Trip Report - Liuwa Plains National Park

Out the window of the plane, a ten-seater Caravelle, is a remarkable sight: the water world which is the floodplain of the upper Zambezi River. By late May the annual flood of regeneration is well past its peak and the river retreating from the small patches of higher elevation forest which become islands when the water rises. But when I look closely I see that much of the plain remains flooded, covered in waving grasses which part like thinning hair to reveal their roots in indigo-colored water, while those moving, dark dots across this ocean of grass are not cars or buses or ox-carts. They are boats.

Our flying time from Lusaka this morning is two hours on a route which first takes us across Kafue National Park, roughly following the Kafue River, tributary of the Zambezi. There are five of us altogether. Four have arrived in Zambia just hours ago, on British Airways overnight flight from London. Since I live in Lusaka I am rested and pass out the packaged crisps and cold drinks provided us in the cool box at the back of the tiny aircraft. But everyone's nose is pressed to the window by the time we cross the Zambezi itself, its seasonal swelling subsiding, exposing deposits of sand as white as snow on its banks and meandering bends. To the west of the river, not far from the Angola border, is our destination, the dirt airstrip of Kalabo town, gateway to remote Liuwa Plains National Park. We will pass through Kalabo twice on this safari, which means crossing the Luanginga River that the town is scattered along two times as well. This we do simply and effectively by pontoon, a one-vehicle capacity barge rigged to a chain and pulley system and hauled across the water hand over hand.

My host is Robin Pope Safaris, a renowned and respected name in the Zambian safari industry, and none other than Robin Pope himself leads us. Liuwa National Park has been managed by private capital since 2004, and as it shows signs that this venture is paying off, Robin has returned to Liuwa for the first time since the 90s, offering four and five day tours timed to catch the plains at their best – November and December and again in May and June. Migrant waterbirds fill the seasonal lagoons on the floodplain during these times. The blue wildebeest, 35,000 strong in numbers now, have returned from their migration north to Angola, attracted by Liuwa's rain-fed new grasses. October/November is their foaling season. Liuwa is not a trip for a first safari. There are no elephants and hippos. A cheetah mother and her sub-adult young and wild dogs are occasionally sighted, and the large dens of hyenas are a Liuwa fixture, but this safari is not about them. Liuwa is about the small but no less crucial components of a safari that tend to be overlooked in "Big Five" destinations. It is about examining the subtleties of an ecosystem, on foot preferably if you are up to it, under the gentle instruction of a bush master. You will depart a happy graduate from this bush school with an unofficial diploma on trees, plants, fruits, seeds, spoor, insects, and birds, on many, many birds. Content at the end of our unhurried days, with the new knowledge of a bright red dragon fly or the mottled color of a plover's eggs, I thought of Annie Dillard. "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives," she said. The Liuwa experience doesn't mean that you won't see wildlife. We did, lots of it: wildebeest, zebra, lechwe, oribi, and those large dens of hyenas. Very early one morning, everyone in camp heard the unmistakable uproar of hyenas on a successful hunt.

The Liuwa story isn't complete without mentioning Lady Liuwa, the sole remaining lioness in the park. Lady's relatives are all dead. She has been alone since 2006 or 2007. When Robin and his crew first occupied Matamanene camp as their Liuwa Plains headquarters, they found that Lady laid claim to it as well. She slept in the shade there during the day; she patrolled camp at night purring loudly. One guest had his bed pushed into the middle of tent when Lady rubbed up against it on the outside. It may be that Lady sought the security that the camp and its human inhabitants provided from the park's alpha predators, the hyenas, but maybe it was loneliness too which forced her into this unusual and ironic attachment with the species who are to blame for her plight in the first place. I traveled out to Liuwa hoping fervently for a night visit from Lady while dreading it at the same time. However, it wasn't to happen, and for a very good reason. Several weeks earlier, Africa Parks, the company which manages the park, sedated two handsome young males from a Kafue National Park lion pride and transported them to Liuwa where they were released after a short captivity. (Actually they busted loose prematurely, seduced away by Lady and their lion-sized wills to escape, but that is another story.) Naturally, Lady deserted us for her own kind. Robin took us to find the three lions one afternoon. (One male and Lady have been collared so the trio's whereabouts can be monitored.) The males were still suspicious after their involuntary relocation – of one male I saw only hostile yellow eyes scrutinizing our every move from tall grasses - but Lady was nearby and appeared content with her new companions. You cannot help but be touched by Lady's story. Ultimately, it is about our redemption. We've attempted to set things right before it's too late and Lady herself, the last Liuwa lion, is gone forever. (In Central Africa's Dzanga-Ndoki National Park a similar story concluded less responsibly for us: someone shot the last remaining hippo, a female, in the Sangha River.) In happy endings there can be happy beginnings. By December, it is hoped that Lady will have cubs sired by one of the transplanted males.

Lady makes an appropriate icon for the park, for in the Liuwa Plains story there is also the redemption of a paradise lost and regained. Africa Parks, Robin Pope Safaris, and everyone who now visits Liuwa, helps support and save one more of our planet's remaining precious places.

For more information on Africa Parks, a business approach to saving
Africa's national parks, see www.african-parks.org

14-10-2009