TONGABEZI LODGE
ILA SAFARI LODGE
Explore with
Green Safaris
SHAWA LUANGWA CAMP
Experience a sustainable safari in Africa and become part of a love story that leaves the world, and you, transformed for the better. Luxury and kindness go hand in hand when you stay at any of our hand-picked locations in Zambia and Malawi. We know that travel is still in limbo for many people, but that is why you can move your booking as many times as you want, at least until it is clear that getting from your own home to one of our magical spots in Zambia or Malawi is a journey you feel comfortable taking. BECAUSE ONCE YOU ARE HERE, WE KNOW JUST HOW TO LOOK AFTER YOU. Each of our properties are found in hand-picked, pristine locations, far from other people but surrounded by gorgeous wildernesses, and our teams are fully prepared with the latest Covid-19 guidelines. Think heavily sanitized spaces, temperature checks for staff and guests, and face masks ... but also think private game drives or river cruises, dining under the stars (this is our version of social distancing!), and a team of local, wonderful people whose main goal is to make your stay spectacular.
CHISA BUSANGA CAMP
Or perhaps you’d like to follow in our footsteps? The first step is down to you, then we’ll guide you while we follow the sun through Malawi and Zambia via secret paths, carefully curated itineraries, untouched and unexpected territories and completely silent safaris powered by our electric safari vehicles, electric bikes & electric boats. KAYA MAWA ISLAND LODGE
GET IN TOUC H I T: +260 979 312 766 E: reser vations@greensafaris.com
www.g reensafar is.com
SINDABEZI ISLAND CAMP Sept - Dec 2021 | TRAVEL & LEISURE
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CONTRIBUTIONS
CONTENTS
COVER Black Lechwe in Bangweulu Wetlands. Photo credit: Remote Africa Safaris. Photographer: Patrick Bentley.
ISSUE 19 | SEPT - DEC 2021
Helping hands in snake safety
Bangweulu - where the Water meets the Sky
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38
Paddling to a powerful beat Canoeing the upper Zambezi
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Publisher Safari Magazine Editor & Managing Director Andrew Muswala kwisanoent@gmail.com Layout & Art Director Lyn Grandemange grandemangelyn@gmail.com Sub-Editor Tessa Buhrmann tessa@responsibletraveller.co.za
Supporting Wildlife Rangers in South Luangwa
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Victoria Falls: The Perfect Wedding Destination
44
Subscriptions kwisanoent@gmail.com +260 977 308 711
Exploring Conservation Careers with the North Luangwa Conservation Programme Take a walk on the Wildside North Luangwa
14 17 Food for Thought: A Victoria Falls City COVID-19 Success Story
Cycling for a Cause REDD+: The new frontier of conservation finance in Africa
Website www.zambiatravelmagazine.com
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24 Bumbusi - A Hidden Gem in the
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Truest Sense
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Contributors Nick Riddin, Patrick Bentley, Remote Africa Safaris, Edward Selfe Photography, BioCarbon Partners, Sarah Kingdom, Chloe Lee Evans, Brooke Berlin, Johann Vanzyl, Shelley Cox, Nicholas Milne, Chris Chiparaushe, Wilderness Safaris, African Bush Camps, Tessa Buhrmann, Sarah Kerr, Sean Hind, Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, Linde Meintjes, Marcel Van Driel, North Luangwa Conservation Programme, Mana Meadows, Besnart Manda, Conservation South Luangwa, Mindy Roberts, Time + Tide, Barbara Ingram. Submissions We welcome editorial and photographic submissions to the magazine. Accompanying images should be sent in high-res jpg and minimum 3MB in size. Please send a synopsis of the proposed article to kwisanoent@gmail. com for consideration. Printers New Horizon Printing Press Plot # LUS/9815/H Kafue Road, Lusaka, Zambia
Mosi-oa-Tunya, and the mighty Zambezi River Five reasons to visit Zambia 2
Early Morning Bird Cruise on the
32 36
TRAVEL & LEISURE | Sept - Dec 2021
Zambezi river
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Unpacking the Safari Industry
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Copyright Copyright © All rights for material appearing in this magazine belong to Safari Magazine and/or the individual contributors. No part of this magazine may be reproduced either without the written consent of the publishers or without due acknowledgement.
Sept - Dec 2021 | TRAVEL & LEISURE
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A WORD FROM THE MD
A WORD
WELCOME TO ISSUE 19 OF TRAVEL & LEISURE ZAMBIA & ZIMBABWE MAGAZINE.
from the MD
[
ANDREW MUSWALA
]
WELCOME TO ISSUE 19 OF TRAVEL & LEISURE ZAMBIA & ZIMBABWE MAGAZINE. We are delighted to celebrate our sixth year of publication with this bumper issue featuring exciting destinations and inspiring projects. We are grateful to all those companies who have embraced our objective over the years and appreciate the support of both our advertisers and readers, especially as this magazine is privately owned and funded entirely by advertising. The magazine is dedicated exclusively to two African nations – Zambia and Zimbabwe, and we hope this issue will stimulate your love affair with these most exciting destinations. Travel with us to the Bangweulu Wetlands, a natural gem, with sheer scenic beauty, and utterly breathtaking - our cover feature in this issue explores the wetlands in depth (p6). Elsewhere in this issue, we look at Exploring Conservation Careers in North Luangwa (p14), 5 Reasons to visit Zambia (p36), Victoria Falls: The perfect Wedding Destination (p44) and Unpacking the Safari industry (p58). Also, we would like to welcome Tessa Buhrmann to our team as our new Sub-Editor. We believe you will enjoy reading this publication and that hopefully it will help you plan your next visit to Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Happy Reading!
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TRAVEL & LEISURE | Sept - Dec 2021
[
TESSA BUHRMANN
]
Sept - Dec 2021 | TRAVEL & LEISURE
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ZAMBIA | BANGWEULU
BANGWEULU – where the Water meets the Sky [ WRITER: Sarah Kingdom ]
[ PHOTOS: Linde Meintjes, Patrick Bentley ]
We wake to the cry of a fish eagle, and I’m reminded of what explorer and missionary David Livingstone is said to have remarked in Bangweulu almost 150 years ago… “it is as though the large black and white predator were calling to someone in another world.” This was shortly before, exhausted by a gruelling eight-month trek through the swamps, searching for the source of the Nile, he knelt beside his bed to pray and died. Livingstone’s heart was buried, beneath a mpundu tree, near the edge of the Bangweulu Swamps, his body was carried to the coast and sent back to England where it was ultimately buried in Westminster Abbey.
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TRAVEL & LEISURE | Sept - Dec 2021
We are in Shoebill Island Camp, nestled in a grove of quinine trees, on a tiny island in the Bangweulu Wetlands. We’ve woken early, to paddle from the camp to the floodplains, to see the endemic black lechwe, who call this unique wetland home. We reach the floodplains just as the sun peeks over the horizon, turning the sky from grey to pink. As we stand on the causeway that runs through the middle of the floodplains, there are thousands of lechwe, as far as the eye can see, barely visible in the early morning mist. Having come into the water overnight for safety, the lechwe are now heading slowly back towards the tree line, grazing on nutrient rich semiaquatic grasses as they go. We’ve come to the Bangweulu Wetlands, in north-eastern Zambia, specifically to see the black lechwe, as well as the wetland’s two other flagship species, the shoebill and wattled crane.