19 June 2018
When in Africa, one thing should be on everyone’s to-do list: Going on a safari.
Since there are not many wild animals left in Malawi, we decided to go to the South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. In order to not get stressed out with planning the trip, we booked a weekend with See Malawi.
One week after we booked the trip, we were picked up on a Friday morning and made our way towards Zambia. Of course, the planned five hours drive could not be kept – always remember that we are in Malawi.
Approximately one hour outside of Lilongwe our car suddenly made a weird noise and we had to stop. The V-belt was broken. So the waiting started. Two mechanics from Lilongwe were on their way to us. Of course, a garage is completely overrated. You can change the water pump and the V-belt at the side of the road just as well.
Thanks to the breakdown we had three hours delay, so we also arrived late at the border. More problems were to follow:
The first problem: There were network issues on the Malawian border, so it took forever to get the papers for the car.
The second problem: The border closes at 6 pm and the Malawian network issues were not solved until 5:50 pm.
The third problem: We still had to register the car on the Zambian side of the border.
Luckily our driver was able to talk to the officer so we could enter Zambia four hours late. That was a pity, because it was already dark when we arrived at the Croc Valley Camp and we spent the whole of the first day in the car instead of at the pool. But as compensation, there was a tent upgrade for us.
On Saturday we got a very good breakfast and lunch and we were able to spend some hours at the pool, before we made our way to the first Safari Drive at 4 pm.
We saw two elephants right outside the camp and there were many more kinds of animals in the park: Elephants, hippos, monkeys, zebras, springboks, warthogs, giraffes and beautiful birds. Since the drive started that late we were still in the park when it got dark. That was very cool, as we drove through the park with a big “flashlight” and searched for nocturnal animals. The nocturnal animals did not show up but we saw three lions. That was beautiful yet somewhat scary, as we sat in an open car. The driver turned off the headlights and we followed the lions in complete darkness. The driver only turned on the lights from time to time to see where we were going. So we were actually in the pitch-dark, chasing after lions in an open car at a distance of three meters. WOW!
When they finally lay down, we could drive right next to them and turn on the lights again.
The next morning we had our second drive at 6 o’clock. There were two highlights for me on this one: Apart from the animals we had already seen the day before we also got to see a leopard. To see this animal by day is so uncommon that even the guide took out his phone to take some pictures. My second highlight was a big elephant family with two babies. They stopped at a small lake to drink some water and bathe. The interaction between the family members was very impressive and touching. When the little baby fell over, its mother helped it up again and also pushed it up the hill. I almost cried, because I could not handle the cuteness!
After a delicious breakfast following the safari, we already had to leave and go back home, which thankfully has worked without any problems this time.
I definitely recommend anyone to go on a safari if they have the chance! That was probably one of the best experiences in my life!
Fun fact: We were not allowed to walk around alone in the camp at night, as the hippos and crocodiles from the nearby river like to come to the camp.
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