WILD ZAMBIA: Family elephant safari on the Zambezi

Zambia

Editorial > ADVENTURE TRAVEL - Family, Beach + Safari > ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA


The Wild Issue, Family Traveller - AFRICA


WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM: A FAMILY ELEPHANT CONSERVATION SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI


Take your family to Zambia on safari to see African Elephants roaming free before it's too late. It's an ideal destination for children aged seven and upwards, discovers Louise Cameron-Hall.


We’re bumping along a dirt track in the Lower Zambezi National Park following a trail of fresh elephant poo. We’ve been lucky. So far. We’ve seen baboons, waterbuck, sables, kudus, impalas, zebras, hyenas, buffalos, wild dogs and lion. But no elephants. Not yet. We’re scanning the landscape, eyes peeled, ears tuned, bodies tense. Expectant. When, "Look!” whispers our guide, Chris Musonda, cutting the Jeep’s engine and pointing slowly, urgently, to distant shadows. We look. We look some more. And then we see.


A herd are lumbering by in the distance. Large flanking small. Baby trunk wrapped around mother’s tail. Watermarks on bellies. We count 10. "That’s not bad,” says Chris. "Some herds 100-strong have been sighted at the river’s edge but not recently due to poachers. We still have lots of elephants however it’s hard to keep track,” he explains, turning us homewards. "They’re rangers. They cover huge distances for feeding and breeding. They can travel 50 miles in a day.”


"Some herds 100-strong have been sighted at the river’s edge here but not recently, due to poachers. We still have lots of elephants but it’s hard to keep track, They’re rangers. They cover huge distances for feeding and breeding. They can travel 50 miles in a day.”


Later, at the poolside bar (‘Sausage Tree’), a raised platform with 270-degree views, we compare photos and share a sundowner with Chris against the riot of the Zambezi skies; it's final blaze of glory for the day. Locally-born and trained, he explains how unusual elephants are in the animal world in their ability to show compassion to each other; that they are one of the strongest, most emotive and human-like of animals. The irony isn’t lost on us that they’re endangered because of us -  poaching them for parts of their body that have become more valuable than life itself. 


"The African Elephant is under threat like never before, dying at the rate of one every 15 minutes? They're endangered because of us - poaching them for parts of their body now more valuable than life itself. Despite an international trade ban on ivory back in 1989 36,000 were killed last year?"

DID YOU KNOW?

As recent news reports have indicated, the African Elephant is under threat like never before. Did you know that elephants are dying at the rate of one every 15 minutes? That despite an international trade ban on ivory back in 1989 36,000 were killed last year? That in China the biggest consumer of ivory, for carved ornaments, jewellery and medicine - there is a widely mistaken belief it can cure cancer and be an aphrodisiac - a single African Elephant tusk sells for £1,500? I didn't. Not until I saw the news headlines. 


We’ve come to Zambia to learn more about the fate of the endangered African elephant and to experience them roaming wild and free here on the shores of the Lower Zambezi - one of the most impressive places in the world to see the African Elephant - while we still can.  Experts are predicting that at the rate they’re being poached, they’ll be extinct in the wild by 2025. That’s before your toddlers become adults. So, think about visiting soon if you want to experience them in the wilds. There’s no better way to teach a child or fire their imagination than to show them. And animals can be the greatest teachers of all. Watching their behaviour can help curious little ones learn patience and sensory skills, listening and observing.


"Elephants are dying at the rate of one every 15 minutes. Experts are predicting that at the rate they’re being poached, they’ll be extinct in the wild by 2025." 


[Continues...]

Lilayi Lodge from Lilayi Lodge on Vimeo.

Spring 2017


 
ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA ELEPHANT SAFARI ON THE ZAMBEZI: WHERE THE WILD ONES ROAM - AFRICA