Chiawa Camp & Old Mondoro

I am the first-born in a family of three, two boys and one girl. I was born in Kitwe but raised in Chingola and that’s where I started school at Lubambe Primary School. When my father got a job in Lusaka, we moved to Lusaka and I completed my secondary school at Olympia Secondary School.

My aunt used to work for Mfuwe Lodge and when I came to visit her from Lusaka she told me about the job advert and I applied. A week later, I was called and that’s how I started. When we started, we would clean up the deck then later in the morning we used to study about the human anatomy which is anything associated with the human body. In the afternoon we continued with our maintenance work.

I always put in my best into my work, making sure that all my services are up to standard. I always make sure I attend to the guests who come to the spa and also put in my very best to ensure I get good results each time we write tests.

We are able to achieve a lot of things as ladies in this industry from working in the bush, if we are disciplined and hard-working. For me, I have managed to build a three-bedroomed house from the 10 years I have worked here at the Bush-Spa.

Writer: Andrea Gilmour Photography: Sausage Tree Camp

Located in the heart of the Lower Zambezi National Park on the banks of the Zambezi River, Sausage Tree Camp offers two unique ‘Restaurant in the Bush’ experiences for all guests – a signature Water Lunch and a Bush Dinner.

After a morning out exploring the national park, or simply soaking up the views from the comfort of your room or main Front of House area, you are greeted when ready for lunch and told that today you will be taken out to a little ‘local restaurant’.

Picture a short boat trip to a sandbank in the middle of the Zambezi River, where you step out into the shallow waters to a glass of Pimms and a lunch table dressed in white linen. A buffet station is set up with a selection of dishes including fresh bread and salads, fish and chicken or steak, where you are tempted to try a bit of everything. As you sit down to eat and let the water wash away your troubles, the calls of fish eagles and laughing hippos become the background choir while enjoying the company and conversation of your private guide and other guests. To top it all off, if that wasn’t enough, you are once again spoilt by a plated dessert to round off the meal before being whisked back to camp for a much needed afternoon siesta.

While preparing to go out on afternoon activities you can’t imagine that you will end your evening dining under the stars in the middle of the bush, not knowing who or what may drop by. Heading back to camp after an eventful evening game drive you round the corner to a fairylike scene, with hurricane lamps twinkling and teasing you with a glimpse of a candle-lit table. Greeted by a friendly barman ready to take your drinks order, you settle around the camp fire to watch ‘Bush TV’ and swap stories about the day’s sightings. Dinner is another buffet of temptation where your meat of choice is cooked on an open barbeque before being served to you. Along with good wine and conversation comes the peace and quiet of the African night, with perhaps a lion’s roar or hyena’s cackle in the distance.

With bellies full and another day of safari planned for the morning, you climb back into the vehicles and return to camp ready to fall into bed and listen to the night orchestra as you drift off to sleep.

Writer: Priya Shah Photography: Kate Wilson, Edward Selfe

Mulberry Mongoose is well known for turning brutal poachers’ snare wire into beautiful jewellery that, with every sale, donates back to conservation. In fact Bill and Hilary Clinton, Whoopi Goldberg and supermodel Doutzen Kroes have all worn pieces from its snare collection.

The business name captures these strong ethics. ‘Mongoose’ represents the banded mongoose, a social animal that survives in the bush by living in groups and caring for each other. Through employing and training its local team, and by giving back a large amount to conservation, Mulberry Mongoose does just that, too. The name ‘Mulberry’ was chosen because the founder, Kate Wilson, is British and grew up with a mulberry tree in her garden. The colour reminds the team to strive to create jewellery of the quality and design that can be found worldwide and to offer excellent customer service to boot.

The designs are striking and reflect the rugged yet graceful views of the African bush. Mulberry Mongoose also incorporates locally sourced, natural materials in its work; this ensures the jewellery is one of a kind and generates additional income to local artisans and entrepreneurs. Take, for instance, the celebrated guineafowl choker. The guineafowl’s iconic black and white feathers make this a sought-after necklace, also ensuring that local farmers make additional money from their birds. Mulberry Mongoose is passionate about its hand-carved wooden beads. Local carpenters use manual tools to create beautiful wooden pieces that are incorporated into the designs; this gives essential employment to exceptionally talented artisans. The wood is reclaimed or taken from trees which fell in the bush – trees are often knocked down by passing elephants. No two beads are the same, adding to the unique quality of the jewellery. Mulberry Mongoose even hired a local carpenter to train its courageous ladies in woodwork, a huge morale boost for women that grew up believing carpentry was men’s work that they were unable to master.

But it is perhaps the company’s vegetable ivory beads that draw the most curiosity. Vegetable ivories are seeds that fall from an indigenous palm tree and are a favourite delicacy among elephants; so much so that one night an elephant bashed down the Mulberry Mongoose workshop door to feast on a bag containing seeds! Local carpenters collect fallen vegetable ivories, and using an adze, smash open their hard exterior and then peel off the rough and hairy insides. With expert skill, they saw through the nut inside which opens up into a beautiful white seed. Then, with extraordinarily steady hands and great strength, the carpenters slice two-millimetre strips along each side of the nut and these slices are transformed into earrings and pendants by the creative jewellery makers.

In true Mulberry Mongoose style, you might never know that you are looking at a seed. The design’s strength lies in its subtle detail in an eye-catching and remarkable piece of jewellery that just so happens to give a huge amount back.

Writer: Thandiwe Mweetwa Photography: Thandiwe Mweetwa

Every so often, nature produces individuals with an indomitable will to survive; individuals that defy the odds in harsh, unforgiving wildernesses. Life as the only adult female in the pride is not easy and requires tenacity, courage and nerves of steel. That is the story of Lioness 143F, the 10-year-old matriarch of South Luangwa National Park’s (SLNP) Chinzombo Pride.

Lioness 143F was one of the original members of the Big Pride, which settled in the main game-viewing area of SLNP in 2009. 143F’s natal pride, originally called Mwamba III, was one of three prides that split from a super pride of nearly 40 lions in the Mwamba/Lion Plain area. The Mwamba III Pride moved south while the other two sister prides, Mwamba I and Mwamba II, remained in Lion Plain. Made up of 23 lions, the Mwamba III Pride was the highlight of many safaris and was simply referred to as ‘the Big Pride’ to differentiate it from the much smaller Mfuwe Pride. Lioness 143F left the Big Pride at the end of 2013 when a coalition of three males took over from the resident male called Shaka. Infanticide in lions is well documented. Incoming males are known to kill young cubs during pride takeovers to make females ready to mate sooner. 143F probably left the pride to protect her cub who was a few months old at the time. She initially settled outside the park in the area around Chinzombo Lodge, earning her new pride the name Chinzombo.

In 2014, she was fitted with a radio collar by the Zambian Carnivore Programme as part of a collaborative study on lion populations with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife. With the help of her radio collar, researchers have been able to track her movements and learn more about population dynamics in the Luangwa Valley. The collar also plays a critical role in enabling researchers to check regularly on the pride in an ongoing effort to limit human-induced mortality among Zambia’s lions due to wire snaring. This is particularly critical because the pride’s territory spans the protected area boundary. The risk of snaring is high along the national park’s boundary and outside in the game management area.

Four years after leaving her natal pride and venturing into the unknown, Lioness 143F is now the leader of a small but steadily growing pride of sixlions. The pride has now made its home on both sides of the Luangwa River between Chichele Hill in the north and Chindeni Bush Camp in the south. Surrounded by three much larger prides, its struggle for survival continues. Hopefully, the knowledge and experience 143F has gained as the lone adult in the group will serve her and her offspring well as they continue to navigate life in the challenging African bush. In late December 2017, 143F was seen showing early signs of pregnancy so 2018 may bring more Chinzombo Pride lions. Long live this true Lion Queen.