As with the best safaris, those who guide us through the landscape grew up within sight of it. Most of the staff, including Kalindawalo and Chalimba at Kutali and Nathan Maingala at Chula Island, come from Mugurameno, a village about 44 miles away. Some guides have trained through local initiatives such as Conservation Lower Zambezi, but most learn on the job.
After a few days at Kutali we move to Chula Island camp on Katengahumba Island, close to the game-rich Jeki Plain. Separated from the mainland by a hippo-heavy channel, and with its fan-cooled canvas tents shaded by the thick, robust canopies of mature natal mahoganies, crocodile-laced sandy beaches and open grassy wetlands known as dambos, it brings new meaning to the phrase “private island”.
Bedroom at Kutali CampDavid Yawalkar/Classic Zambia Safaris
Zebras on the planeLydia Bell
Walking safaris are a way to feel closer to the bush. On Jeki Plain, circled by leadwoods, we leave the vehicle under a rain tree and make contact with the earth. Walking with an armed officer toting a .375-caliber rifle, whose eye is following the buffaloes on the horizon, our attention can narrow to tracks, droppings and insects – and the complex worlds of termite mounds. Our guide, Leon Mwenya Bwalya, talks about the depopulation of the Lower Zambezi Valley, which happened over several decades during the mid-20th century, partly because of sleeping sickness epidemics caused by the tsetse fly. Another guide present says his grandmother, who lived till she was more than a hundred, remembered the villages. For me, walking in the bush is priceless, but I know that the quietness of these moments is a challenge for my daughter, who lacks patience. It’s fine – it’s character-building. Chula Island gives us that precious leopard moment. Close to the river crossing, Chalimba spots the creature lying under a bush in archetypal repose, her pristine fur reminiscent of a thousand winter coat rip-offs, her giant curled paws like a soft toy’s.