Zambia: Adventures in the Bush

Cars are waiting for the guests who come by boat from the lodge. Luxury safari tent. And yet there’s only a canvas between me and the lions...

My ‘tent’ at Mukambi Safari Lodge. Hippo’s around. Here safari means real adventure. Mukambi Safari Lodge is not fenced.

Edjan van der Heide and his wife Robyn

By: Arjan Mulder, Travel Writer, The Netherlands Photos: Arjan Mulder

Zambia is pure – the real Africa. Here, going on safari is not like visiting a zoo. Here I sleep between lions and time simply does not exist. At night roaring lions and grunting hippos keep me awake, I enjoy a proper African sunset, and an elephant crosses the huge Kafue River. Come, let’s experience the true Africa.

We wonder what time they will come to pick us up, but my Indian travelling companion gets it - time is stretchable here. Or, as is said, ‘We have the watch, they have the time’. Zambia belongs to those countries in Africa where travel is still an adventure, where a plan easily changes and where people and wild animals share the country together. Zambia is literally in the middle of Africa, a little south of the equator. The big five live here - but not behind a fence. Zambia - where I experience the quintessential Africa.

‘Welcome to Mukambi Safari Lodge, where I have lived for 15 years with my family,’ says Edjan van der Heide, who has just picked me up from the airport with Dutch punctuality, and we travel to his Mukambi Safari Lodge in four hours. Mukambi is located in Kafue National Park, the largest non-enclosed wildlife park in Africa and larger than the Serengeti in Tanzania. ‘Our lodge is located in an area with thirteen lions, dozens of hippos, and elephants. This is how you live along an African river,’ he tells me. In this nature reserve, my journey begins. I’m from Holland and I only know Edjan from the ‘phone, but he is proud to show me his property. He explains, ‘When we arrived 15 years ago, the lodge did not offer much. In the meanwhile we have three bush camps, a 60-man staff, and a community school for 80 children. We are completely solar powered and our own airport strip is almost ready.’

‘We escort you to your tent. You cannot walk alone at night,’ he warned us. I asked, ‘Is it really so dangerous here?’ Edjan replied, ‘Mukambi Safari Lodge is not fenced, so the wildlife runs around here. Even in the daytime lions are spotted between tents and chalets. You must always be alert and know what you should and should not do. Occasionally a crocodile comes… But even with our children, nothing has ever happened. Not even when one of them went mad and spent a whole day in the bush.’ I get the message. This will be real adventure. Mukambi Safari Lodge is not fenced - game is everywhere.

It’s dark. I’m in my tent. Suddenly I’m sitting up straight. The cloth of my luxury tent vibrates. Just two metres away from my pillow, a roaring lion makes it clear that this is its place. My whole nightmare from Kenya 30 years ago comes back. Then, in a tent at night, I was almost crushed by ten elephants. It is not necessary to be afraid, nothing happens, but apparently, in Kenya, I have been properly traumatised. The next night I preferred to sleep in a stone cabin. You never know...

Hippos are curious. But also the biggest killers in Africa!

when he brings me to the cabin in the evening. With a bright flashlight, he keeps an eye on the environment - he knows what’s going on around here. The game drive starts at 6.00 am the next morning. We go by boat to the other side of the river, where in the dawn two Land Rovers are ready and waiting.

Edjan explains to us, ‘We do two game drives a day, in the morning and in the evening, each taking three to four hours. During the day, much of the wildlife sleeps. The rainy season is just over, so we cannot get everywhere. A game drive in Kafue National Park is still an adventure. It is not like in the enclosed parks, where wildlife is crowded in high concentrations and vehicles are driving in single file. Our wildlife area is as big as the Netherlands. The wildlife is shy and behaves naturally.’

I’m lucky: we soon see elephant, hippo, puku, kudu, gazelle and waterbuck. Then suddenly the Land Rover stops. The ranger carefully searches the area and then jumps out of the vehicle. ‘It’s safe, we’ll have some coffee here,’ he says. He’ll know! I do not feel completely calm, because a week before, a ranger was scared by a lion nearby. But the coffee tastes good in this cool morning. In the water, ten hippos are curious about me. ‘They feed on the shore, but only at night. They will not come out of the water now,’ the ranger assures us. That’s great, but I stay alert. Black mambas are also around...

After four days at Mukambi Safari Lodge, sleeping between lions, I realise that men can live very well with wild animals. Neither needs to live behind a fence. Of course, that is the safest for people. But if you know what to do, if you can ‘read’ the animals and if you observe the rules, it’s good. No guarantees, but traffic in Zambia is more dangerous. People are not a prey for lions - they are not behind every tree looking at us. It may be for me the most intense experience of this trip. Otherwise, I would not have started my hiking safari three days later...

Arjan Mulder is a travel writer living in The Netherlands. His travelling and writing are motivated by untouched nature and inspiring cultures worldwide. Personal experience and emotion are leading in all his writing. He also is a staff member at the University of Applied Sciences in Enschede.