[VIDEO] If you never got to visit the Southern Kafue this year, now is your chance…this could be the best 2 minutes of your week! Many thanks to the brilliant team from The Rusty Mokoro for their efforts in producing this video.
Guests have been spoilt for choice recently at Nanzhila with some superb wildlife sightings – just some of which include serval, eland, sable, cheetah and 6 cubs (click here to view video!) lion and more. Guest reviews and a selection of photos can be seen below:
“Thank you Cindy and Steve for 5 marvellous days and nights in your fantastic camp! Nanzhila plain is one of the finest places in the Southern Kafue!” – Adrian Hirschi, September 2017
“Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened” We will cry a little to be honest – such a beautiful lodge, location, wildlife, but above all the beautiful people. Thanks Steve, Cindy, Brett and Caesar. Miss you and the rest of the team.” – Karina and Raymond, The Netherlands.
“Our first trip to Africa, and definitely not our last! Waking up to a fresh kill 200metres from our chalet and finding a pack of 8 wild dogs, 6 of them pups, was an experience to remember forever. Nanzhila Plains Camp is a unique and rewarding safari destination. Thank you Steve and Cindy.” – Hannah and Matthew Debeer, Canada
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Cheetah Cubs!
Sneak into the Southern Kafue for 2 minutes…
Watch the video below
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Predators put in an appearance at Nanzhila
August and early September have been very busy for predator viewing in the Southern Kafue! Starting from the ‘biggest’ – lion movement has been consistent although we hear them a lot more than they are seen! We had a great sighting of this young male again who has been in the area for awhile – maybe a sign of shifting power balances in the Southern Kafue lion prides?
Some very nice pics caught by Karina and Raymond here who left this very kind feedback in our guestbook:
“Don’t cry because its over, smile because it happened” We will cry a little to be honest – such a beautiful lodge, location, wildlife, but above all the beautiful people. Thanks Steve, Cindy, Brett and Caesar. Miss you and the rest of the team.” – Karina and Raymond, The Netherlands.
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Leopard sightings are always special and Eirene and Gabriel saw a leopard on their transfer out of Nanzhila but it is the 2 smaller spotted cats that have been stealing the show of late. Although we have been seeing 2 male cheetahs quite frequently, it is the appearance of this cheetah mom with no less than 6 cubs that really got our attention. She is staying nearby with that many cubs and hopefully for her sake, the lions remain too focused on whatever they are doing to notice her little ones! We got a great little clip (View Here) of this “super-mom” in the making and she caught the attention of our recent guest, Richard:
“ Waouh – Great – 7 cheetahs! I’ll be back!” Richard Schneider – Switzerland.
But as mentioned, cheetah have not been the only spotted predator to perform in recent weeks and we were absolutely delighted by this sighting of a serval which did a wonderful job posing for us!
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Finally, our resident wild dog pack with their pups were seen earlier in August when they dramatically made a kill near camp although sadly there were no pics from this sighting – only these kind words from our guests that we close off with:
“Our first trip to Africa, and definitely not our last! Waking up to a fresh kill 200metres from our chalet and finding a pack of 8 wild dogs, 6 of them pups, was an experience to remember forever. Nanzhila Plains Camp is a unique and rewarding safari destination. Thank you Steve and Cindy.” – Hannah and Matthew Debeer, Canada
Sneak into the Southern Kafue for 2 minutes…
Watch the video below
Earlier this year, the Nanzhila community (and indeed the greater Kafue National Park community) were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Peter Moss. He was instrumental in helping us set up our online guidebook and was a great supporter of the whole of the Kafue. Barely a week would go by before Peter was back on email or Skype with introductions or ideas to encourage people to visit the Kafue and his support is greatly missed.
Together with help from Steve Adams of the safaristore.com, we have erected a memorial bench at Nanzhila in memory of Peter and herewith a few pics and words from Steve Smith – the owner of Nanzhila about Peter:
“Peter Moss was a close personal friend of ours and Nanzhila. He dedicated a large part of his life to the conservation, preservation and promotion of the Kafue National Park and all of us who live and work here today owe him a great debt of gratitude. He undoubtedly was the most knowledge person on the Park’s fauna and flora and was responsible for at least two of the Park Management Plans, the Business Plan and the book “A Visitors Guide to the Kafue National Park.” He had a great love for the southern Kafue and in particular the Nanzhila Plains that we shared together. His knowledge, guidance and friendship are sorely missed.” – Steve & Cindy Smith
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Steve Adams (thesafaristore.com) who co-sponsored the memorial bench (with Nanzhila) and Cindy, and Sport Beattie and Clive Dickinson of Game Rangers International.
July has been an interesting month so far…we were finally able to open the Kalenje Track – more than a month later than last year which shows you how much more rain and water we had last summer. Accordingly, the game has been widely dispersed and so it’s really only been during the last 2 weeks that we are starting to see denser groups of animals as the water resources start to dry up. Looking back over the month though, you really do get an appreciation of the incredible diversity of life in the Southern Kafue with sightings of the following antelope:
Sable, Roan, Eland, Lichtenstein’s hartebeest, blue wildebeest, kudu, reedbuck, impala, common duiker, oribi along with a variety of the smaller and more secret life with some great serval sightings, the famous Nanzhila honey badgers spotted in daylight and no doubt off to raise a caucus somewhere and civet being spotted most evening drives. There were sporadic sightings of lion, cheetah and leopard. Wild dog have been seen by staff regularly near the back of camp, which hopefully means that they are denning near by.
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In addition to the great diversity and wildlife seen outside of camp, Nanzhila Plains also hosted an incredible variety of nationalities this month: We had Italians, Austrians, Germans, Americans, Swiss, Israelis, French, Irish, New Zealanders, South Africans and of course Zambians to name a few! It’s amazing to think that people from all around the world take the time and effort to visit a little corner of Zambia as remote as the Southern Kafue – we are very grateful for the support and some of the kind words written below:
“We would like to thank you again for the really nice and very interesting stay at Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp – we liked it very much and it’s a pity that we couldn’t stay longer.”
“Thanks to Cindy, Steve and all the staff, we 5 had an amazing time over there. We’ve been literally spoiled with morning and evening game drives and walks, gorgeous and tasteful meals, and cherry on the cake, a dreamful dinner + marshmallows under the milky way… No words to describe those 4 days. Actually, I didn’t want to leave, husband and sons neither. 😉 “
And in keeping to the theme of international variety, we had a comment left in our guestbook which I’ve retyped below (please forgive any inaccurate transcription) and would love someone to translate it us … just hoping it’s good things! :). (Use the comment section below.)
“Siamo stati meraniguosamente al Nanzhila…Location, gentilezzae cibocoredi meguiomon potelamo speraze! Abbamo visto fantassimi tipi dianidau: zebre, elefanti, antilopi, scimmie in un ambiente mozzafiato ricorddezemo la gentilezza e la cura inogni cosa di ognuno di voi!”
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A game drive ‘selfie’ sent in from our latest guests:
[biginfobox color=”#588c7e” textcolor=”#ffffff” title=”High Season is under way in the Southern Kafue! ” href=”http://www.nanzhila.com/accommodation/” button_title=”BOOK NOW”]Bring your family or friends and come experience the Kafue at its best![/biginfobox]
Our first blog of 2017 and Nanzhila opened in early May this year to some very wet and muddy roads after above average rains. During this time, it becomes really important to find out the correct routes to drive before you travel as the Southern Kafue is so vast, you can easily take the wrong road and find yourself stuck in the mud for lengthy spells as happened to 2 of our clients in May. Fortunately, the benefit of being an intimate, owner-run camp means that when something goes awry, Steve and Cindy will be on their way to help and find you and have you back in the beauty of Nanzhila in no time. One of our guests had these kind words for us:
“Magical place, what an experience. Living completely outside everything. Steve, Cindy and staff great hosts, thank you.”
From a wildlife point of view, we actually have had a very good start considering May is one of the more difficult months for game viewing. We have witnessed 2 kills – both more unusual…the wild dogs that moved into the Nanzhila area last year have stayed and clients witnessed them on a kill and we also saw an unfortunate frog fall prey to a beautiful vine snake!
A new young but large male lion has been hanging around Nanzhila and his roars were heard frequently until eventually we got this sighting of him below. Although Steve has seen leopard a few times, we haven’t got a shot of one yet and we have also had about half a dozen sightings of cheetah this year. Jackal and serval make up some of the smaller predators to be spotted already.
Although there is still a lot of water, we are seeing more and more plains game – especially for May and Steve also captured this image (below) of these very big crocs on the Kasha river.
With our “High Season” beginning on the 1st of July and Nanzhila enjoying a very busy 2017 season at the lodge, we are looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season holds in store for us and close the May Blog with another kind piece of writing from our Guest Book:
“What a unique stay, and thanks to our wonderful hosts and team for making it so wonderful.”
A room with a view!
A elephant’s visit to one of our chalets was caught on camera last month.. Click to view the video in full!
Can small-scale eco-tourism make a difference? 2016 at Nanzhila proved this where the tireless efforts of Steve and Cindy Smith along with GRI (Game Rangers International), TNC (The Nature Conservancy) and DNPW (Dept. of National Parks and Wildlife Zambia) have created a platform for the wildlife of the Southern Kafue to start returning to its former glory. But without the presence of guests – happy to explore this incredible wilderness with us, none of the results would have been possible. It is these self same guests though who best captured what 2016 was like at Nanzhila – many thanks to all who contributed – we know there were many more than the people mentioned below. We thank you for the impact you made!
KEN COE – Sept 2016: “I am here in the Nanzhila Plains area of Kafue National Park in Zambia for the fourth time, with green, yellow and russet leaves of the miombo in front of me, finding it impossible to describe the rich luxuriance. For the next five days, the owner of Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp, Steve Smith, who has become a good friend, would himself take the wheel; the incomparable private guide, Benson Siyawareva, would stand primary sentinel; the gentlest person in Zambia, Brighton from camp, would perform all back-up duties in the vehicle; and Steve’s wife, Cindy, would skillfully manage the camp and put up with us all. The contrast between Benson’s and my first visit to Nanzhila back in 2009 and now is stark. The sedentary species, such as impala, reedbuck, oribi, waterbuck, kudu and warthog, have easily doubled in number and their “flight distances” have been more than halved. The spectacular but shy sable and roan also allow closer approaches now. As a result of the boom in prey numbers, predator sightings, once rare, are on a continual increase. All this is a far cry from the poached-out, left-for-dead period before the opening of the camp 10 years ago. Only the species that move around – elephant, zebra, wildebeest and buffalo – aren’t increasing. Is there a better argument for tourist presence assisting in conservation of remote areas? Nanzhila Plains Safari Camp is the only camp in this southern end of Kafue. Its presence, not to mention specific conservation measures undertaken by Steve and his staff in assisting the park rangers, is making a difference. Wild fire management is at its best I have ever seen. The improving game numbers speak for themselves, but perhaps the story is best told by the most intelligent species here (elephant, not man). After decades of living in concealment in the area, elephants are obliging us once again. That they trust us now in what was formerly a killing field is heartening to say the least. We end up enjoying hours of watching them – and their watching us with some suspicion at first but then soon relaxing completely. What a privilege…”
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More guest feedback from 2016:
Alex Paul – “ My third visit to Nanzhila. Once again many thanks to Cindy and Steve for their welcome and hospitality. Under their watchful eye the wildlife goes from strength to strength and has increased notably since my last visit”.
Sandie Van Rooyen – “Thank you to all at Nanzhila for showing us that there are indeed animals and birds in the Southern Kafue.”
Ann Thompson – “We had a wonderful experience at Nanzhila and will likely return in the coming years. The lodge provides you with a Safari experience in its true spirit away from maddening crowds. We were spoiled by Cindy’s cooking and the staff’s personalized service. “
Richard Pooley – “I was last in Kafue National Park some 30 years ago and then only in the northern section. So, I was keen to see a. whether there was still the diversity of wildlife that I remember and b. whether the southern part of the Park was as beautiful as its more popular northern neighbour. Yes, on both counts!”
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Nov
10
“Very special camp in remote part of Southern Kafue National Park.” (Will, Oct 2016)
The month of October has been very warm but continued to deliver great wildlife sightings in addition to a myriad of special bird sightings. The ellies are in front of the lodge almost every day with the waterbuck and as the dambo gets lower, so they have stirred up a lot of silt turning our water into the ‘Nanzhila spa’ – the challenges of living with wildlife!
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Lions show up on a regular basis but this sighting of a coalition of 3 males was very special and if they stick around, could well ‘shake’ things up with the resident prides. Guests were also recently surprised by a massive male leopard strolling through camp and the wild dog have been seen a few more times.
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Of course the Nanzhila antelope are always fantastic and with roan and sable seen on nearly a daily basis, we sometimes take them for granted. We also had a beautiful sighting of eland recently and the bushbuck living in camp have provided us with some beautiful photo opportunities.
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Alex Paul – “ My third visit to Nanzhila. Once again many thanks to Cindy and Steve for their welcome and hospitality. Under their watchful eye the wildlife goes from strength to strength and has increased notably since my last visit”.
Read below to hear about arguably our greatest game drive ever! Steve Smith picks up the story:
“Our guests for this drive were Alex Paul from England, (on his third trip to Nanzhila in recent years), Ann Thompson and Mark Sheddan, both from Florida in the USA.
Cheetah are always a special sighting, and although the Kafue NP is the best place to see them in Zambia, an encounter is by no means guaranteed. Ruston Shikanyenu, on duty as spotter, was the first to see them, in the shade of a termite mound some 300 metres away. The mother and her two sub-adult offspring seeing out the last of the days heat.
Not 1 km further we had our next feline encounter. This time a solitary leopard on the road ahead. These are shy and elusive animals at the best of times, so to see one during daylight hours was a special treat, particularly for Mark (who was on his third game drive ever!). The leopard seemed to be in hunting mode using the waist-high grass at the side of the road as cover and as soon as he entered the grass he disappeared from view. Alex was not too perturbed by the brief sighting – he’d been on a drive two days earlier on Mafuta Loop and encountered a very obliging large male.
Earlier in the day we had come across a bush pig carcass. Strangely, although having the tell-tale puncture marks in the throat area it was uneaten and seemed abandoned. By our arrival late in the afternoon vultures were in attendance but the carcass largely intact. Closer scrutiny of the surrounding bush revealed a large male lion quietly observing us. He seemed in no rush and was not particularly hungry so we decided to continue and return after dark to see if he had developed an appetite. By the time we returned he had moved off and although we had glimpses of him in the spotlight he showed no further interest in the bush pig. No sooner had we departed we encountered the two lionesses that form part of the Chilenje pride. Each lioness has cubs, which on this occasion were keeping a low profile.
The highlight, for me anyway, was definitely the Wild Dog which we encountered along the track not 10 minutes later. They consisted of two females and were accompanied by 4 pups. We had the pleasure of accompanying them down the road for the next 2kms as they searched the surrounding bush for their next meal. This was my first sighting of the pups. A previous client had reported seeing a pack along with 7 pups in the general vicinity. It seems likely that they are the same dogs, and if so begs the question about the whereabouts of the missing 3 pups.
Add into the mix the elephants we left at the lodge, reedbuck, kudu, impala, sable, zebra, wildebeest, grysbok, duiker and warthog also encountered along the way, here ended the most memorable of game drives!”
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Oct
05
We have a number of people wanting to know more about the story behind the incredible photo on our homepage featuring a leopard attacking a Defassa waterbuck so we went behind the scenes to get all the details for the photographer – Phillipe Kress from Switzerland. Phillipe takes up the story from here:
“All our cameras were packed away and ‘dust-proof’ as another long and warm day in Nanzhila was coming to an end with the sun about to set. Suddenly, someone shouted “Leopard!” I was only just quick enough to unpack the camera before the male leopard launched an attack on this rather large waterbuck. It is impossible to describe the speed of the attack but to try and put it into perspective, I shot the first 10 pictures (of which 5 feature below) in 6 seconds and with that, both the leopard and the waterbuck tumbled into a ditch out of view. We drove around for 10 minutes before incredibly, we found the waterbuck again – bleeding heavily and wounded but alive. We don’t know whether it survived the night…
What was interesting was that there was a second and smaller leopard hiding in the bushes a distance from the scene of the attack. As it was too dark to photograph, we can only surmise that this was perhaps a female who was either courting the male or trying to avoid him! Needless to say, we had a wonderful stay at Nanzhila where I managed to get a number of photographs of many other great sightings which alone would have justified our stay and we look forward to returning one day!”
It just goes to show why you should never miss a game drive – you never know what could happen and be over in a flash around the next corner when out on safari!
