It was another early morning.  5am wake up and headed out to the park just before 6am.  A couple (Brian and Susan) from Melbourne, Australia joined us.  We went in search of wild dogs.  So after a few hippo stops.  We headed to an area where it was a bit cooler (we were all wrapped up in blankets and lots of layers) in search of the dogs.

Unfortunately we did not have any success finding the dogs but we did see a bunch of other animals.

But, the highlight was seeing a buffalo carcus which a pair of hyenas was feasting on while a mother leopard and her cub watched.  The leopard could take down the hyena but won’t risk being injured so she let the hyena have the meal.

On the way back to camp, we saw this hippo sunbathing near the river.

 

We arrived back at Flatdogs just after 10am and had a delicious breakfast.  No one is loosing weight on safari!  We then headed into Mfuwe to see some of the initiatives that Project Luangwa has been working on.  Flatdogs and several other camps contribute a portion of the money they make towards the organization.  The program works with the local community to determine areas of need and then helps them to build and support these areas.  They have built several new school buildings for the area.  The latest is a secondary school (high school) which we toured.  They are just waiting for furniture. They also support a medical clinic, a girls club with programs, and a women’s craft market to sell their goods.  They would like to create a boys club as well.

It was wonderful to get a sense of the local community and nice to know that some of our tourist dollars are going towards the community.  We then headed back to Flatdogs to enjoy some quiet time before our 4pm game drive.

We started our afternoon game drive with a hippo chase.  An older male was chasing a younger male out of his territory.  They actually run pretty fast.  This is the older male after he chased the younger one away.

We were trying to find some lions but didn’t have much success.  We did find a lot of zebra and especially enjoyed this pair.

After a evening break by the Luangwa River with the hippos and crocodiles, we began our night drive searching for some cats.  We heard some lion roaring but they were on the other side of the river.  We did however, came across a leopard who was feasting on an impala under a bush.