Gerard, Catherine, Yvonne, Joseph, Paul and myself will all be there to make sure you have the ultimate Shenton Safaris' experience!
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As we say goodbye to the 2019 safari season, we all settle into life outside of the South Luangwa National Park, back at home and with our families. I'll soon be on my way to marketing roadshows and trade shows. North America is on my list to start the new year, and though I'm slightly worried about how cold it will be looking at the news currently - I'm so excited to share the Shenton Safaris' way with new agents. Then the route returns to the UK, Europe and Germany for ITB Berlin, finishing off in South Africa at Indaba before returning to camp.
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Make sure to keep an eye on our social media in the meantime, Anna's whizzing away at all of the incredible footage supplied by our guides - and guests - during our 2019 season. There's so much that we still have not shared of incredible sightings that we enjoyed this year, so stay tuned to see how we Get Close, the Shenton Safaris' way! If you haven't read our latest blogs, look here below.
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Safe travels until we meet again where the heavens meet the earth...
Salani Bwino
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Shenton Safaris' Blogs
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We hope you've been following our blogs, from our Kaingo Kitchen recipes to our Big Cat Roundup, and all the incredible sightings in between. These past few weeks have had several astonishing wildlife moments that are unmissable, so give a quick scan below to make sure you're up to speed!
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A Wild Afternoon
It's hard to believe that all of this occurred in one afternoon with us. This is not one to miss out on.
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Shenton Safaris: Wonderful Wildlife
The lilac-breasted roller is not only the most common roller found in Southern Africa, but it is without a doubt the most beautiful as well.
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Give a Helping Hand
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Are you planning on coming out to us soon? Learn more about our community and conservation efforts.
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Project Luangwa
Follow them on social media here below.
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Conservation South Luangwa
Follow them on social media here below.
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Feel Good Safari News
Benson Kanyembo, the Law Enforcement Advisor from Conservation South Luangwa was awarded the "Conservation Oscar" at the Tusk Conservation Awards 2019, winning the Tusk Wildlife Ranger Award:
Zambia's acclaimed conservation, Bio Carbon Partners gets vetted internationally and is standing on its own feet as the world's most successful REDD+ carbon project:
The Rhino Impact Bond aimed at the growth in population of these endangered animals. Read more about this amazing story here:
Gabon unites with Norway in fighting climate change; by protecting their forests:
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