Office Africa – October 2018
Evocative emotions, experiences and an emotional end to our 2018 season.
An endless amount of experiences and emotions will stay with us as October comes to an end. It’s another end to yet another season, our 26th year of operation here deep in the heart of the South Luangwa National Park. Our guests have had their ultimate wildlife experiences while with us; from new life in the joyful playing of cubs to the end of life in the form of hunts and kills. They have enjoyed the ecstatic storytelling around our tables, either under the starry night sky at Mwamba or surrounded by the gorgeous chandeliers at Kaingo. Stories of the day’s safari, of past visits and, of course, future plans to return again. The emotions, surmounting to incredible memories that last a lifetime. From your guide to your host to your waiter, to every member of the Shenton Safaris’ family. We have the unbelievable privilege to be part of your experience while you are on safari with us, and, we hope, we will be part of those unforgettable memories.
October has delivered, as it always does, astounding sightings. Commonly known as the “suicide month”, October is usually known for soaring temperatures and incredible wildlife moments. We may as well have renamed the month to “Cat-ober” this year with the endless supply of cat action we saw. Lion and leopard cubs, lion and leopard hunts, lion and leopard kills! However, this year has not quite been a “suicide month” with an anomaly on the temperature front, as an early shower in our camps and rains around Zambia brought down the temperatures quite drastically! Pleasant temperatures and astounding wildlife? What a treat for our guests!
Of course, apart from our big cats, the phenomenal carmine bee-eaters, and all the other game that we regularly get to see. A special mention to Conservation South Luangwa, for the increase in elephant numbers in the park. As always, a true testament to their hard work in anti-poaching, increasing numbers of elephants have been travelling through our corner of paradise. New elephant herds that we have not seen before, with several very young calves. A sign of a healthy and happy park that we are all ecstatic to witness!
Another special treat this month must have been the visits to our hyena den site. Now, I do blame good old Disney for the making hyenas into the “Villains” of Africa, and everyone that has been through our camps would know that they are my favourite creature. Most of our guests would not agree with me that the adults are wonderful to watch, but when it comes to the cubs! All of those that had the chance to sit with the hyena cubs for a couple of hours did end up changing their mind on hyenas in general! Their inquisitive nature is at its best when they are young, inquisitive nature + childish curiosity = endless hours of fun watching them being naturally interested in game viewing vehicles and the people sitting there watching them. Not to mention family squabbles and bickering! Hours of fun!
Until we meet again…
This year we say goodbye and good luck on the next adventure, to our wonderful Mwamba managers Craig & Lyndie Reiche! After three incredible years, Craig & Lyndie are moving home to Cape Town to live the big city life! We cannot begin to thank them for all the hard work and love they have given Shenton Safaris and Mwamba in particular. Neither of the refurbishments, both at Kaingo and Mwamba, would have been accomplished without Lyndie’s diligent work on the ground sourcing for us, while Craig has set up our active social media presence over these three years with his tireless work on editing all of our guides footage. Both of them have added an incredible dynamic to Mwamba’s experience; making it their home and inviting Mwamba’s guests to share it with them. All of us will dearly miss them, and we wish them the very best in their new adventures!
Now, many of you will know that our lovely front of house manager at Kaingo, Eve, was first suggested to us by Craig & Lyndie. There is an ongoing joke between Eve, Craig & Lyndie that Eve follows them around the world. It seems that this will continue to be the case! Eve will also be moving on next year for the big city life of Cape Town! She’s given us an incredible year of tireless and joyful work at Kaingo, adding so much with her diligence and astounding knowledge of Africa. We wish her all the best in her new ventures on the “other side” as a travel agent! We look forward to receiving her first guests as she settles into her new role!
Another fantastic season…
This all being said, our 2018 season has been such a success and it would not have been possible without the hard work and passion of all of our Shenton Safaris’ Family. Thank you to all of our extended family, this year has been our busiest on record, a 14% increase in 2017 bookings and the entire team worked exceptionally well and hard throughout the season! Thank you to our guiding team, for keeping their incredible passion and proving to us once again that they love sharing our corner of paradise with our guests. Though they will be greatly missed a big thank you first of all to Craig, Lyndie and Eve for the fantastic work in both Kaingo and Mwamba. A huge thank you to Catherine, and her chef team, for the incredible meals prepared for all of our guests. Thank you to Gerard for his tireless work in operations and maintenance, and of course for being our early riser in camp! Thank you to Loraine for her enthusiastic work on our bookings, we’re terribly excited for 2019 and 2020 as the bookings are rolling in!
The Safari Awards
As we close up our camps and get ready to separate for the offseason, we hope you’ll stay tuned in our blogs, facebook, instagram, twitter and youtube as we share the incredible wildlife moments we’ve enjoyed this year. The webcams will once again be closed down, and I know they’ll be eagerly anticipated once we are back up and running again next year. If you have visited us in our 2018 season, we hope you’ll take the time to vote for us in the Safari Awards! We’ve been nominated in the below categories, some in particular that we are extremely excited for are the following: Best Safari Cuisine, Best Location and Best Safari Guiding Team. Click through on the links below to vote for us!
Best Value Safari Property
Best Ecologically Responsible
Best Community Focused
Best Design
Best Location
Best Family Safari Experience
Best Safari Cuisine
Best Walking Safaris
Best Safari Guiding Team
Best Value Safari Property
Best Ecologically Responsible
Best Community Focused
Best Design
Best Location
Best Family Safari Experience
Best Safari Cuisine
Best Walking Safaris
Best Safari Guiding Team
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