You can probably guess by the title of this weeks It’s Monday that it is I, Simon, the man with the wild dog obsession, writing this week!! We had not seen the wild dogs for quite a while but one of the packs has just re-appeared with nine sub adult pups, fourteen dogs in all […]
Kim is in South Africa on leave and I am flying, with Robin, to Lake Malawi tomorrow for a five day break. So there will be no one here on Monday who knows how to set up our now-not-so-simple newsletter. So I am in fact writing this on Saturday! Each week we ask around the […]
Firstly I would like to point out that Shanie is not normally caught on camera with her mouth full of lunch but this wonderful photo sent in by Tony and Anne Timberlake was too good not to share. They took the photo during lunch at Nkwali last week as the elephants had a wonderful time […]
PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING – The following article contains material which readers with a weak stomach may find upsetting!! But hey that is what nature is all about so if you do not mind a bit of blood and gore, read on….. Yes Doctor Death is back and staying at Nsefu. True to form he saw […]
It’s Linda Stevens here, giving Kim a break from It’s Monday by doing my own. After two wild weeks haring around Namibia with a trio of friends, my spouse David and I – still with friends – pitched up on the steps of Robin’s House a week ago. It’s our fourth or fifth trip (we […]
Having not put finger to keyboard for sometime, I found myself with the pleasure of writing It’s Monday this week. With the arrival of regular guests, Paul Deniger and Frank and Barbara Jones came the request that I join them for our annual drive together (some of you may remember previous years when I have […]
The Safari Houses of Zambia Luangwa Safari House (now opens 01 December 05) and Chongwe River House (opens 01 April 06) Luangwa Safari House special introductory offer. 50% special rate Valid for any guest who has stayed with RPS before. Start date of safari between 10 January and 31 March 06 Cost will be […]
Well it has been as rather smelly week at Nkwali. In the middle of last week we noticed that a hippo had died and was now beached on one of the sand banks in front of Robin’s House with a flotilla of crocodiles waiting patiently to find a way into the carcass. (Even the powerful […]
Ross had some amazing luck last week, which goes to show that some of the best gameviewing can actually be from the Tena Tena bar! Charles Jere, one of the bedroom attendants was busy washing glasses after lunch, when he saw a crocodile take a baboon from the bank right in front of the kitchen. […]
Well it has been a strange week. Jo was away in Lusaka, Simon and Shanie in Lilongwe, Kerri in Lusaka and Ross was also “on off” as they say here. So none of my usual photographers were around! However, Christina Bonetti, who stayed with us recently, emailed me with some pictures and the following account. […]
Well things are really hotting up here in the bush – not only from a temperature point of view but also from a game viewing point of view. Yonna, one of our guides at Nkwali, had an amazing week this week with two aardvark sightings within five days – not to mention the rest of […]
As if to welcome the fact that the researchers for African Wild Dog Conservation are shortly arriving at Nkwali, where they will be based for the next few years, 24 wild dog appeared last week! Kellie Leigh and Emma Stone arrive in the next few weeks to set up their base camp just behind Nkwali. […]
I went for a drive in the park in my new car this weekend. It really was wonderful to be mobile again. Beautiful zebra and giraffe in particular were the highlights of my quick spin. However, I did not have my camera as Geno has borrowed it for her trip up to meet Rod and […]
I can not believe that we only have two weeks left until Tena Tena and Nsefu close. Once again the season has whizzed by and so I am off to Tena Tena next week for my last fix of this year. Game viewing at both camps has been terrific of late with mating lions, leopards […]
Well we have finally reached the thatching stage of the Luangwa house project and not a moment too soon. The rains are just around the corner and the pressure is on to get the thatch finished before the big storms arrive. Hastings and his team of thatchers are going along at great speed, chasing […]
In October 2001 I saw my first Tena Tena leopard. It was day time, and it was sitting in classic leopard pose up a sausage tree. Meet “0-0” (Zero Zero – ie not spot marking above the whisker line – pics above), an extremely relaxed and patient (with us!) large female who we have […]
Well I seriously landed with my bum in the butter this week! Jo had organised a photographer to join a “agents” mobile for three days and take photos for our new brochure and yours truly was asked to be a “modelle”. I have to say it far exceeded any of my expectations and the whole […]
Jo here – firstly I need to explain about the photos – Simon has just driven out, leading the next mobile, and clearly spent yesterday clearing off his photos from his computer! I cannot find the planned staff pics. So you have an arbitrary (although excellent of course) selection this week. With Rob, the new […]
Well we are back and what a wonderful break it was. So much so I am going to share it with you. We flew to Likoma Island on the eastern side of the lake and very near Mozambique. After landing on a slightly surprising bush strip we headed off to camp by boat. The island […]
A number of you have asked how the building project at Kawaza School is going. Due to the rains I have not been up there for a few months but recently went up on a site inspection (sadly void of children as it was a Sunday!). So this week you are going to hear all […]
This week has seen a major surge forward in the re-building and preparation of both Tena Tena and Nsefu. This is largely due to the very dry conditions we have had over the last month and a half. No complaints from here – it is usually a real challenge to get into the camps at […]
Today is a very exciting day for us. We can announce our new project at last. Hurrah. Since last June we have been planning this – The Safari Houses of Zambia. How did this start. Well Robin’s House has been so successful we had been looking at building another private house at Nkwali. Then last […]
I am writing this over the weekend this week as I am not going to be in the office on Monday morning as it is the annual safari guides exam and I am going to out there examining. We have 4 candidates taking their exams and as you can imagine it is quite a nerve […]
Kim here, having returned from Durban and the Indaba travel show. It is so good to be home and back in the peace and tranquility of the Valley. However, a recent gamedrive was anything but tranquil and I have asked Obi, who was the guide, to write a short account as it was so extraordinary […]
I am officially “on off” for the week as it is the “Wedding Week”. Jess and Ade, the managers of Flatdogs, are getting married in the bush on Wednesday. Jess has been in the Valley for years, and in fact worked at Nkwali in 1991. Around fifty people have flown in from all over the […]
Well what a fantastic week we have had. Tena Tena and Nsefu both opened on Tuesday and are having a superb start to the season. Ross continues to manage Tena Tena along with Rocky and Sebastian guiding – Sebastian passed his grade one walking exam this year so congratulations to him. They are joined by […]
Ross writes from Tena Tena : We had a lovely evening a few days ago with the Loebels on their first trip to Africa. We were driving around working our way to North coast Baka where Anna had laid on a surprise for them. But on our way we came across the five to six […]
Well it has been a busy birding period for us here at Robin Pope Safaris. We have had some fantastic sightings at the yellow billed stork colony and we have also had two groups of people return from successful trips to the Bangwuelu Swamps, one of the few places in Africa where you may see […]
With Simon leading the first walking mobile of the year and Kim staying at a bush camp for a couple of nights, you have me this week. It is in fact Sunday as I am flying to Lusaka this afternoon and there will be no one left in the office who knows how to send […]
Gosh I really don’t know where to start this week. Gameviewing has been superb and one of the more unusual sightings came from Paul at Nkwali who writes – “I was doing a transfer to the Tena Tena river crossing with four guests and a scout when we came across a strange sight. We were […]
I can not believe how quickly each Monday comes around. It is July already and winter has finally arrived. Hot water bottles have been sent to the camps to keep everyone cosy at night. The river is lower than normal and dust is now flying. The pelicans are here and can be found fishing in […]
This week’s newsletter comes from Kerri at Nsefu. She has taken some wonderful shots to go along with her story. While on the morning drive returning from an amazing trip to the Salt Pan where we saw a herd of around 800 buffalo, 23 giraffe drinking and crossing the river, a male lion (injured)) and […]
We are experiencing mango mania at the moment. Yes everyone is now almost sick of eating mangos – they come in many forms, smoothies for breakfast, raw for lunch and mousse for dinner! However, whilst we humans may have a limit to how many mangos we can eat, elephants do not. The ellies go mad […]
The rains have arrived!! We have had some fantastic big rainstorms over the last week, which have had an amazing affect on our surroundings with the dramatic build-up of the large black clouds, the fresh green covering of grass on the ground, the new leaf on the bushes and trees and the spectacular emergence of […]
Jo has been in London this week for the World Travel Market. Part of the proceedings involved the presentation of awards for Responsible Tourism. We are delighted to say that the winner of the award for Outstanding Personal Contribution to responsible tourism worldwide was Jo. Her citation said: “Jo and her husband, Robin, have always advocated the training up […]
Today is Sunday. Simon has left for his new life in Lilongwe (we miss you Simon!). Kim is with her mother in some historical European city. And we have realized that I am the only one here that knows how to create the weekly newsletter. So you have me. Having said that – I am […]
Well you have me again – Kim returns from her leave on Thursday, just as Robin and I fly to the UK for a week. Seems soon to be going back but we have been invited to a very special dinner and so off we go! It will be good to see the nephews again […]
With Jo in England and Kim in Lilongwe, I am your scribe for this week. It’s been an exciting week both on the gameviewing side for our guests and back of house. There have been lots of exciting sightings in terms of game and Luangwa House in its final stages (lots of stressed people at […]
Yes I am back from my extended travels – part work and part holidays and I managed to fit in 5 different countries before arriving back in Mfuwe on Wednesday! The It’s Mondays lately have been wonderful and have kept me up to date with what has been happening in camp. This week I was […]
I hope that you all had a lovely day yesterday. We started Christmas with Carols on the Luangwa Bridge – always wonderful and this year we had fun with lots of singing and dancing from our Zambian choir and guests joining in – well Jo and I too actually! We were full to bursting at […]
It’s Monday 28th March 2005 and the Easter Picnic Well it has been a busy Easter weekend for us in the Luangwa Valley. Nkwali has been full and Keyala and his team have been organizing all sorts of activities and picnics. All the guests had a lovely Easter Sunday lunch in the park after some […]
It’s Monday 3rd January 2005 the Office Queen goes bush It has been another wonderful week here in the Luangwa. The rain abated and the sun is out. Simply glorious. The birding has been exceptional as it should be now. The male weavers have started to weave their nests – the female will then inspect […]
It’s Monday10th January 2005 andthe River is full Thursday saw the last of our guests leaving for this season. As Nkwali Camp closes the “back of house” staff emerge from nine months of eating in the “cage”. We now enjoy the view of river as we eat our meals at the bar. Shanie has almost […]
It’s Monday17th January 2005 andthe Flying Baboons I am writing this on Saturday for reasons that will come clear. But first the week. Jane Dennyson came to spend a couple of nights with us. Many of you will remember Jane from her time in the Valley and possibly from East Africa where she spent the […]
It’s Monday 24th Jan 2005 and the ants live! The first few days of the week continued in “flood mode”. For light relief we decided to do something new and boat from the bar to “RoJo” – our house only 350 meters behind camp. To do this it meant boating down river some three kms […]
It’s Monday31st Jan 2005 and the Lion Detector I have been away all week in Lusaka – stuck in the board room of Airwaves Airlink, thrashing out the future plans. Airlines, it turns out, are extremely complex companies to run. However, exciting to be involved. “What has happened” I asked on return, knowing that I […]
It’s Monday 7th Feb 2005 and the Lioness Lives Kim here this week. I seem to have been ducking in and out rather a lot over recent months. Trade shows in November and December took me away for around a month and now I am back from two weeks leave. This was purely holiday however. […]
It’s Monday 14 Feb 2005 and the Lioness Dies Rain at last….after 18 days with not a drop of rain, last night we had quite a down pour – although not much in mls, it all seemed to come at the same time. And did the wind came with it! One gust had the curtains […]
It’s Monday 21st Feb 2005 and the Weather Wow – when the heavens opened on Saturday night the rain really hit us. I guess it is always like this but after such a long dry spell it is impressive. The musky smell hits you first and it is something that will always live with me. […]
It’s Monday28 Feb 2005 and the Builders This week has been one of those typical rainy season weeks – none of us have left camp to get into the bush. Therefore I thought I would give you an update of what is happening in camp. Building is the order of the day. The new kitchen […]
It’s Monday 7th March 2005 the Girls are back in Town Well I did promise to get out into the park this week but failed miserably. However, Debs and Kerri have arrived back from their month away in Lusaka and were only too keen to get out and about. They set off with Geno for […]
It’s Monday 14th March 2005 and the Party Well what a week we have had – Shanie has been feeding an average of 80 for lunch each day with casual workers and camp staff swarming around getting everything ready for the big day. Our first guests arrived on Sunday – into Robin’s House and Friday […]