Wilderness Busanga Bush Camp Newsletter – June 2023

Coming back to Wilderness Busanga Bush Camp (BBC) for the season this year has been amazing. The smiles, jokes and stories among the team have been just magnificent, and the welcome from the wide range of wildlife nothing short of magical.  The lion cub activity has been especially exciting, with lots of muddy action, and it’s great to see the increase in their numbers in the Busanga Plains.

 

It is no longer news that BBC is located in an ‘affluent’ area for wildlife – here it is never a struggle to find different kinds of cats, especially the lions.

 

Our camp is a home where all guests instantly feel comfortable and at peace. Waking up in the morning to a beautiful sunrise on the misty floodplain in front of camp, where red lechwe and puku parade, is a thing of wonder to see. BBC’s main area is recognised by our guests as one of the best viewing areas in camp in the Plains.

 

The rains have completely stopped and the floodplains are drying. The temperatures in June were around 26°C during the day, and at night and in the early hours of the morning, 8°C, This meant layering up when going out on game drives.

 

 

Camp activities

 

Our Guest Experience Manager Doreen has introduced spa treatments for our guests. What could be more beautiful than an afternoon of relaxation, inhaling happiness during a massage, after your morning drive and brunch, while waiting for your afternoon drive.

 

We have days when guests simply want to relax at the main area during the afternoon, read a book, and enjoy snacks prepared by Chef Lemon, while chatting over a glass of iced tea or coffee served by our waiters. Many are interested in learning some of our Zambian traditional games like nsolo for an hour before going on their afternoon drive.

 

 

Later, after dinner, our guests find it amazing that, not only do they have time to relax around the fire with a chilled beer or glass of wine, but they also have the chance to do some stargazing. An even better way of having fun. There is something so enchanting about the night sky… all those heavenly bodies, shooting stars, and especially the Moon, lighting up the night. Seeing the constellations playing their roles is just breath-taking.

 

Out of camp activities

 

Our guests’ out-of-camp experiences were organised by Doreen, with the help of our Barman, Chiyambi, and Waiter, Fixson.

 

Our guests had beautiful Busanga moments over sundowners, watching the sun slowly go down across the clouds, softly welcoming the evening like a gentle kiss.

 

Sightings

 

This month we recorded excellent sightings of hippos, and big cats like lions and cheetahs.

 

 

Lions are usually close by and our guests find it amazing that the first sighting they have, before going too far on their drive, is of the Royals. Princess’s beauty and power is striking, even from a distance. Always impressive is seeing see Princess and her pride’s regal appearance and hearing their thunderous roars. Often they are our wake-up call in the early hours of the morning, even when they are not that close to camp.

 

Other interesting sightings during June were of the hippos. Active at night, they are good swimmers. Interestingly, they are able to identify their friends from a distance just by smelling the dung. Now talking of hippos identifying their friends, and being herbivores, here is quite the highlight. It happened that a hippo witnessed a lion hunting down a lechwe. Very surprisingly for the guests, the hippo went and stole the lechwe from the lion and had it as a meal, leaving everyone astonished, to the extent that our guests could not stop talking about it all day!

 

 

Other sightings included herds of red lechwe, elephants, waterbuck, bushbuck, puku, warthogs, wildebeest, jackals, mongooses and porcupines, among many others.