Set in an area of pristine wilderness, KaingU Safari Lodge offers it all. You’ll arrive in a small paradise.
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Set in an area of pristine wilderness, KaingU Safari Lodge offers a magnificent safari experience in the heart of the African bush. Discovering the lodge with its comfortable accommodation blending into nature is something unexpected in this remote area.The lodge was built with a lot of patience, good taste and an extraordinary sense for detail.Our personal attention to each and every guest makes
you feel at home instantly. KaingU offers a unique stay for travelers wishing to get closer to the unspoiled wilderness of the ‘real’ Africa, experience the warm and welcoming people of Zambia and enjoy wildlife and scenery undisturbed. This is a place to unwind, enjoy our chefs’ cuisine and be spoiled with an abundance of activities or, if you prefer, just relax and feel the heartbeat of Africa. Our Lodge is situated in the Namwala Game Management Area (GMA) on a spectacular and remote stretch of the Kafue River, approximately 400 kilometres north of the majestic Victoria Falls.The Kafue National Park, just opposite the lodge and only a 10 minute boat trip away, offers abundant game viewing. The Kafue River, with all its myriad of channels, rapids and islands lends itself to a range of exciting river based activities which include boat cruises, fishing, birding, canoeing and river trails.From the top of one of the large granite boulders in the Namwala GMA you will get a 360° view over nothing but nature! An historical iron smelter has been re-constructed in this area and a visit to the KaingU Trust School can be organised. Situated on a plateau 1030 meters above sea level, KaingU enjoys a year round moderate climate (coldest in July, hottest in October).
Each and every picture here was taken from a boat here at Kaingu Lodge. Except for the Bohm's bee-eater in frame no2. This one took real effort. Sitting in the hammock at tented chalet No3. Here in Zambia the birding now steps up a gear with lots of hatchlings and seasonal migrants starting to appear from here on. Our expert guides know all the spots - from. Bee-eater colonies to the secret lair of the night herons!
showing us all that loving the bush doesn't have to mean sacrificing taste and style on the altar of poly cotton, fleeces and flip flops. 😂.
From the guest book today: "The only negative about Kaingu is one thing. Having to leave". That comment made us very happy.
Threading the needle.
Here he comes again. That difficult one in chalet 4. What is it this time? Carrot cake not moist enough or the towels too rough? Then he doesn't even go on afternoon activity but hangs around telling us all how he practically grew up here, knows the place like the back of his trunk and has seen it all.
Location right now for the second night in a row of guests from ❤️
World lion day. It's worth pointing out that these "days" are not about celebration. They are to raise awareness and highlight the plight of animals and ecosystems (including our planet) that we are basically wiping out. Right now there are less lions in the wild than people going to a Taylor Swift arena concert. 50 years ago it was 4 or 5 Taylor Swift concerts. At this rate the next few generations of humans will probably not know what it is to live in a world without our apex African cat. Habitat loss, bushmeat poaching, "medicine" and trophy hunting will see us watching lions like we do Taylor. On a stage/cage. The difference is that Miss Swift can choose her options. And has many. Lions don't have that option. They need us to act on their behalf. Whether that is shooting them or safeguarding them, the reality is that they have no choice any more. It is left to us to choose. You don't have to be a student of logic and philosophy to know that what we have done so far is create a zero sum game. There is not much time left. A few years. If we want to even allow lions to exist outside cages and fences.
Under totally dark skies even a small torch adds drama. Totally unintentionally. Which is why being aware of light pollution is a responsibility. We were doing a sleep out and shooting a time lapse and caught this - a small torch blasting dark skies. My torch. Now imagine permanent light fixtures and their impact. Wilderness should be as dark as we can make it.
Game drive.
Private campsites. 3. Rapids 1 & 2 and "Chief's". We call them private as each one is self contained. So your own bathroom etc. But sometimes other guests don't follow the rules.
The African Finfoot. One of those Kafue species that we see so frequently that it is easy to forget just how secretive and special they actually are.
Why is everything red? Hydrogen. The most abundant element in the universe. Making up 75% of all normal matter. The nuclear fuel that drives stars through fusion (yup, just like thermonuclear reactions that so far we have only thankfully used in insane brinkmanship). High energy radiation from stars excites or ionizes hydrogen which causes it to glow in wavelengths which are partly visible to the spectrum our eyes can see. 656nm is seen by us as a deep pinkish red. Because my camera is even more sensitive to this wavelength I have used an "interference" filter which blocks or reduces other wavelengths and thereby accentuates the red by increasing contrast.
Looking into the core of our galaxy means more hydrogen and more stars emitting radiation to excite that gas. And so more red.
Is this colour real? The answer is yes. If our eyes were super sensitive like the camera sensor in this picture (which was capturing light for over 5 hours to become even more sensitive), then yes. We would see it. With a big enough telescope that gathers light way better (and focusses it onto a small area) than our eyes colour can be seen. The reality is our eyes are pretty poor in low light.
It always makes me wonder what an owl or a cat sees when they look up. It is thought that their eyes don't see colour as well as us, but are far more sensitive. Far more. So the milky way might not be what a CMOS sensor and interference filter see, but it should be absolutely spectacular compared to what we see.
Whatever you do on safari, look up. Ideally after the 20mins to become dark adapted. And if you are in a lodge that uses floodlights or bright lights to illuminate paths and features then please ask them to switch off. Permanently. Way too much of our skies are needlessly illuminated and it is not just humans that are affected. Those same animals whose eyes are way more sensitive than ours didn't evolve with bright lights. Careful use of lights should not end when the game drive ends....
Serrated Hinged Terrapin from a boat cruise on the stunning Kafue river. In the words of our neighbour, intern Kerry: "About the two spots on terrapins: they are called tubercles and are mechanoreceptors, so they detect movement of food items in murky water, just like the barbels or ‘whiskers’ on a catfish. Have a super cool day, big hug. Miss you already!".
If you zoom into the throat you will see the tubercles quite clearly.
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Great picture from manager Francisca Sitali on this morning's game drive.
Prehistoric rocks and creatures! Crocodiles in the form we know them are thought to have been around for 85 million years. To put that in context, complex technology humans (use of tools, cave art etc) have been around for about 50,00 years). So crocodiles have been around 1500 times longer than us! In fact even the hook granite that the crocodile is sitting on is 550 million years old. So the rocks have been around for 6.5x as long as the big lizards. Planet earth has been around for 8x longer than the rocks. Or 53x longer than the crocodile. Or 90,000x longer than complex humans.
Another standard boat cruise at Kaingu Lodge. Great to have back! Catching up with repeat guests and taking pictures with like minded people never gets old. Thank you Uwe.
Elusive and hard to see. The White-backed night heron. "Owing to it's secretiveness, dispersed range , and difficult habitat, this is one of the least understood herons".
Down at the Kaindabaila hills. Due to the dry conditions we saw literally herds of waterbuck and even sable. But going there is more about getting up high and seeing the river change. From the rocks and rapids by Kaingu to the sweeping, lazy curves of the river before it enters lake Itezhi Tezhi.
White fronted bee-eater. Our regular colony. Out on the boat with who was with us for a week and her 10th visit! Thanks Linda for your love for Kaingu and Kafue!
It's not always just about never ending game drives.. sometimes the drive is to destinations other than yet another gin & botanicals filled, over wrought sundowner with 15 choices. Sometimes it is about actually making that connection with the wild. Shoes off, exhilarated by sweeping views and just feeling, touching and walking in places that few have been lucky enough to experience.
So at lunchtime today our guests were treated to something that you really don't see every day. A black mamba nest hunting through the trees near the deck. Israel and myself watched it descend and made mental marks on the tree an later went with a measuring tape. 3.1m in length.
Come and join us and . These weekends are always tons of fun. You do not need to be an artist or have experience. Just a desire to learn. Oh, and making new friends with great food and drinks in stunning surroundings have to be mentioned!
Down by the rapids. A 10 minute walk from your chalet (or in this case, desk).
The Mayer's parrots right now are in a race with the monkeys to consume the fruit of the Commiphora mollis trees (velvet corkwood) which are found in the rocks around Kaingu Lodge. You don't even have to leave the lodge to see some amazing wildlife.
A classic Kafue winter scene. Which other park can you drive for 3 and a half hours, see 5 separate herds of sable antelope and NOT A SINGLE other vehicle?
One of our frequent visitors spent the day entertaining us. We have no lodge guests today so we were doing a massive work day. Deck repairs, finishing off the new management house and senior staff kitchen. We even have a seamstress in camp doing new soft furnishings. However after lunch everything stopped for a while as we were given some brilliant entertainment right on our doorstep! Any closer and he would have actually been in the main area.
Congratulations to all our team in achieving the 4 star rating by Twalumba team Kaingu.
Early morning post porridge
Kafue National Park
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About the closest we have ever come to an elephant's bum!
How to remove a roof in 30 seconds!
Clouds (a few satellites and a plane too) scudding across the small Magellanic cloud which is a small galaxy visible only in the southern hemisphere. To the left is Achernar, the 9 brightest star in the sky. Immediately above it and slightly to the right is 47 Tuc, a globular star cluster containing millions of stars. Although they look close, the small Magellanic cloud is 15x further away than the star cluster.
We don't have any spooky or gruesome Halloween activity here. But we do have dung beetles!
Just our current resident taking a long drink in beautiful golden light!
The bushpig! The heat here is building strongly now, we are seeing 35 degrees C pretty much every day. The only solution is lots of cold water!
Musical Sunday at Kaingu Lodge. Somewhat ironic that a song made famous by Shane McGowan was performed by a dentist with perfect teeth!
That Bach recital we were talking about? Here you go:
Yellow trumpet (Costus spectabilis) blooming. This timelapse started on the 23rd of November and I stopped it on the morning of the 27th. 2,600 images in the making.
Run for your lives!!! It was the terrifying sight of two waterbuck fighting that set this herd off. That semi-awkward shuffling gait is damn fast, but you can see as they get to the tree line they are starting to flag a bit.
A large wet elephant dung after the rains. Flattened first by the rains and then the monkeys picking through, it doesn't stop there. In comes the insect life. Two hours of frantic life by the laundry at Kaingu Safari Lodge on a Sunday!
Stormy night skies, the moon and even Jupiter if you look carefully.
Chalet 6 view yesterday.
It was quite a sighting. 7 pups and two adults on the loops this morning. After Kebby's guests left we went back across with him for a look. With full bellies and nearby water pools they were not going anywhere. At least that was the theory. And fortunately it was correct.
Ｙｏｇａ ｉｎ ｔｈｅ Ｗｉｌｄ 26th - 28th of August. Get in touch if you like what you see!
Zambia Tourism Agency has aired this advert on the BBC - World News on the 19th, 20th and 21st of July. Focus on Africa on the 22nd of July, Our World on the 22nd of July and Outside Source on the 22nd of July. Finally! Great to see some proper marketing being done.
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