DTW - Stateside!

Fligts from Lusaka to Jo'burg to London to Detroit have gone off famously. (That probably jinxed our last flight to Marquette, which departs in a few hours.)  But at Detroit we are losing (purposefully) three of the Zambassadors - Sam, Brian and Holly. The fellowship is breaking up!

Zikomo, Natotela and Twalumba, Zambia.

We have had one final day in Lusaka, enjoying the animals at Eureka Camp, and a bit of a slower pace for the day. Everyone got their bags packed, and we closed the evening with a final braai, which included chicken, boervors and impala. Yum.

Now we load onto our first of four flights back to Marquette, in what will amount to a 36+ hour mega journey. Everyone feels conflicted about returning - much will be missed, but we are all anxious to see our friends and loved ones. Thank you, Zambia, for an experience that will undoubtedly enrich all our lives - we are all enamored with a country that is both so wild and so generous.

South Luangwa - finale

We had a great first couple of days at Wildlife Camp, but things continued to get better. We had a lot more great animal sightings, including leopards, lions, elephants and lots of birds.

Lion snacking on an old kill. 

Elephants on the march across the plains. 

Southern crowned crane. 

Cape Buffalo. 

White-headed vulture. 

Leopard lounging. 

Bushbuck - handsomest of the antelopes.

Everyone's favorite, the stunning lilac-breasted roller.

One other fun adventure in the last couple of days was sending groups out to the "Bush Camp." Bush Camp is a few kilometers away from the main Wildlife Encampment, and encompasses four safari tents and a cook shack for staff. Because the tents can only house eight guests at once, we sent the students out in two groups on two different days.

Heading out on the walk with the guide and the scout. 

Always data to be collected - looking for parasites in elephant dung!

To get to Bush Camp, a guide and an armed scout took the groups out on a classic walking safari. At times the walks were a bit hot, but there were lots of stops along the way as our guides pointed out the smaller and subtler components of the Zambian bush, providing lots of great details on identifying plants and animals and their condition and behavior from seemingly trivial details. Biologists eat that stuff up!

Guide, James, talks about the ecology around this drying woodland pool, as scout, Viato, remains vigilant. 

Once out there at Bush Camp, all were pleasantly surprised to have a delicious braai waiting for them. Everyone supped and enjoyed sundowners through the serenades of amorous hippos. 

A beautiful spot to watch the sunset. 

The nights closed with a relaxing campfire. 

After Bush Camp we were treated to an afternoon presentation and discussion with Dr. Matt Becker, the Executive Director of a transformative NGO conservation organization, The Zambian Carnivore Programme. Matt and his group are doing remarkable research on lions, wild dogs, hyenas, leopards and some of their prey. Plus they are intimately involved with management and conservation decisions involving Zambian wildlife. Maybe most impressively, they have deep investments in education - from school children, to primary schools, to undergraduate students, to funding Zambians in American graduate programs. Remarkable stuff we encourage you to check out. 

Matt chatting with the gang. We hope to ring him to NMU next year to speak about wildlife conservation and management. 

We still had one last evening game drive, followed by yet another delicious meal. 

One of the most endearing moments during one of our last game drives was when our vehicle happened to pass another safari vehicle on the two track, and our guide, Conrad, said to our group, "That was Phil Berry." He noted this because one of the students, Angela, had been just asking him about Phil Berry. Why? Because Phil Berry has studied Luangwa giraffe's (Thornicroft's Giraffe) for over thirty years and published dozens of scientific papers on the subject. As a part of her preparation for the class, Angela had read all of his papers and even knew he lived somewhere in the vicinity. Conrad, our guide, knew him casually and upon seeing him pass, hailed him back to us.

Conrad said, "Phil, there is someone here who as read your work," and he kindly introduced Angela to Dr. Phil Berry. Angela graciously complimented him and asked to shake his hand.

What a great place to meet a scientist whose work has been pivotal in your developing career!

Angela meets the illustrious Phil Berry while on safari.

Stopping for sundowners on the game drive. 

What a great place for our debriefing meals after the game drives. 

And after that meal, everyone went back to their tents and prepared for our long drive (13+ hours) back to Lusaka.

Happy to report we made it to Lusaka, so now we just need to load on the plane tomorrow and begin that travel adventure. Everyone is finding the pending departure bittersweet - it has been a great month, but some of those comforts of home have been missed.