Rugged,Wild and Free

I have visited Zambia many times in the mid 70″s on school holidays as my Dad was working there for awhile.

I just love all animals. Zambia has the best game reserves in the world.I have been lucky to have visited two .

The first one that we went to was Kafue National Park, which is about the size of Massachusetts. It is home to lions,cheetahs,zebras,elephants and other beautiful animals.

The second one that we went on was a camping trip in Luangwa National Park in Eastern Zambia. It’s a wildlife haven and home to a large lion population.

The Luangwa river has the highest density of hippos in the world. One morning , my Dad looked through the window of the log hut at the camp we were staying at. He asked us to come quietly to see what he was observing, It was a hippo who after having it’s mud bath , decided to come over to shake off his dirt outside our hut.We stayed perfectly still , who knows what would happen if this dear hippo got disturbed.After awhile, he wandered off in a very slow fashion.

Another day as we were driving along from our camp in this lush green wonderland, we saw a rhino standing in the bushes .As we were staring at him for so long , it obviously annoyed him and he started to stamp his foot so my Dad slowly started to drive away.The rhino was not amused, he was running behind the car.My Dad quickly turned the car to the left and the rhino went straight ahead.If you ever get chased by a rhino , remember they cannot turn quickly.

Rhinos were declared extinct in Zambia in 1998, having been poached out of existence. They are now back in Luangwa as poaching was brought under control and in 2003 , the North Luangwa Conservation Program managed to reintroduce 34 black rhino into the park

I have also seen lions,elephants, giraffes,zebra,antelope, wildebeast and many birds on safari.