Takwela Camp—at Nature’s Pace

WRITER: JENNIFER COPPINGER PHOTOGRAPHY: REMOTE AFRICA SAFARIS, PATRICK BENTLEY, SCOTT RAMSAY

iving in the 21st century certainly comes with its perks: extensive travel opportunities, advanced health care and access to cutting edge technology. What I mean is that by the next century people will be living on Mars and will be shooting off to sip cocktails at the edge of our galaxy—or at least this is what we’re led to believe—so much change, so much development, so much progress. And along with all of the perks comes a high-paced lifestyle with which everyone is expected to keep in step, no matter the gruelling pace.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that there are still wild places on Earth that exist as they did a hundred years ago. Zambia holds many of these natural jewels, with the Luangwa Valley being a particularly prized and precious place. The Valley supports an array of wildlife including the highest population of Zambia’s carnivores, Africa’s highest population of hippo, while also boasting 469 different species of birds.

The far-flung and more remote North Luangwa, being strictly seasonal for tourism and much harder to access, is largely undiscovered. Very few bush camps enable entry into this wild space, but Takwela Camp, the latest addition to the Remote Africa Safaris portfolio, is one of them.

Takwela is a small bush camp nestled amongst leafy riverine forest on the edge of the North Luangwa National Park, looking over the confluence of the Mwaleshi and Luangwa Rivers.

Solar powered and built out of natural materials using local skills, Takwela is as close to the natural experience as you can get without skimping on all of the comforts you would expect from an authentic safari adventure. Listen to the night sounds of the bush—a hippo grazing near the chalet, the rasping grunt of the territorial leopard and the gentle churring of a nightjar—while safely tucked between cotton sheets and

covered by a tent-sized mosquito net inside an airy thatched chalet.

At dawn, warm rays creep over the Luangwa River and into the camp while you sip an early morning cup of coffee around the camp fire. Breakfast is enjoyed with a view as the chairs face out over the rivers’ confluence and an expansive dry riverbed, known as a ‘wafwa’ in the vernacular, now green with grass and small flora. The wafwa attracts herds of impala, puku and waterbuck as well as foraging warthog and even a few hyena, their presence clarified by the whistle of some nervous puku. The hyena lope through the shallow Mwaleshi and out of sight while their eerie whoop carries clearly downriver to the breakfast buffet through the crisp morning air; and several hundred hippos shuffle back into place along the river’s edge after a night of grazing.

Activities slot into the natural rhythm of the space. Walking safaris follow existing animal paths to track the Luangwa’s wildlife on foot and game drives wind along dirt tracks that twist slowly through the bush. Night drives spot nocturnal creatures normally hidden by a curtain of darkness such as civet, genet, bushbaby, owls, aardvark and leopard.

The day ends at nature’s pace with a spectacular orange sunset reflected over a pod of snorting hippos while you sit back and sip a G&T. Glancing skywards you may spot some stars, maybe even Mars, twinkling down at you. In that moment it would be hard to think that a G&T could taste better anywhere else, even at the edge of the galaxy. ■