If you read all these blogs from my stay in the Luangwa Valley in Zambia you will hear about a good few sights of drama and excitement. My last efforts concerned a night-drive with two leopards; my next will bring a glorious encounter with wild dogs.

 

But although all these things seem more exciting and sound more exciting, there really is nothing that goes quite so thrillingly, life-changingly deep as waking up in the morning. I was in the lovely Nchindeni Camp, it was five o’clock and the light has changed from black to charcoal grey.

 

And from my bed I could hear the ground hornbills calling, bassoon-like hoots that carry across the bush. Closer to hand the white-browed scrub robin was singing hard, welcoming the day because it was the newest thing on earth. Then the quadruple-yelp of an African fish eagle, splitting the sky and forcing it to grow paler.

 

By this time I was up and washed and dressed and stepping outside to examine Nchindeni Lagoon and its party of 70 yellow-billed storks – and there was the fish eagle, perched melodramatically on a dead branch overlooking the lagoon.

 

The sun at last broke cover from behind the Nchindeni Hills and it rose as if it was late for an urgent appointment. I could smell Africa; every single sense registered Africa, with the possible exception of taste, which was still taken up with toothpaste. Still, a mug of rooibos tea would fix that: and then an urgent appointment with whatever cared to show itself on a fine morning in South Luangwa National Park.

 

• I was co-leading the Ultimate Luangwa safari for wildlifeworldwide.com. Next year I will be co-leading https://www.wildlifeworldwide.com/group-tours/sacred-combe-safari and I will also be participating in https://www.wildlifeworldwide.com/group-tours/festival-of-wildlife-zambia