A Wild Expedition into Remote Western Zambia

Writer: Frank Steenhuisen Photography: Frank Steenhuisen, Gesa Neitzel

The beginning of an amazing trip into the wilderness area of Western Zambia came with the completion of our new, unique game-viewing vehicle and our impatient eagerness to try it out. We knew that with such a vehicle its first trip just had to be something different and a challenge to set the benchmark for what it could do. The vehicle was designed to include a number of advantages over that of a normal game-viewer. In this case it was the significant height advantage and serious off-road capabilities, as well as comfort and game-viewing improvements for the passengers that were to be put to the test.

We set off on our expedition in November 2017, having carefully planned for our trip to coincide with the annual wildebeest migration which moves over the vast landscape of Liuwa Plain National Park. As it turned out, our timing was near perfect. We were greeted at Kalabo, the closest town to Liuwa Plain, with an impressive show from Mother Nature in the form of a huge thunderstorm – a true downpour. This is exactly what we had expected and is what attracts the big herds of wildebeest to the middle of the park.

We spent four nights in Liuwa Plain, marvelling at the spectacle of the second largest wildebeest migration in Africa, as well as observing the many other interesting creatures that inhabit the area. For instance, we enjoyed fantastic sightings of spotted hyena, something for which the plains are famous. Birding at that time of the year was also incredible as we not only recorded a high species count, but also witnessed flocks of blackwinged pratincoles in their thousands, flying together, a spectacle which even non-birders could appreciate. But our target species for our time in Liuwa was the elusive plains-roaming cheetah, and on our last evening we were lucky enough to track one down as the sun was setting. This was a great end to our last game drive in the area. We could now rest with a sense of accomplishment and prepare for the next leg of the journey which would see us heading east to Kafue National Park.

After a full day’s travel through thick sand, muddy terrain and a number of local villages, we found ourselves with welcome drink in hand, checking into Musekese Camp, a small and intimate bush camp located in the northern sector of Kafue National Park. It didn’t take us long to realize that the guiding standard at Musekese was of the utmost importance, and as camp owners Phil Jeffery and Tyrone McKeith are guides themselves they knew exactly where the focus of a great safari should be – on the guests!

nights. We were spoilt with a number of elephant sightings, hippos and huge crocodiles, and one group had a fantastic run-in with a big territorial male leopard who put on quite the show as they followed him on his patrol. Our time there also gave us a chance to stretch our legs and go for a number of extremely informative bush walks, where the high level of guiding from the team really shone. We found ourselves discussing everything from the small velvet mites up to the large, iconic elephants and their impact on the area. The famous Musekese pride of lions proved to be elusive and very sneaky. We could see evidence of their movements right through the middle of camp most nights, but we couldn’t manage to find them while out in the field. This however made for great excitement, and along with great guiding, excellent service and some of the best meals of the entire expedition, we ended up loving our time at Musekese and will have to return one day for another attempt to find the lions.

The group split after our stay at Musekese: safariFRANK team members Johan and Welna took the group south through Kafue National Park for a stopover in Nanzhila Plain, while Gesa Neitzel and myself set off on our own expedition, some 1000 kilometres to the east, heading to Kasanka National Park to witness yet another migration. But this time it was the world’s largest mammal migration – roughly 10 million straw-coloured fruit bats migrate from the Congo basin and roost in one small patch of forest in the centre of the park. We wanted to witness the impressive migration at first hand and try to capture the experience on camera. However, we soon became aware exactly how difficult this would be as the sheer number of bats all in one area and circling around us was something to which photographs simply cannot do justice. It was one of the greatest wildlife spectacles I’ve ever witnessed and certainly something I would recommend to veteran Africa travellers who are looking to experience something different.

The rest of the group went on to spend the final nights of the expedition revelling in a spot of luxury, right on the edge of the mighty Zambezi River, in a private house known as Waterberry’s River Farmhouse. In a truly stunning location, just outside the town of Livingstone, the group was treated to first-class service, access to the Victoria Falls and superb sightings of a herd of elephants coming down to the Zambezi for a drink…and what’s best was that this was all from the comfort of their own private pool!

All in all, it was a fantastic first tour with our FrankMobile, during which we created some longlasting memories and met some great people along the way. The vehicle’s advantages really stood out whilst in Liuwa Plain. Our height advantage in the FrankMobile gave us huge viewing potential over a large area and we found ourselves scanning the endless plains constantly, almost as if we were in a viewing tower. This, in combination with superior off-road capabilities, left us with the confidence of knowing that we could go just about anywhere and have no worries whilst game viewing. We had a great time testing the vehicle and Zambia holds some special wilderness areas and we look forward to exploring it further and further.

safariFRANK is a boutique adventure tour operator based in Brisbane and Berlin. For more information see www.safarifrank.com or contact them at info@safarifrank.com