Chibembe Is Back

Andrew Muswala talks to Simon Bicknell and Henry Hallward, owners of Chibembe Wildlife Reserve, about the newly opened Chibembe Bush Camp and the re-birth of the traditional Chibembe walking safari experience in the South Luangwa National Park.

Kindly give us a brief background to the history of Chibembe

Chibembe was first operated as a hunting camp as far back as the early 1950s before the South Luangwa National Park was gazetted a protected wildlife reserve in 1972. On his retirement from the Zambia National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1974, Norman Carr set up a small walking trails ‘bush camp’ on Chibembe Island to try out his ‘new’ safari concept where guests shot wildlife with their cameras, rather than rifles.

‘Photo tourism’ proved popular and Carr obtained a lease for his tourism company, Wilderness Trails Limited, to build Chibembe Lodge. Establishing a circuit of walking trails bush camps in the South Luangwa National Park, along the Luangwa and Mupamadzi Rivers, Chibembe Lodge became very popular helping to promote Norman’s vision of photo tourism. Aimed at the family market, Chibembe was hugely popular with all who visited and experienced the magical ‘Chibembe walking area’ in the north-east corner of the South Luangwa National Park.

In 1996, following a brief period operating under the management of MRI, owners of the UK tour operator Hayes & Jarvis, Chibembe was sold to the current shareholders. Leasing to a new safari company did not turn out well and for some years Chibembe was unoccupied. In May 2017, Simon and Henry became directors of Wilderness Trails and started the process of reviving Chibembe. With generous support from the Wilderness Trails chairman, David Dutton, an enormous amount of site clearing and track building took place, followed in 2018 by renovation works.

2019 sees the re-launch of Chibembe as the home of the traditional Norman Carr-style walking trails safari experience in the Luangwa Valley. The Chibembe walking area covers thousands of acres in the South Luangwa National Park and Chibembe Wildlife Reserve. All walking safaris are conducted by a qualified, experienced and knowledgeable guide, backed up by an armed game scout.

Chibembe Bush Camp comprises four tents under thatch with en suite bush showers and flush loos, providing double and twin sleeping arrangements. Set on the banks of the Luangwa River, whilst it is not a luxurious safari experience, Chibembe Bush Camp provides amazing views into the South Luangwa National Park. Ice-cold drinks, wholesome bush cooking, hot bush showers and Unlike a safari lodge, where the main game-viewing activities are vehicle-based, Chibembe provides walking trails safari experiences pioneered by Norman Carr in the original operating area. Exploring the wilderness on foot, away from vehicles, is increasingly difficult in many parts of Zambia; Chibembe is a rare gem in an increasingly cluttered wilderness.

An added bonus is that all Chibembe safari experiences, ex Mfuwe, include at least one half-day game drive in the Nsefu sector of the South Luangwa National Park en route into, or back from, Chibembe. Little visited, this part of the park, gazetted in 1966 as a game reserve before the national park had been created, is a fantastic entrée to Chibembe—its lagoons and springs attract huge herds of buffalo and incredible flocks of egrets as well as wild dog, wildebeest, elephants, giraffes, lions and leopards, along with their main prey, puku and impala.

When asked how he became involved in Chibembe, Simon recounts meeting Cindy Buxton, a wildlife film-maker who had filmed at Chibembe, shortly before he set off on a six-month overland safari through Africa in 1984. Cindy suggested he went to Chibembe. When he arrived at Chibembe, shortly after Norman had moved to Kapani, there was an opportunity to become a guide working with safari legends John Coppinger and Vic Gurs, among others. 35 years later he is still involved with Chibembe!

Henry became involved in October, 1995, whilst looking for new areas to expand Tongabezi Expeditions, his joint-venture mobile safari business with Tongabezi Lodge. On a recce to North Luangwa National Park he drove into Chibembe. Spending three days there he arranged a meeting with Simon in Lusaka and within a few months the Tongabezi Expeditions partners bought Chibembe.

Can you tell me what inspired the creation of Chibembe Bush Camp?

‘My vision was to cut out the unnecessary luxuries that distract from the purity of the wilderness experience and reinstate the safari experience I discovered 35 years ago when I first arrived at Chibembe,’ Simon explains. ‘There is a place for air-conditioning, vehicle and generator noise, but not at Chibembe.’

Simon continues, ‘blessed with one of the best walking safari areas in the Luangwa Valley, I wanted the total focus to be on the walking trails safari experience. There is an intimacy with the bush, the wildlife and the flora with which one can only truly connect when there are no distractions whilst on a walking safari. Exploring the bush on foot in a leisurely way and spending time enjoying the wildlife and landscape can only be done on foot, immersed amongst the wilderness and wildlife.’

Henry now runs a safari-specialist marketing company and explains some of the subtle changes that they’ve made at Chibembe. ‘Since the 1970s, client expectations have changed and the decision was to start with a walking trails camp based on the original Norman Carr formula, but with some comforts like a closed tent under thatch, en suite loo, shower, and solar lights. The impact on the wilderness is very low and can easily be reversed. The unique offering at Chibembe is the privacy and solitude as the bush camp is booked on an exclusive basis from four to eight people.’

What sort of products are you offering at Chibembe Wildlife Reserve?

‘The charming, simple and traditional tented safari camp is the gateway to one of the finest walking safari areas in the South Luangwa National Park, a stepping stone away from Chibembe Island with its diverse woodland and grassland ecology,’ Simon points out with his safari guide’s eye. ‘A gentle morning’s walk will take you through ebony groves with water courses running through and open munga woodland (‘munga’ means thorn) as well as evergreen riverine forest. A healthy variety of wildlife is found in this peaceful landscape with dramatic visuals of the new Luangwa River course meandering around the perimeter.’ He ends with his signature expression when on safari, ‘Magic!’

How unique is your product compared with the rest in the South Luangwa?

‘Chibembe sits in its own 850-acre private wildlife reserve sharing a three-kilometre unfenced boundary with the South Luangwa National Park, making it unique in the Luangwa Valley,’ Henry explains. ‘With no uninvited vehicles driving around, and nobody other than the Chibembe clients, the safari experience is an intimate engagement with nature unlike any other in the South Luangwa.’

What is your target market?

‘Norman Carr built a great product at Chibembe offering families the opportunity to experience the wilderness together. The ‘friends and family’ market is most suited to the Chibembe safari experience, creating memories across the generations that will last a lifetime,’ Henry continues. ‘There are many safari lodges and camps that cater for honeymooners and couples but we are able to offer a very private, intimate tented bush camp safari experience for small groups of friends, or family and friends, from four to eight people.’

How do you think the business will evolve in the future?

Simon responds, ‘The vision for Chibembe is to re-create a family-focused wildlife destination in the Luangwa Valley for the underserved friends and family market. In addition to three walking trails bush camps, we will be developing five private tented camps set in their own five-acre plots with 120 metres of Luangwa River frontage. Owned by private investors, who will offer their private camps to clients when they aren’t in use by the owners, their camps will sleep up to eight guests and include a plunge pool, kitchen/dining area and an independent solarpowered installation,’ going on to say, ‘enquiries for the plots can be found at www.chibembe.com’

What do you think will be the key to Chibembe’s success?

‘Partnering with our fellow safari lodge and safari operators in the Luangwa Valley, providing them with an exclusive walking safari extension to their safari lodges and camps has been very well received,’ explains Simon. ‘We are able to offer a traditional walking trails safari extension to any safari lodge in the Luangwa Valley providing clients with the variety of two types of safari in different areas of the South Luangwa National Park. Details of all of the Chibembe safari experiences with all of our partners are at www.chibembe.com’

Lastly, what are your final remarks?

‘Our stakeholders, the Mwanya community and our lodge partners have been supportive in getting Chibembe operational and back on the map again. Set away from the busy Mfuwe hub it offers true wilderness lovers an opportunity to explore a remote area of the national park in solitude. For the five Chibembe private camp owners, it’s a unique opportunity to have a home opposite what is recognised as the finest national park in Africa,’ concludes Simon.