In Search of Pride

In Search of Pride

I was asked to tag along on a reconnaissance mission to check out Treetops School Camp as a possible field trip alternative for our students. Treetops Camp is located deep in Kafue National Park on the banks of the Lufupa River, a 7 hour drive north-west of Lusaka.

http://treetopskafue.webs.com/

Our group of seven left on a gorgeous hot Friday afternoon crammed into the school mini-bus among ‘cooler-boxes’, mosquito netting, backpacks, cases of beer, water jugs, and jerry cans filled with extra gasoline. We meandered through the Friday traffic, finally hitting the open highway 40 minutes later. Jacaranda trees dotted the landscape, their branches in brilliant violet bloom. Beers were cracked open, 80’s rock music turned up, bags of ‘crisps’ passed around, and finally we were on our way…

Kafue National Park is the second largest and most underdeveloped park in all of Africa. It is roughly the size of the state of New Hampshire. Our route took us through the village of Mumbwa and we entered the park through the Nalusanga gate. We still had about a 3- hour drive ahead of us; most of which would be in the dark. Once inside the park the road became horrendous, a swath of hard packed mud. As we made our way, the van jostled, tossed, and spun us around like a salad mixer. But…our first wildlife sighting was a leopard! Unfortunately, we only got a quick glimpse as it streaked across the road! I took this as an omen of good things to come. Finally we arrived at the bush camp, ate a hasty dinner and promptly went to sleep.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of hippos on the riverbank, just a few meters from my bed. Following a good camp breakfast, we set off on a game drive following the road north across the Bussing Flatlands to the edge of the Busanga Plains. The Lufupa River floods during the summer season, creating a huge floodplain that is richly inhabited by a diverse group of animals. Herds by the hundreds, buffalo, impala, antelope, wildebeest, red lechwe, and zebra, all populate the vast plains. With such an array and abundance of food available, it’s no wonder that there are lions and we were in search of a pride. A pride of lions consists of a group of related females, their offspring, and three or four male lions. We were told that a pride of 14 lions lives in the vicinity of the Treetops Camp!

At first, the road took us through an eerie landscape, much of it barren and dotted by large baobab trees and grey termite mounds. It looked to me like an abandoned cemetery filled with falling down headstones. There were patches of green brush and a variety of acacia trees. A landscape dominated by miombo woodlands. Warthogs ran in and out of the bush directly in front of the Land Rover while baboons and vervet monkeys watched us pass by with curious faces. Vultures perched atop trees waiting for the heat of the day to carry and propel them through the air. We watched hartebeest, puku, kudu, reedbuck, bushbuck, roan, and sable, as they crisscrossed our path.

We had been told that a small pride of lions had killed and gorged themselves on a wildebeest the day before and could now be found lying around somewhere, sluggish and lazy. We were on a mission to find the pride. Finally, we spotted them! Way off on the horizon of the plains, barely discernible without binoculars, a small pride of lions. Slowly, the Land Rover bounced over the plains. There they were in all their glory, two massive males and one female. And yes, they were ‘just chillin’. They were not interested in us at all and seemed bored by all the attention we were giving them. This allowed us to get very close. What an incredible animal! Their beauty and the inherent power they represented enthralled me. Afterwards, everyone wanted to know if this had been my first lion sighting as though it was a rite of passage for anyone living in Africa. Oh yes, I thought, …with pride.