Lower Zambezi: Where Everything Comes Together

By Matt Meyer

We arrived in wind and dust at Jeki and met Lawrence and Tops. That afternoon alone delivered a sleeping leopard, lions hunting waterbuck, a stunning sunset, a grumpy female leopard, and then a pair of courting leopards in a tree at camp. Lower Zambezi wasted no time.

Wild dogs greeted us the next morning, with pups chewing a buffalo skull in golden light. After a bush breakfast we stopped to view some elephants in the winter thorn stands in the hopes of getting the iconic “elephant standing on its hind legs” shot, when a male leopard revealed himself behind a nearby tree with a stolen impala kill above him.

Watching closely by, a female leopard looked on disdainfully to the male who has stolen her kill. That afternoon boats brought elephants crossing and endless hippos, though tiger fish proved elusive at first but after some persistence a small tiger and a vundu broke a week-long drought.

The following morning, a Walking safari humbled us again, with elephants around every corner and lots of tracks and lessons to learn from our world-class guides. We arrived back to find our vehicle surrounded by elephants and forcing a strategic retreat behind a termite mound so our guides could quietly and elusively extricate our ride home. That evening, mating leopards were found, and we watched them before celebrating with cocktails.

Our final full day returned us to the wild dogs in the east, playing, chasing hyenas, glowing in dust and sunrise and offering up spectacular photo ops. During the midday Fishing successes continued with Michael heading out for a private boat ride with Taps for one final crack at the elusive Zambezi tiger fish. His patience was rewarded with another tiger and a large vundu before returning to camp and our final sunset drinks closing the circle.

The End, For Now

On our final morning, we watched a pair of honey badgers foraging for a solid 15/20mins, a lone backlit bull elephant dust bathing under the winter thorns with the forests shimmering in morning light. No lions appeared, but it did not matter.

Zambia had given us everything, drama, intimacy, stillness, surprise, and perspective.

Two weeks that felt like a lifetime, and yet nowhere near enough.

For now…