Elephant, South Luangwa

South Luangwa National Park in Zambia seems like a long time ago, but proximity to wild elephants is something that remains vivid — intensely so.


[11 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 200, 1/200 at f6.3]


All content © 2012 Pete McGregor

Southern ground hornbills, South Luangwa

We saw these huge birds (roughly the size of a turkey) on several occasions in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park. Apparently, southern ground hornbills (Bucorvus leadbeateri) are rare outside protected areas, for obvious reasons.


[11 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 200, 1/500 at f8]

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Honey badger (ratel) at South Luangwa

In Africa I was mostly happy to enjoy whatever wildlife I was lucky enough to see. Still, I did have a few animals I would have particularly loved to encounter (lions were NOT on that list), and at South Luangwa the subject came up in conversation. Jack and Annie, the Glaswegians I was fortunate enough to share my trip with, asked whether there was anything special I'd love to see. A honey badger, I said, and explained how they'd become part of my family's folklore — our byword for ferocity, irascibility and tenacity (some of those undoubtedly unfair on honey badgers). I didn't expect to see one, of course.

But only a few minutes after beginning our night drive, this is what the spotlight picked out. He (yes, it was obvious) trotted through the low scrub, paused on the edge of the track to look towards us, then crossed over and disappeared into the night. Achim had been guiding at South Luangwa for fourteen years. This, he told us, was only the second honey badger he'd seen in that time.

[13 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 1600, 1/100 at f4]

All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Egret, South Luangwa NP, Zambia

In Aotearoa, the only white egret likely to be seen (and even then, rarely) is the great egret (Ardea alba), known here as kotuku or (rather unimaginatively and confusingly) the white heron. Overseas, the possibilities are more extensive. I don't know which species this bird is (perhaps the intermediate egret, Ardea intermedia?)but I certainly enjoyed the sight, despite having seen white-coloured egrets almost everywhere I travelled.

[11 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 400, 1/1250 at f8]


All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Reedbuck, South Luangwa NP

We saw many southern reedbuck (Redunca arundinum) at South Luangwa, their slightly redder and distinctly shaggier pelage making them easy to distinguish from the ubiquitous impala.

As I said in a comment to Barbara on the previous photo, South Luangwa's a wonderful place and I wouldn't hesitate to go back there if circumstances allowed. 

[11 May 2007, Canon 20D, 300 mm f4 L IS, ISO 400, 1/200 at f4]


All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Sunset, South Luangwa

Evening by the Luangwa River appeared idyllic, but not all was as it seemed. The river's home to crocodiles — some enormous — and hippos. We were instructed not to walk around unaccompanied after dark, as hippos grazed the grounds, and on both nights I woke and enjoyed the sight of a hippo cropping the grass outside my tent. A trip to the toilet would have required me to call out to the night watchman, who would have come and chased away the hippo with his catapult. Yes — really. No 375 H&H magnum: instead, a forked stick with a piece of inner tube and whatever stones happened to be lying around.

But the real danger was much less obvious: an estimated three quarters of the mosquitoes in the region carry malaria.

[11 May 2007; Canon 20D, 24–105 mm f4 L at 35 mm, ISO 400, 1/6 at f7.1]



All content © 2010 Pete McGregor

Local boy, South Luangwa NP

The only other people on my visit to South Luangwa National Park in May 2007 were a wonderful Glaswegian couple who arrived with a collection of Scottish football club jerseys for the local kids. Akim, our guide, took us to the village, where Jack and Annie distributed the jerseys. The kids were surprisingly shy at first — perhaps, like this little guy, not sure why they’d got so lucky — but it wasn’t long before the shy smiles, then great grins and laughter, appeared.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Evening, South Luangwa NP, Zambia

Zambia's South Luangwa National Park remains one of Africa's best affordable wildlife viewing places. The guides have an excellent reputation, and if Akim, our guide, was typical, the reputation's very well deserved. We waited on this low hill for the sun to go down so we could begin our night drive; the park stretched out to the horizon, an immense area where the wildlife — for the moment — has priority.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Helmeted guineafowl, South Luangwa NP, Zambia

Helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris) are common throughout much of Africa. This female was one of a small mixed-age party of guineafowl crossing the track in front of us at South Luangwa National Park in May 2007. They're protected there, of course, but elsewhere they're popular eating — I often saw "guineafowls" advertised on the walls of roadside meat shacks in Ghana and Malawi.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Giraffe, South Luangwa NP, Zambia [2]

Another look at yesterday's giraffe.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Giraffe, South Luangwa NP, Zambia

One of the first giraffes I saw at South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, in May 2007.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

Elephants, South Luangwa NP, Zambia

We watched a small group of elephants pass by in the dry and shimmering morning heat. Places like South Luangwa National Park do their best to preserve the ghost of Africa past — the great continent teeming with wildlife; humans subordinate; extinction a natural process. Now the large mammals have gone or are rapidly vanishing from outside the parks — and in some cases from within, also; humans dominate; extinction accelerates.
[May 2007]
All content © 2009 Pete McGregor