Blue Lagoon National Park

We had just over 24 hours in Lusaka between the Lochinvar NP trip and our next trip -- barely enough time, it turns out, to try to wash all of one's dirty field clothes and supply of underpants before heading back out again. We put our washerwoman through the ringer trying to get all of our clothes washed (by hand) and hung to dry on Sunday -- a particular challenge because she was at church all morning. A good lesson in "do it yourself."

Waiting for our laundry to dry meant a later start than we'd hoped on our journey to Blue Lagoon National Park. We also had the challenge of shopping for what was going to be 6 days in the bush with six to nine people with un-finalized accommodation plans. Part of the challenge was estimating how much bottled water to bring, as we weren't likely to encounter potable water during the trip. [I can say, in retrospect, that we did bring enough food].

Blue Lagoon National Park is located north of the Kafue River just opposite of Lochinvar, where we'd been a few days earlier. 

(You may wonder why we didn't take the road that passes by Muteli instead of the road we took. Apparently that road is in even worse shape than the road we took!)

(The space between the parks is designated as a "Game Management Area" so has some level of protection but also has many human communities and impacts.)

The drive to Blue Lagoon is divided into two parts: the part between Lusaka and Kasula (North of the Park), which is a paved road, and the part between Kasula and the park, which is one of the worse roads we've driven on: unpaved and full of ruts and bumps and other adventures. Part I of our drive took a little over an hour. Part II took nearly two hours despite its shorter length.

But we did finally arrive at Nakeenda Lodge, our home for two nights. This is the only tourism facilities in the park and was quite manageable for experienced, flexible travelers ready to tent if needed. No running water; rather a barrel in the bathroom from which one scooped water for flushing the toilet, washing up, etc. We had power from a generator for a couple of hours in the evening and did all of our own cooking right on our little veranda. Gorgeous location. We arrived just before sundown, in time to take in the camp and a lovely walk along the two-track from the camp out into the park's floodplain. 

Early the next morning, we headed out on to a causeway built in the 1970s out into the floodplain. In the wet season, the entire floodplain is covered with water in most years, so the only way to get out to see things was to elevate one's self, hence the causeway. Time has taken its toll on the causeway and especially on the tower that had been built at the end of the causeway for looking out over the floodplain--a fire burned all but the metal frame of the tower. including steps, floorboards, and the thatched roof that once extended from the center pole. The metal frame made for good climbing by Theo and Ian.

The tower skeleton at the end of the causeway.

Fun climbing the stairs with no treads.

Pano of the floodplain from the causeway (excuse the little bit of distortion at the edges...).

Part of the floodplain is dry by this time of year, so we could drive out to the point where the plain was saturated. It was a bumpy and dusty/ashy ride (ashy from the fires that had burned much of the floodplain). But we were rewarded! That edge between saturated and dry plains happens to be where all the wildife also hang out, including Wattled Cranes and the endemic Kafue Lechwe. We saw about 600 cranes and way more lechwe than we could count -- as you looked out over the floodplain, you could see an line of lechwe along that saturation margin as far as your eyes could see in both direction. Amazing. At one point, Rich, Griffin and I ditched our boots and waded out through the shallow edge of the waters to try to get closer to the cranes and lechwe. The water felt great.

The view from inside the car for most of the day so long as the vehicle was moving. Happily we had lots of stops for good viewing.	The team at work, counting Wattled Cranes and enjoying the bounty of other waterbirds and wildlife out among the cranes at the waterline.
Three guys in a canoe came to talk with us. Turned out they were scouts on patrol and were curious about us.	Seriously dusty. Thank goodness for the bandanas to hide camping hair.

We had a relaxing afternoon in camp. Great tree for hammock hanging for reading and snoozing. Dinner of boerewors (coarsely minced beef and spices--toasted coriander seed, black pepper, nutmeg, cloves and/or allspice) in a tomato-based sauce with pasta. On to Kafue National Park next.

Moon behind our beautiful tree. Photo by Ian (posted before he had a chance to edit).