Our traveling companions were several of our teammates, the Dearths and Hiltys.
A five-hour drive from Lusaka, the game preserve is home to elephant, lion, leopard, hippo, crocodile, warthog, many deer types, birds, sable, and sitatunga. The latter is a shy, moose-like animal that dwells in the marshlands and can stay underwater.
Each of our three days' stay we drove our vehicles around the preserve in pursuit of game, shooting with our cameras. Although we didn't see lion or leopard, we saw plenty of other animals. Because we couldn't remember which were which of impala, kudu, dik dik, or puku, we just started calling them all "deer"!
The elephant pictured here fed across the river from us for a good part of the first day. The next night it swam across the Mushingashi and entered
Quick, shut the door! After a bit he wandered off and went back to his home across the river.
Tracy was able to get in a couple days of fishing and caught a number of good-sized fish. They looked like bass to me but I don't know for sure. The locals call catfish "barbles", but that
On one drive we came upon a family of warthog who just crossed the road in front of us. As we passed we saw one baby still in the family hole, who was left behind. Separated from his family by our vehicle, he squealed and squealed until we passed. The babies are really cute! Also interesting about warthogs are the way they kneel to eat and how their tails stick straight up in the air. They're so ugly they're cute. Sorry, Pumba!
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| A Sitatunga |
On our last day in Mushingashi we went scouting for the sitatunga. Males have dark brown coats while the females have reddish ones. God created their feet in such a way that they can maneuver in the marshes. Very shy, the sitatunga feed by the river later in the day. It was a real treat to see this rare critter.
This trip recharged our batteries, helping us to take on the coming month's activities. Thank you, God, for being able to have time away.
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