Wildlife wonderland…

… to celebrate World Wildlife Day

I never knew that such a day existed, but why not? Everybody else seems to have a day. So on this day, it's good to start with a little selection of pictures that I took in the South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.

Saddle-billed Stork wading in a pool along the Luangwa River, looking for some lunch. © Ron Smit

It was October 2020, the world still in the grip of covid-19 (or what we now know was the first wave) and we had the opportunity to stay at Wildlife Camp, near Mfuwe, at a special rate for locals due to the lack of foreign tourists. A weekend during which we saw an impressive number of animal species, by day and by night.

Leopard keeping at a safe distance from a Spotted Hyena. © Ron Smit

The camp is just outside the National Park, immediately across the Luangwa River and we enjoyed a number of trips into the park itself, in an open Landcruiser driven by a safari guide. During our first trip, we spotted a leopard that was hiding in a tree, to stay away from a couple of hyenas. Leopards are solitary animals and hyenas might have a reputation to be scavengers, but they are certainly also predators.

Female leopard keeping an eye out for potential scavengers. © Ron Smit

The next day, during a morning drive to approximately the same area, we spotted a leopard with her prey, an unlucky impala. She was still ripping all the hair from the antelope’s butt with her rough tongue, before digging into the meat. Apparently, all cats detest hairballs. And she was glaring around to see if there might be any uninvited lunch guests.

This Impala ram, nicely framed by a dead tree, was trying to stare us down. Obviously, a couple of tourists in a truck are less scary than a hungry leopard. © Ron Smit

Near any of the large rivers in the national parks, or the surrounding areas, you can often hear the call of the African Fish Eagle. Usually, one only spots the dark brown bird with characteristic white head in the tops of trees along rivers, at a distance. I count myself lucky that I was able to “shoot” this one with my little compact Sony DSC-HX99:

African Fish Eagle keeping a sharp lookout. © Ron Smit

Nile crocodiles are quite common in many African rivers (and an excellent reason to not go swimming in them!). This one looked to be resting on a sandbank, with some ripple marks forming behind him (or her). (But I digress, that’s for a more geological story, on another day.) When they start moving, this is often with slowly raising themselves on those little legs and then they waddle off like a slow lizard. But don’t be deceived — they can pick up speed and move like a flash, if needed.

Nile crocodile sunning on the beach. © Ron Smit

Of course, no story about wildlife in Africa could be complete without a photograph of a lion, so here we go. This one walked up from the river towards the vehicle and then settled down on the grass, just to give us ample opportunity to click away with our cameras.

Male lion, resting on the riverbank, but annoyed by pesky tsetse flies. (I guess they are wildlife too, but who likes big, biting flies?) © Ron Smit

There are large herds of elephant in the area and we had lots of opportunities to see them. This next image was taken inside the park, but elephants also crossed the river to wander between the huts and tents in the campsite, towards the bush beyond.

Elephant family trotting down towards the river, for pre- and post-lunch drinks. (They essentially eat all day.) © Ron Smit

A final image, taken from Wildlife Camp, over the Luangwa River, into the Park itself. lots of animal tracks on this side demonstrate how animals cross into and out of the Zambian parks, which are not fenced. © Ron Smit