Last weekend we ventured away from the hospital to South
Luangwa National Park, a few hours north west of Katete. We had been here for four weeks and
felt that it was time for a quick break to go and see some animals. The (at times) bumpy four hour drive was
well worth it, and we arrived to the sight of antelopes grazing in the fields
outside our lodge! As it is the
rainy season currently the park was amazingly green, but also wet, making some
parts of it inaccessible (unfortunately where the lions were hanging out) but
the wildlife was fantastic!
Becca had not seen Giraffes, Zebras and Leopards in the wild before so
was particularly excited to see those and we were lucky to see Leopards on four
separate occasions. We attach a
few of our photos although if you want to see what the animals really look like
you should check out http://www.burrard-lucas.com. It’s Will’s website who is Nat one of the doctor’s husband
and lives with us at SFH. He is a
professional wildlife photographer and takes awe-inspiring photos. I think our best moment was seeing a
Leopard stalk a Puku (antelope) before being scared away by an Elephant! We had a really fun group on safari with
us and when we weren’t on game drives, we spent time relaxing by the pool and
eating delicious food (no goat in sight..) We were also very appreciative of
the loans of suncream, a torch and binoculars, it seems we weren’t that well
prepared!!
After a refreshing break, it has been nice to get back to
our house (the garden does not yet deserve a full mention) and the
hospital. I think we are settling
into the work now and really enjoying it, despite occasional frustrations such
as running out of HIV tests this week!!! It was sad to say goodbye to Geoff and Charlotte who
left today, but it was nice to have a goodbye barbecue yesterday (not sure we’ve
had a BBQ in February before)!
We’re about to start another 12-day stretch of work, but we’ve
had a good day preparing by making tomato soup, stocking up on fruit from
Katete, and possibly slightly less successfully, Tom having a haircut by Becca
(no photos as yet)…
Hey guys. Great to hear your news. I especially like the layout that compares Tom to an elephant. His Tuska's are definitely more impressive!!
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Stu, I thought exactly the same thing. Makes Tom look like he's lost some weight! Really nice to keep getting these insightful and entertaining updates. You both inspire me!
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